Caplan define problematic Internet use (PIU) as problematic behavior related to too much time online. I find myself has a kind of improper use of Internet when I realized how many times I sing in to my personal web page. It is a website called "Xiaonei", http://www.xiaonei.com/, meaning inside the school. And actually it is a Chinese version of Facebook. They function same, look same, even both the color is blue. I registered the account in the last Oct. As Xiaonei can show how many times you are online, I find I've signed in about 500 times till this September, but from this September till now, I signed suppressing nearly 200 times. I think some of Caplan's points can help me explain why this happen.
As I said this Xiaonei website is just like facebook. So if you know facebook, you know how Xiaonei works. You can access the website every time you want. You describe your own profile, you upload your pictures. You browse others web, read their profiles, look at their pictures. You follow the link of your friends' friends, so you browse various people's pages ceaselessly. So maybe you control yourself much worse than you think. As people don't just make their own profiles perfect and browse others, which is very dull if true, people post, and people reply. So produce the interaction, this is maintenance if the virtual presence. And you just sign in now and then without and time limit or constraints, so there is actually operant conditioning. So conclude all of these, problematic Internet use comes.
The first one, individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence cause PIU. In this point, I agree with the last half but the first half. Because I transferred to Cornell this fall, I don't have many friends here. So I feel lonely and depression sometimes, which matched the "negative perceptions about social competence". But as I have many friends in my previous environment, I don't think I have psychosocial problems.
The second one, individuals prefer online interact because it is less threatening and they feel more efficacious. But I choose this website to interact online, and sing in many times not because of it is less threatening but it is the only way we can interact. Even though I don't choose this website, I will choose some other online interact ways. And when it comes to efficiency, this online interact is certainly not as efficacious as telephones, but compared to the expensive international calls, this is the nest way.
The third point, preference for online interaction leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then worsen their problems. To load this Xiaonei website too often definitely takes lots of time, which is excessive online interaction. And everyday, when I starts my computer, when I open my browser, I go to Xiaonei website without any hesitation. Sometimes, I plan to search some academic materials online, I involuntarily sign in it to see what are my friends doing recently, what posts they leave on my wall. Most of the time, I don't want to, but I really can't help. So it really leads to excessive and compulsive interaction. But I am making new friends now. So I don't think it has a negative influence and leads to vicious circle.
I think myself as an example has a behavior of problematic Internet use, just as Caplan says "too much time",but I don't think all the Caplan points matched my situation perfectly. It seems half the points work, and half don't. And the unique place of my example is that it is problematic Internet use comes along with long distance. I think it is an experience nearly everyone can have. When we first came to college, we miss the high school classmates, and use excessive online interaction to keep in touch with them. Then 2or3 months passed, this excessive diminished quietly. So maybe this is a problematic internet use of short term. And I don't think it can lead to vicious circle or can prove that one has psychosocial problems.
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Hey Xiangning,
I agree with your conclusion that you have a case that somewhat agrees with Caplan's model, but on the whole does not since you have a unique situation. The fact that the Internet is the cheapest and fastest way to communicate with your friends speaks more to its affordances than to you.
I have a criticism though. I can understand that since English is not your first language, it is pretty hard to grasp but you should look into possibly asking someone to look over your writing before you post since some of the mistakes make it hard to understand your point
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