Blog: Dan Power

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Internet Addiction and Decision Support

I spend a very significant amount of time using the Internet, checking email, reading articles, working on my Web sites, participating in Video conferences and using Second Life. A major part of my life involves using the Internet. Do I have "internet dependency" or "cyber addiction"?

I'm not Anthony Chan, the Hong Kong Internet junkie. Supposedly "Anthony Chan betrays the tell-tale signs of his addiction: his skin is pallid and covered in spots, he sits nervously hunched, peering to correct his blighted vision and he has trouble communicating with friends and family. At just 16 he is emotionally fragile, physically ill and his future has been compromised by the addiction which has him in its grip. But when the lights are switched off he gets online, he could not care less about the problems it brings. His drug is the Internet and, when connected, it makes the lonely Hong Kong schoolboy feel on top of the world. (cf., http://www.caslon.com.au/addictionnote.htm)"

Kim Komando, USAToday columnist, cites the Center For Online Addiction's five distinct forms of cyber addiction:

1) "Cyber sexual", viewing, downloading and trading online pornography or involved in adult fantasy role-play chat rooms.

2) "Cyber-relational", becoming overly involved in online relationships or engaging in virtual adultery.

3) "Net gaming", obsessed with online gambling, game playing, shopping, auctions or stock trading.

4) "Information overload", reduced productivity when a person spends too much time searching, collecting and organizing information.

5) "Computer addiction", endlessly playing computer games or habitual tweaking of settings, file management and other administrative computer functions.

Managers using Web-based decision support can become addicted, e.g., excessively checking email, continually checking dashboards, searching for more documents or information about competitors, adding more hardware like a Blackberry to stay in-touch with email, and/or buying new gadgets just to have them.

Some symptoms include 1) an unwillingness to take a real vacation away from the Internet, 2) missing meetings or making excuses for being on the "net", 3) feeling agitated when not "connected".

I am a heavy user; I am trying to keep a balance. Professor John Suler, Rider University, suggests "using the Internet extensively is a problem when your face-to-face life becomes dissociated from your cyberlife. It's healthy when your face-to-face life is integrated with your cyberlife". I don't know what his observation means for managers who increasingly must rely on the Internet for their work and sometimes their recreation. We have much to think about as we continue to use Information Technology to support real world decision making.

If you see me on Second Life late at night, encourage me to go to bed. I'm probably dancing at Blue Fusion Jazz Club.

References

Suler, J. (2004). Computer and cyberspace addiction. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 1, 359-362, URL http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/cybaddict.html

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