Internet Addiction

Internet addiction is a recent phenomenon which describes a state where people become so involved in online behaviour to the detriment of other aspects of their lives. Treatment camps for young people have sprung up around in a bid to address this contemporary issue. This chapter examines the factors in Internet addiction, its definition, the complications which exist in the various diagnostic methods of successfully diagnosing Internet addiction and the criticism directed towards some of these diagnostic methods. We also examine which individuals are at risk of developing this condition. We look at positive diagnosis of the addiction and the resultant effects it has on an individual's family life, employment, social life and personal wellbeing before finally looking at possible methods and treatments that can be used in treating Internet addiction.

Problematic Linkages in Adolescents

Internet usage represents a risky opportunity for the youngest. Due to its social, communicative and emotional function in adolescents' lives, it may provide benefits and facilitations to their relationships. On the other hand, the excessive use of the Internet can harmfully affect their daily routines, with negative effects on their psychological state. Considering the widespread use of the Internet in everyday life during this developmental stage, the authors question the applicability of the concept of “addiction” and provide empirical data about the adaption of a useful instrument to measure problematic relationships with the Internet. The establishment of a cut-off procedure is proposed for screening purpose to identify at risk and problematic users. Moreover, differences by gender and age are explored and discussed. A comprehensive model of the Problematic Relationships with the Internet is presented and analyzed in comparison with the main perspectives and measures in literature.

Evaluating the Risk of Digital Addiction in Blended Learning Environments: Considering ICT Intensity, Learning Style, and Architecture

Digital addiction is a phenomenon where people who might take up addictive substances or other self-medicating activities do so instead with information and communications technology. The environment in which someone finds themselves is known to influence their behaviour. This might be as a result of the environment placing more demands on people with one cognitive set-up compared to those with a different one. One might not normally think of education environments as addictive, but the introduction of technology into them can affect different learners in different ways. Through computing a measure of brain activity called knol (k), this paper seeks to explore how learners with different learning styles react in environments that are differentiated according to the intensity of ICTs used and the physical architecture of the learning environment in which those ICTs are used.

Psychological Maltreatment and Internet Addiction

Internet use enhances one's quality of life; yet, excessive use may lead to various problems for their healthy development and wellbeing. Understanding the risk and protective factors in internet addiction has importance to promote individuals' positive development and wellbeing. Therefore, the purpose of the present chapter is to explore the role of psychological maltreatment in the development of the internet addiction. Psychological maltreatment is a significant public health problems associated with a range of short and long–term undesirable mental health and wellbeing outcomes in childhood to adulthood. Considering the outcomes supporting the significant role of child maltreatment on the development of internet addiction, it is clear that maltreated individuals are at–risk to develop internet addiction, and psychological maltreatment, as a risk factor, has a crucial role in the development of internet addiction. However, evidences here are relatively limited, and there is need further research investigated long–term impacts of psychological maltreatment on internet addiction.

Personality, Internet Addiction, and Other Technological Addictions

Research into technological addictions, such as Internet addiction, smartphone addiction and social networking addiction has greatly increased. It is important to understand how technological addictions may be related to different personality types and key individual differences associated to personality. This chapter provides empirical and conceptual insights into how technological addictions may be related to different personality types and key individual differences associated to personality. This chapter focuses on a number of technological addictions and illustrates how research and theory in this area has developed in relation to commonly researched personality traits (e.g., extraversion, introversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and narcissism) and key individual differences related to personality (e.g., personality disorders). The complex nature of personality and technological addictions is discussed together with areas for future research.

Selfie-Objectification as a Facet of the Social Media Craze Among Youths in Nigeria

The advent of the social media in Nigeria has given rise to a plurality of information technology syndromes as well as multiple forms of social leprosies. One of these social leprosies has been selfie-objectification manifested by naked and highly sexualized selfies. As a form of social pathology, selfie-objectification has particularly engulfed the youths, corrupting the latter's innocence and affecting the positive relationship culture among them. Using observations and secondary sources, this chapter explores two opposing perspectives on selfie-objectification in Nigeria namely conservative and liberal. It criticizes the conservative reading of the self-objectification paradigm, arguing that any interpretation of selfie-objectification by Nigerian youths solely as a culturally insensitive act and a western cultural import is myopic and objectionable. The phenomenon should rather be read along the line of Nigerian youths' visible embrace of a liberal and postmodern philosophy of life.

A Review of Internet Addiction on the Basis of Different Countries (2007–2017)

This chapter presents a review of Internet addiction on the basis of different countries between the years of 2007 and 2017. For this purpose, the term “addiction” is explained, some addiction types are examined, the differences between Internet addiction and the other ones are given and the Internet addiction status of different countries are presented. In today's world, Internet addiction is a privileged problem in almost all of the countries but especially a few countries have important number of studies about the subject. The most studies are completed in China, Turkey, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea. In this chapter, studies about these countries and some other ones are investigated. These studies show that the “Far East” is suffering from the problem a bit more than the others.

Loneliness and Internet Addiction Among University Students

The present study was designed to determine the relationship between loneliness and Internet addiction, based on a sample of young generation from Turkey. Participants in this study were students of the Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey (n = 440). Findings show that there is a statistically significant relationship (p <0.05) between students' Internet addiction and only the grade they are studying. According to the correlation analysis, it was found that there is a negative relationship between the loneliness of students and the time they spend on the internet, and a positive relationship between internet addiction and age of students. Moreover, it was found that the age, time spent on the Internet and loneliness of university students were important determinants of Internet addiction.

Treatment of Internet Addiction

The birth of the Internet in 1969 has changed people's lives immensely in the past 48 years. Over the years, this invention has brought people connection, information, communication, business, entertainment, and so forth; however, researchers have found the impact of the Internet's byproduct, namely Internet addiction, in the past two decades as well. It was argued that Internet addiction might be detrimental to people's mental and physical health. The problem is that Internet addiction is not clearly defined, nor has it been included in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by American Psychiatric Association. If the definition is not clear and the symptoms are varied, the treatment for Internet addiction would become an issue. In this chapter, the researcher will focus on different approaches to the treatment of Internet addiction based on research after reviewing the definitions, theories, causes, consequences, and symptoms of Internet addiction.

CyberPsycho Effect

The Internet has become a platform for different campaigns like political, social, cultural and marketing. Researchers are working on the effect of these services on human behavior and how the use of Internet and social network persuade the environment. This chapter focuses on the causes and effects of persuasive messages based on current trending news and events which can influence an individual's behavior. Cyberspace plus Psychological effect equals to CyberPsycho Effect leading to CyberPsycho attacks. In CyberPsycho attacks, an attacker uses cyberspace and social network to affect attitude or behavior of an individual or a targeted society, and achieve certain goals to attain political, religious, economical, and social gains. It motivates social media users towards a certain objective by spreading the persuasive messages in the form of texts, images or videos. The study is unique, valuable and compels the experts to understand the impact of Internet addiction.