A conceptual and methodological critique of internet addiction research: Towards a model of compensatory internet use

By Daniel Kardefelt-Winther. Computers in Human Behavior, 2014

2,161 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Internet addiction is a rapidly growing field of research, receiving attention from researchers, journalists and policy makers. Despite much empirical data being collected and analyzed clear results and conclusions are surprisingly absent. This paper argues that conceptual issues and methodological shortcomings surrounding internet addiction research have made theoretical development difficult. An alternative model termed compensatory internet use is presented in an attempt to properly theorize the frequent assumption that people go online to escape real life issues or alleviate dysphoric moods and that this sometimes leads to negative outcomes. An empirical approach to studying compensatory internet use is suggested by combining the psychological literature on internet addiction with research on motivations for internet use. The theoretical argument is that by understanding how motivations mediate the relationship between psychosocial well-being and internet addiction, we can draw conclusions about how online activities may compensate for psychosocial problems. This could help explain why some people keep spending so much time online despite experiencing negative outcomes. There is also a methodological argument suggesting that in order to accomplish this, research needs to move away from a focus on direct effects models and consider mediation and interaction effects between psychosocial well-being and motivations in the context of internet addiction. This is key to further exploring the notion of internet use as a coping strategy; a proposition often mentioned but rarely investigated.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8735d6aed33e1f613d785c78fe489df0a83fb8af

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Citations in the corpus

Does the construct of Internet addiction reflect a single entity or a spectrum of disorders (2017, background): “…Despite the popularity of the term, Internet addiction continues to be shrouded in theoretical and methodological controversies (e.g., Pies 2009, Bergmark et al. 2016, Kardefelt-Winther 2014, Kuss and Billieux 2017, Musetti et al. 2016, Starcevic and Aboujaoude in press, van Rooij and Prause 2014).”
Psychopathological Consequences Related to Problematic Instagram Use Among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Body Image Dissatisfaction and Moderating Role of Gender (2019, background): “Moreover, some individuals become problematic online users while trying to compensate for their real-life social problems (Kardefelt-Winther 2014), and those who cannot compensate their social needs using social media (e.g., higher feelings of social support and belongingness) feel more lonely and…”
The Role of Avoidance Coping and Escape Motives in Problematic Online Gaming: A Systematic Literature Review (2020, methodology): “…ten studies comprised both adolescent and adult samples (Király et al. 2015; Bányai et al. 2019; Maroney et al. 2019; von der Heiden et al. 2019; Kardefelt-Winther 2014a, b; Kaczmarek and Drążkowski 2014; Dauriat et al. 2011; Ramos-Diaz et al. 2018; Király et al. 2017), six only adult samples…”
The Reciprocal Relationship Between Passive Social Networking Site (SNS) Usage and Users’ Subjective Well-Being (2018, background): “Additionally, the compensatory internet use theory suggests that low psychosocial well-being may be an underlying cause of some of the motives for Internet usage; in certain situations, low psychosocial well-being can therefore lead an individual to spend much more time online for coping purpose (Ka”
Working towards an international consensus on criteria for assessing internet gaming disorder: a critical commentary on Petry et al. (2014) (2016, positive): “(PREOCCUPATION) Kardefelt-Winther [5,6] has argued that because gaming constitutes one of themost popular forms of entertainment for children, adolescents and adults, it is not entirely straightforward to assume that a preoccupation with online games is indicative of problematic engagement.”
COVID-19 anxiety symptoms associated with problematic smartphone use severity in Chinese adults (2020, neutral): “affect (Brand et al., 2019, 2016; Kardefelt-Winther, 2014), negative affectivity has been investigated in relation to PSU.”
The role of stress and motivation in problematic smartphone use among college students (2015, methodology): “Since only a minority of all users experience problematic outcomes, it is important to focus on that minority when seeking to understand why only this particular group experiences problematic outcomes (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014c).”
The Psychology of Mukbang Watching: A Scoping Review of the Academic and Non-academic Literature (2020, background): “According to the CIUM, it is posited that individuals use the internet in order to compensate unattained offline needs via specific online activities (Kardefelt-Winther 2014).”
A critical account of DSM-5 criteria for internet gaming disorder (2015, background): “a theoretical model for excessive gaming as a coping strategy for life problems (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014b).”
Problematic smartphone use: A conceptual overview and systematic review of relations with anxiety and depression psychopathology. (2017, background): ““Compensatory use” may not be exactly the same as problematic use, but clarifies the motivation of such use – that is, to escape real-world problems and duties, and/or avoid negative emotion and affect (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014).”