Understanding internet addiction: a comprehensive review
| Date | 10 September 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-07-2017-0023 |
| Published date | 10 September 2018 |
| Pages | 165-184 |
| Author | Shilpa Suresh Bisen,Yogesh M. Deshpande |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health |
Understanding internet addiction:
a comprehensive review
Shilpa Suresh Bisen and Yogesh M. Deshpande
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to delineate the overall theoretical framework on the topic of internet
addiction through the comprehensive narrative review to make readers aware of the conceptual growth and
development in the respective field. The paper evolves theoretically from the historical foundation,
phenomenology, clinical feature, etiological model to the treatment outcome of internet addiction. Multiple
studies have been done in the field of mental health but dearth of work given head to toe theoretical overview
for understanding of this trendsetter research area in mental health.
Design/methodology/approach –Extensive review of literature has been carried out to make a systematic
layout for conceptual paper.
Findings –The internet has been a source of gratification for several behavioral addictions as well as
psychiatric disorders. Mainly because of the lack of established diagnostic criteria and a dearth of large
sample surveys, the prevalence of problematic internet use (PIU) in general population has not been
established. Still, from all the consolidated data, PIU seems to have a male preponderance and manifests
itself in late adulthood. Symptoms of PIU can easily be masked with signs of dependence, tolerance and
withdrawal which is quite similar to the phenomenology of substance addiction. Psychiatric co-morbidities
are more of a norm than the exception in case of PIU. Even though the clinical status of PIU is doubtful, still
there is a significant demand for its treatment all over the world. Overall, the excessive use of internet has
been strongly debated in literature from PIU to a positive addiction. Only time will tell how it affects our
civilization as a phenomenon of evolutionary significance.
Originality/value –The paper is providing a general conceptual framework for internet addiction/PIU to
enable readers to know about the topic in depth from the evolution of the concept to the recent
developments in the area.
Keywords Substance use disorder, Internet addiction, Behavioural addiction, Problematic internetuse (PIU),
Psychiatricco-morbidity
Paper type General review
Background
When J.C.R. Licklider wrote his first memoir on the “Galactic Network”in Man-Computer
Symbiosis (Licklider, 1963), he would have hardly thought of it evolving into a phenomenon of
immense evolutionary significance. From the successful demonstration of the Advanced
Research Projects Administration (ARPANET) in 1972 to the World Wide Web, the internet has
come a long way. The word internet starts from the word “Web Connection Network”
(Greenfield, 1999) which connects computers around the globe with a standard convention.
World Wide Web made an extraordinary and user-friendly prop to the personal, professional and
social existence of world populace. Its utilization ranges from exceptionally essential web
crawlers, socializing, shopping to the complex research helps, managing an account and
business. At the same time, it has also come with its share of misuses like accessing
inappropriate sites, hacking, stalking, spamming, phishing, etc. In the era of digital technology,
the internet has its very significant role in sprouting vulnerability toward a different form of
addiction whether it is chemical or behavioral addiction, at the same time providing a platform to
manage it well. Bisen and Deshpande (2017) introduced internet as a global phenomenon and
explored positive and negative consequences of problematic internet use (PIU).
Received 23 July 2017
Revised 7 April 2018
Accepted 24 April 2018
Conflict of interest statement: the
authors declare that the research
was conducted in the absence of
any commercial or financial
relationships that could be
construed as a potential conflict
of interest.
Shilpa Suresh Bisen is
Research Scholar and
Yogesh M. Deshpande is
Professor of Psychology,
both at the Department of
Humanities and Social
Sciences, Visvesvaraya
National Institute of
Technology, Nagpur, India.
DOI 10.1108/MHRJ-07-2017-0023 VOL. 23 NO. 3 2018, pp. 165-184, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1361-9322
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The purpose of the present paper is to delineate the overall theoretical framework on the topic of
internet addiction through the comprehensive narrative review to make readers aware of the
conceptual growth and development in the respective field. The paper evolves theoretically from
the historical foundation, phenomenology, clinical feature and etiological model to the treatment
outcome of internet addiction. Multiple studies have been done in the field of mental health but
dearth of work given head to toe theoretical overview for understanding of this trendsetter
research area in mental health.
Positive impact of the internet
The internet has various social, psychological and educational advantages. Users can “meet”
new, similar people and to promote productive impressions. The internet enables users to pass
on data rapidly, maintain associations, play games, boost emotional support and find out about a
different culture (McNamee, 1996; Parks and Floyd, 1996; Scherer, 1997). Financial advantages
can be harvested from this medium (Morahan-Martin, 1998); individuals have begun online
businesses and have picked up access to market customers that were previously inaccessible to
them. The internet has enhanced job prospects for some people by giving them simple access to
a wide releasing of employment postings (Shotton, 1991). While excessive use of the internet can
become associated with the various psychiatric disorder, on the other side internet is also being
developed as an effective tool to treat such mental health issues. Web-based interventions on the
positive side provide a cost-effective and readily accessible user-friendly platform to reach out to
a vast majority of patients and help them in seeking treatment and getting into structured
programs at the same time. (Carlbring and Andersson, 2006) Web-based cognitive behavioral
therapy has increasingly become a popular empirical evidence-based therapy for various anxiety
spectrum disorders. Evidence suggests that internet-delivered CBT works for panic disorder
(Carlbring et al., 2001) Social anxiety disorder (Andersson et al., 2006), generalized anxiety
disorder (Titov et al., 2009), post-traumatic stress disorder (Lange et al., 2003) and specific
phobia (Andersson, 2009).
Negative impact of the internet
Despite its positive side, the internet has been connected to the variety of problems. Shotton
(1989) and Young (1996) studied that internet addicts spend less time with individuals in their
lives, resulting in restlessness, contentions and a strained relationship. Numerous individuals in
the workplaces are getting dependent on the internet. Suler (1996) detailed that many directors
believe that employees are utilizing internet mostly for non-business purpose that undermines
employees’activity viability and efficiency; hence some organization authorities introduced
jammer to track and eliminate internet utilization. Such findings lead employers to doubt their
workers and become suspicious of their utilization of the internet (Young, 1996, 1998a). Internet
overuse can lead to a lot of psychological disorders. It has been postulated that there is a positive
association between PIU and substance use disorders with the severity of PIU adversely affecting
the substance use disorder. Young (1999) studied that alcohol consumption behavior in students
was extensively studied and results showed that students with PIU consumed more alcohol
(32.1 percent) compared to the non-PIU group (20.4 percent). There is ample proof that PIU is a
predictor of future risk of cigarette smoking and alcohol intake (Chiao et al., 2014). People who sit
online and in front of their internets for longer periods have shown a definite pattern of addictive
behavior like cigarette smoking.
Internet addition vs internet engagement
This section is dis cussing the disti nction between (p athological) int ernet addiction a nd
(non-pathological) internet engagement. The internet can be engaging because it provides
users with an intrinsically pleasant experience, enabling them to relax and get away from the
daily life hassles .T he term of internet engagement in itially emerges in the factor ana lytical study
of the internet apathy and anxiety scale (Charlton and Birkett, 1995), with engagement
considered contra st to the apathy. The vital difference between the a ddiction and engagement
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