Poster #65 - I Have 400 Friends, But I’m Lonely: Adolescent Compulsive Internet Use

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

According to worldwide surveys of internet use, 65% of all adolescents own a smartphone and nearly 45% engage with screen devices from 6-9 hours a day for recreational purposes (Pew, 2018). Interestingly, rates of diagnosed mood disorders have increased in adolescents from 2005 to 2015 during the same period of increased screen use (Weinberger, Gbedemah, Martinez, Nash, Galea, & Goodwin, 2018). Since Internet Addiction is not yet recognized as a formal psychiatric disorder, rates of compulsive use in adolescents are difficult to ascertain. However, national surveys of problematic internet use indicate that adolescents in the highest use category also report problems with emotional regulation and feelings of isolation (Mihajlov & Vejmelka, 2017).
Adolescents who characterize their internet use as problematic, report that they preseverate on use when not able to access a device. Their problematic internet use is characterized by difficulty to regulate use, sleep disturbances, hiding electronic use from others, and increased irritability during periods of non-use (Carlisle, Carlisle, Polychronopoulos, Goodman-Scott, Kirk-Jenkins, 2016). Problematic internet use can potentially cause issues with social development given that there are fewer opportunities for face-to-face interactions. These interactions are crucial to the development of social skills (Gapsiso & Wilson, 2015). Many of these adolescents consider their internet use to be the hub of their social lives, despite feeling as if they do not have many close social connections.
The aim of the study was to investigate how adolescent problematic internet use affects the perception of social connection, definition of friendship and emotional state. Specifically, the study explores potential emotional state changes and perception of friendship in adolescents who report problematic internet use of at least 3 hours a day.
The quasi-experimental study included 98 participants ages 15-16 years, equal male-female ratio, living in a suburban area in the United States. Each participant owned a smartphone and had unrestricted access to the internet except for during the school day when use was prohibited during class. Participants took the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) to determine level of compulsive use upon enrollment in the study and those who scored in the high to moderate category (45) were placed in the experimental group. Then, over the course of six weeks, participants of both groups recorded each period of use providing information about the time of day and length of use, emotional state, type of activity and feeling of social connection.
Using a mixed method approach, results indicated that adolescents felt most isolated when the period of use was greater than three hours (55%), was later in the evening (76%), and included social media (68%). The strongest relations (using an SEM model) between variables were between feeling isolated and lack of ability to regulate internet use (p<.001) and lack of ability to regulate internet use and decreased mood (p<.02). In comparison, the control group reported an increased affect, greater feeling of social connection, and more control over impulsive use than those in the experimental group.

Author

• Elizabeth Donnellan, Purdue University Global
  Presenting Author