PSYCHOLOGY OF COMPUTER USE XL. ADDICTIVE USE OF THE INTERNET.pdfVIP

PSYCHOLOGY OF COMPUTER USE: XL. ADDICTIVE USE OF THE INTERNET: A CASE THAT BREAKS THE STEREOTYPE Psychological Reports, 1996, 79, 899-902. © Psychological Reports 1996 KIMBERLY S. YOUNG University of Pittsburgh at Bradford This case involves a homemaker 43 years of age who is addicted to using the Internet. This case was selected as it demonstrates that a non-technologically oriented woman with a reportedly content home life and no prior addiction or psychiatric history abused the Internet which resulted in significant impairment to her family life. This paper defines addictive use of the Internet, outlines the subject’s progression of addictive on-line use, and discusses the implications of such addictive behavior on the new market of Internet consumers. This research note concerns the case of a 43-yr.-old homemaker whom the author recently interviewed as part of a larger study designed to examine addictive use of the Internet (Young, 1996). Media attention on the subject of Internet addiction has stereotyped those who become addicted as predominantly young, introverted, computer-oriented males. Further, prior research has indicated that predominantly object-oriented introverted males become computer addicted (Shotton, 1989, 1991), and educational specialists have shown that women report lower self- efficacy than men when asked about their use of information technologies (Busch, 1995). In contrast to these observations, this case was selected from the authors original study, as it demonstrates that a non-technologically oriented woman with a self-reported content home life and no prior addiction or psychiatric history, abused the Internet which resulted in significant impairment to her family life. Defining Addiction A Case Study Discussion References DEFINING ADDICTION The original project was initiated based upon reports