Technology Addiction – A Concern for Educators

Internet addicts are usually envisaged as pimply-faced teenaged boys, Beard (2005, p. 8) reveals that all in society are actually susceptible to the harmful effects of overuse and abuse of the internet by listing a range of “characteristics of problematic internet use”. The paper also revealed that in 2005 debate was still being carried out among scholars as to whether “internet addiction” truly existed or not (Beard, 2005, p. 13).

In relation to internet addiction and education, Young (2004) referred to ‘student internet abuse’ in a broad article on the phenomenon of Internet addiction. Further backing up the concerns of such research, an article published recently has shown that an aspect of internet addiction, that of online gaming, or “gaming disorder”, is now an actual medical diagnosis according to the World Health Organisation (Ivanova, 2019; World Health Organisation, 2019).

Despite the fact that my blog lends itself to a major ‘plug’ for internet and technological uses in Adult and Vocational Education classrooms, such research suggests there some key ethical concerns to be taken into account and lists an array of potential issues for students ranging from lack of self-control for more important aspects of student life to unhealthy sleep habits and even withdrawal symptoms (Young, 2004, p.409). I will certainly be more alert to identifying these symptoms in my students in future years.

References:

Beard, K. (2005) CyberPsychology & Behavior. Retrieved from https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2005.8.7

Ivanova, I. (2019). World Health Organisation Makes “Gaming Addiction” a medical addiction. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-health-organization-makes-gaming-disorder-a-medical-diagnosis-of-addicition/

World Health Organisation (2019). 6C51 Gaming Disorder. Retrieved from https://icd.who.int/dev11/l-m/en#/http%3a%2f%2fid.who.int%2ficd%2fentity%2f1448597234

Young, K. S. (2004). Internet Addiction: A New Clinical Phenomenon and Its Consequences. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(4), 402–415. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764204270278