The original problematic internet use article states “it is difficult to determine whether loneliness is a symptom of excessive Internet use or whether heavy Internet use is a symptom of loneliness” (Ceyhan & Ceyhan). A study was conducted in the adolescent age group to determine the risk of depression and anxiety for adolescents who pathologically used the internet. These young people were initially free of any mental health problems and after a 9-month follow-up, the group who pathologically used the internet were 2.3 times as likely to experience depression compared to the students that did not show pathological internet use. After taking into account confounding factors and baseline risk for controls, the individuals who pathologically use the Internet were 1.5 times more likely to have experienced depression than the control group (Harrison).
There are many possible and potential factors that may contribute towards the connection between pathological internet use and depression. Dr. Lam, one of the individuals conducting the study, believes “one obvious explanation [of an increase in the risk of depression is] lack of sleep, which is very common among problematic Internet users”. During the discussion of this study the similarity between pathological internet use and a gambling addiction is mentioned as well. Lack of sleep and gaming are two potential factors that contribute to a higher risk of depression for internet users. Problematic internet use and social withdraw is termed as a “vicious cycle”. With an increase of problematic internet use there is an increase in social withdraw, then that increase in social withdrawal is followed by more problematic internet use (Harrison).
This study focuses more on an adolescent/teen age group compared to our group’s original study that focused on college-aged individuals. It would be interesting to see if the numbers and results would change if the study was done for college students. I think it’s also very interesting that, like in my group member Christine’s research, I found mention of strong internet use compared to gambling addiction. However, I was slightly confused, this study seemed to use “problematic internet use” and “pathological internet use” interchangeably and in my mind they have too different meanings. Also, at the end of this article it discussed early detection and prevention of depression which is nice because this shows they had a helpful mindset when researching this study. The article was ended with a statement that research about problematic internet use is still in its beginning stages because the internet is constantly changing and it’s hard for researches to keep up with all the new activities you can participate in online.
Sources:
Ceyhan, A. Akyut and Ceyhan, Esra. (2008). Loneliness, Depression, and Computer Self-Efficacy
as Predictors of Problematic Internet Use. CyberPsychology and Behavior 11, #6.
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