Online news websites have become the go to sources for the most up-to-the minute news from the latest political struggle (read: Hillary’s lead dips in new CNN poll) to the most recent celebrity gossip (read: Supermodel Bundchen Joins Hedge Funds Dumping Dollars). Through various sites, such as drudgereport.com, people can find out the most recent news headlines, even before they are released to the general public. In addition, it presents news from every major media publication in the United States as well as an overview of the top headlines. The website is constantly being updated, so much so, that the website automatically refreshes itself every few minutes. With the tremendous accessibility to these news pages and constant modification of headlines, it may lead to Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Even though when we think of PIU, it is generally associated with negative activities (i.e. gambling, porn, stalking etc), it is not always the case. It is a good thing to be aware of what’s going on in the world, but incessant urges to see what new headlines are posted minutes after you look at the website can most certainly cause a person to develop PIU. As we all know too much of something that is good, is not necessarily a good thing.
PIU, as described by Caplan (2003), is problematic behavior relating to spending too much time online. It often includes maladaptive cognitions and behaviors involving Internet use that result in negative academic, professional and social consequences. When it comes to checking news websites, individuals may feel compelled to spend excessive amounts of time checking the news to see what new stories have developed since they last checked two minutes prior. In addition, these individuals may also visit this website compulsively, an inability to control one’s online activity, along with guilt about lack of control; they feel bad when they realize how much time they wasted trying to have the most recent news. The addictive quality of the Internet can cause something that can be so beneficial to be so detrimental to one’s life. There are also many other driving factors and personal characteristics that can lead a person to develop PIU.
Internet interaction affords individuals a sense of anonymity; they can spend as much time on the World Wide Web searching a wide array of websites (or simply waiting for the website to refresh with more news) without anyone ever criticizing their behavior. They can feed their thirst for news and constant updates searching the Internet for hours, without anyone ever knowing. Along with this notion of anonymity, there is also a less perceived social risk; individuals don’t have to worry about others seeing and criticizing them on how much time they spend reading the news headlines. On the Internet, their actions are more covert and less known by the people around them, making it more appealing to engage in these activities on-line and not in real life (buying newspapers, magazines, etc).
Wallace provides further insight into the issue of potential problematic internet use characteristics through her application of operant conditioning to understand what makes certain individuals addicted to particular online behaviors. Operant conditioning deals with the concept that when an individual is rewarded with a variable schedule, they are most likely to repeat the behavior. In terms of online news websites, whenever a page is refreshed with brand new headlines, the individual may feel rewarded. In order to get the most rewards as possible, people will continue searching the sites for new updates, waiting for the time when the page will refresh with a headline that they have not read yet. Since the pages are constantly being updated an changed, it makes it that much harder for a frequent user to stop their use. In addition, Wallace also brings up the concept of locus of control, the degree to which a person believes that they have control over their situation, to explain a person’s tendency toward PIU. The more a person checks a website, the greater the likelihood that it will be refreshed with new up-to-the minute news releases. When people feel that they are in control of a situation, they will do all in their power to achieve their goals and stop at nothing. If it means spending hours on a web page waiting for new updates, than a person with PIU is willing to wait knowing that the more time they spend on-line, the more information they can potentially acquire.
As with any type of addiction, those individuals who are already predisposed to addictive behavior, will have a much greater likelihood to exhibit some form of addiction be it alcoholism, gambling, Internet use etc. The Internet allows individuals to carry out behaviors and activities that are not socially acceptable without having to face the repercussions of not complying with society’s expectations. People who feel the need to be constantly in the know of the latest information are afforded the opportunity to satisfy this need through the Internet. People often use these websites as a way to procrastinate their work, reduce boredom, and as a means of escape from their day-to-day activities. These websites provide an outlet for individuals to get news information, but may prevent these same individuals from interacting face-to-face with others and discussing opinions and views of these headlines, which is so important. Its okay to know what’s going on in the world, but PIU may cause you to never stop clicking on that refresh button.
2 comments:
Marisa, excellent post.
You brought up two points that I found particularly interesting:
1) "Operant conditioning" through anticipation and reward of information
2) The propagation of anti-social PIU with limited or no repercussions
The first alludes to the newfound problem of excessive information and constant stimulation -- how it will be stored, how we must adapt, how our brains must adapt (e.g. concern over adolescent pre-frontal cortex development). And now, addicted to headlines?
The second is more closely related to Caplan's and Davis's research, though in the case you've described, a person inclined to certain types of stimulatory internet addiction may not necessarily be the depressed or lonely among us -- we all can find and mine a niche on the internet.
I think you chose a very relevant topic that will become more of a problem as the internet keeps growing. Information addiction is something that is hard to pinpoint because it is associated with a task that is normally considered productive. What the Internet brings is sort of an information overload in that we are able to have access to an unlimited amount of information. There comes a certain point where it becomes detrimental to productivity. With the advent RSS feeds which allow us to access information from multiple sources in one location and the increasing number of mobile computing devices, I expect to see this problem become much more severe. I think that anonymity has less influence on PIU because acquiring knowledge and keeping up with the latest news has never been an activity that is frowned upon. I do agree operant conditioning leads people to getting used to spending more time reading the news. Once they are dedicating a chunk of time taking in the news it is easy to add more sources of information and spend an increasing amount of time online. Then if they aren’t able to fulfill the time commitment, they will feel the withdrawal effects in the form of feeling like they don’t know what is going on. Good job on your post
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