Tackling Internet addiction
I REFER to the opinion piece “Being a slave to the smartphone” (The Star, Dec 8). While in that article the author described his personal experience with smartphone use, which I believe is widely shared by many working adults, I would like to draw attention to the worrying trend of smartphone or Internet addiction among school-going adolescents.
An Internet user survey conducted by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in 2016 found that among all respondents, students spent the longest time online – at an average of 21 hours per week.
Last year, the National Health and Morbidity Survey focusing on adolescent health discovered that 29% of secondary school students aged 13 to 17 years old met the criteria for Internet addiction. Almost all cases involved the use of the smartphone.
Internet addiction or problematic Internet use is characterised by the compulsive urge to use the Internet, resulting in excessive online time and impairment in daily activities.
Easy availability 24/7, relatively low cost, rich and interactive content as well as anonymity are among some of the features of the Internet that makes it so addictive.
Depending on the content involved, Internet addiction can be divided into excessive website surfing, online gambling, social network addiction, Internet gaming addiction, cybersex addiction and online shopping addiction. Notably, Internet gaming disorder has been recently included in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Disease by the World Health Organisation, highlighting the increasing attention to Internet-related disorders in the global community.
Research has demonstrated that similar to other forms of addiction, individuals addicted to the Internet display distinct changes in brain regions and circuits associated with attention control, executive function and emotional processing. Prolonged excessive Internet use can adversely affect physical health and, in extreme cases, fatalities have been reported.
The effects on mental well-being can be profound, with a huge proportion of Internet addicts affected by depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. Often, the relationship between mental disorders and problematic Internet use is bidirectional, whereby individuals with mental health issues tend to use the Internet as an escape from existing problems while heavy Internet use in turn results in more negative psychosocial factors that worsen the underlying mental illness.
Devotion to online activities unavoidably leads to neglect of studies among students and consequent academic decline. Also important is the effect on the social development of adolescents. As online interactions and relationships take precedence over face-to-face communication, Internet-addicted adolescents may grow up lacking in crucial communication and social skills. The considerable amount of money spent on online activities can also become a financial burden for the affected families.
It is important that suspected cases of problematic Internet use are properly assessed by mental health professionals, such as a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist. As Internet addiction is still an evolving concept, therapeutic options for this condition are currently being studied and developed. To date, the mainstay of treatment is individual counselling and support, with the focus on enabling behavioural changes in relation to the pattern of Internet use.
Support from family members, especially parents, is indispensable, and sometimes formal family therapy might be required. Treatment in the so-called Internet addiction boot camps that have created headlines especially in China does not have strong backing from medical evidence.
Prevention is better than cure, and awareness among the public, particularly parents and teachers, has to be raised with regards to the risks of Internet addiction and ways to limit Internet use. Parents really need to maintain strong bonds with their growing children in order to allow frank conversations about their Internet use, being mindful of the duration of time they spend and Internet content engaged.
At the policy level, it is high time for the government to come up with effective steps in tackling this emerging public health issue. The announcement by the deputy health minister in Parliament in August that the government is deliberating on banning Internet use by teenagers from midnight to 6am shows that the authorities are willing to take action now.
It has to be pointed out that a similar policy has been in place in South Korea since 2011. However, a recent study discovered that it is ineffective in curbing excessive Internet use, as the hours spent online by teenage users gradually crept back to the level prior to its implementation.
Therefore, more in-depth discussions involving the relevant stakeholders such as regulators, educationists, mental health professionals, parent groups and telco companies are mandatory for the formulation of a comprehensive policy framework targeting reduction of Internet addiction among adolescents.