A real Addiction?

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A real Addiction?

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Does technology addiction really exist? And is it damaging us? Ask any parent whose adolescent child is chained to their device or obsessed by gaming into the small hours - and they'll agree. So too does the World Health Organization (WHO), which controversially classified "gaming disorder" as a disease in 2018. But by talking about addiction, we're succumbing to "techno-panic", say some psychologists - and many have publicly protested against WHO's decision. Every age worries what its teens are up to - even comics and romance novels once sparked panic, says psychologist Candice Odgers, who's researched technology use among young people. A 2017 US study stirred widespread panic as reports declared adolescents spending more time on social media were more likely to report mental health issues. In fact, "digital media use accounted for less than 1 per cent of the differences in depressive symptoms among girls, and no association was found among boys," says Odgers. "To be precise, 99.64 per cent of the differences in girls' depression was due to something else. Technology is as likely as, say, eating potatoes to cause mental health problems." One of the largest studies so far, which looked at more than 120,000 adolescents in the UK, reported no association between moderate levels of technology use and mental health. In fact, devices could even lead to better wellbeing - although the research also noted small negative associations for people with high levels of engagement. So what is going on?

Inspec keywords: computer games; social networking (online); diseases; social aspects of automation; psychology

Other keywords: social media; technology use; mental health; digital media use; technology addiction; disease; gaming disorder; mental health issues; World Health Organization; depression

Subjects: Social and behavioural sciences computing; Economic, social and political aspects of computing; Computer games; Biology and medical computing

http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/et.2019.0902
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