Internet addiction causes emotional difficulties: study
TEENS who are addicted to the internet may have more trouble understanding their emotions, according to new research.
The study also revealed that limiting internet usage may be the most effective way for adolescents to learn how to deal with their feelings, rather than trying to teach emotional regulation skills.
Almost 3,000 children in years 8 to 11 were assessed over four years in the study conducted by University of Sydney and Australian Catholic University (ACU) researchers.
Co-author of the study, Professor Joseph Ciarrochi from ACU described how compulsive internet use may affect a child’s emotions.
“For example, a young person might be upset or angry, but doesn’t know they are upset or angry, so they don’t manage it well because they don’t even know they are feeling it,” he told
“Or another example is pursuing goals is difficult, boring and stressful, so a kid who is good at managing emotions can stay committed to a goal and manage the distress around it, but these young people (who are addicted to the internet) don’t manage that goal-related distress very well.”
Likening compulsive internet use to gambling, Prof. Ciarrochi explained that by virtue of being addicted to the net, teens are essentially teaching themselves poor emotion regulation.
“I think that the internet and social media are designed to be addictive and so when the person gives in to that addiction, then what they are actually practising is addictive behaviour which looks like just compulsively going with whatever is on the screen and just kind of not managing their distress but just doing whatever their game or screen tells them to do in a sense,” he said.
“If you think about, they are practising sensation, just trying to get an immediate impulse like gambling or something, you just keep pulling the lever trying to get the hit of dopamine, and so they’re not practising putting off that hit for some larger goal, they just keep going and it’s not necessarily how life is, it is not a continuous pursuit of a high.
“I mean, there are times when you have to have difficult conversations with people and you don’t really have to do that when you’re addicted to the internet, you just have to change platforms, change social media, change game rooms or something.”
Surprisingly though, becoming addicted to the internet is not all about the amount of time spent online.
Instead, it’s the child’s connection to the web.
“That’s the interesting thing, it isn’t the amount of time, so somebody could be online quite a bit and be perfectly fine, it’s their relationship towards what they do when they are online, so if they feel like they can’t get off, if they are staying up late and playing it at night for example, if when they are off, they are thinking about it and they just want to get back on and they are actually irritable because they’re off, then that’s the relationship,” Prof. Ciarrochi said.
“Whereas another kid might be on all the time, but they can come off it and it doesn’t interfere with their everyday life, that’s a big sign that it’s an addiction, it’s interfering.”
Local Year 8 student Dash Aubusson-foley has noticed compulsive behaviour among his peers.
“I’m good at monitoring how much I use the internet,” the 14-year-old said.
“I don’t struggle to get off, but I can’t say the same for other Year 8 kids; a friend of mine struggles a bit to get off his Xbox.”
The research suggests limiting compulsive internet use, monitoring online activities and ensuring children have meaningful and engaging offline activities is the best way to provide balance and help kids develop emotional skills.