#9: It's Like Christmas Every Day!

Problematic internet use is defined as problematic behavior related to too much time online. EBay is an area of the internet that has increasingly become a site for this problematic behavior. EBay allows users to bid on items and ultimately beat out competitors to win their prize. Thought of as a form of gambling, EBay has this betting component while also allowing the user to obtain more control. The more they use the site, the more intelligence they gain about how to make the smartest and most rewarding bids. This is in line with Wallace’s views on problematic internet use, where the user has more control over their circumstances, especially with increased usage. Also, operant conditioning plays a large role because their bidding behaviors are rewarded in a variable manner. This makes it harder to extinguish the behavior because there is always the possibility to outbid and receive the reward. Also, the user can sell back the items they have bought at potentially higher costs, therefore gaining an even greater reward. Lastly, reward also comes when the item is delivered and is placed in their possession. All these instances of pleasure from EBay outweigh the financial costs and potential unnecessary items gained and further spur the addiction.

This behavior becomes a problem when the user cannot stop, lies to those around them about their usage, and goes into debt from their compulsive spending. According to a Fox News article, some people have lost close to half a million dollars, have had to use savings from retirement or children’s college funds, and have even been fired from their jobs from excessive EBay use while at work. Guilt can come into play when the user realizes they are harming their families by spending all the money. Since internet purchases just use the click of the button and a one time entrance of the credit card number, it makes it easy for the user to pretend that they are not spending real money. They don’t have to actually exchange any cash and thus allows the debt to easily build up and become a problem.

This addiction to EBay can be explained by Caplan’s model. EBay and the happiness the users gain from a successful win can be effective in covering up the psychosocial problem of loneliness in the user’s life. EBay provides a way for the user to interact with others and gain a reward without having to engage in any threatening Ftf interactions. Therefore, the psychosocial problems can lead to low social competence, which then leads to a preference for the internet because the user can enter a world outside their own and not have to deal with the pressure from those around them who may be saying their EBay behavior is unhealthy. This preference for internet use and the world of EBay leads the user to engage in excessive compulsive internet use and it then worsens the psychosocial problems and the cycle continues. The more and more the user becomes involved in EBay, the more separate they become from their real lives and the more they depend on EBay to bring them their happiness. One user even said, “That postal guy is constantly delivering you presents…It’s like Christmas every day.”

Article: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189365,00.html

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