Internet Addiction? You are not alone.

Addiction is not a new phenomenon, but the types of behaviors and substances that can be classified as addictive are constantly changing. In recent years, a new type of addiction has begun to emerge – addiction to the Internet. In May of 2013, Daria J. Kuss, Mark D. Griffiths, and Jens F. Binder published a study in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, called “Internet addiction in students: Prevalence and risk factors.”

As the title indicates, the purpose of their study was to measure how many people are currently suffering from Internet addiction and to determine what types of Internet activity can put an individual at an increased risk for Internet addiction. The researchers asked 2,257 students at an English university questions about their Internet usage and personality traits.

Interestingly, the assessment itself was conducted online.

What did they find? According to this study, 3.2% of students were classified as having a clinically significant Internet addiction. They also found that certain combinations of personality traits and online activities led to different rates of Internet addiction. For example, people high in the personality characteristic of openness in addition to engaging in high frequency of online gaming had an increased risk for Internet addiction. On the other hand, people high in the neuroticism characteristic coupled with a high online shopping frequency had a decreased risk for Internet addiction. Regardless of personality traits, the use of all forms of social media significantly increased the risk for having an Internet addiction. These findings support the official inclusion of ‘Internet addiction’ in the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), which is the APA’s classification and diagnostic guide and is used universally by American physicians when making a physchiatric diagnosis.

Now I want to make a joke about how you should moderate your Internet usage, right after you finish your weekly browsing on quitandrecovery.org.

Reference:

Daria J. Kuss, Mark D. Griffiths, Jens F. Binder, Internet addiction in students: Prevalence and risk factors, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2013, Pages 959-966, ISSN 0747-5632, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.024.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212003664