For those of you who do not know, Google has a relatively new feature known as Google Image Labeler. It is an application/game in Google’s Image section which embraces the notion that sometimes certain tasks are just meant for humans and not machines and computer software. The essence of this game/application is to help make Google’s system of labeling and sorting the millions of images available on the internet more comprehensive by allowing individuals around the world to pitch in an effort. Anyone can choose to go and use this feature and they will be randomly assigned a partner and be given a little under two minutes to appropriately label and identify random images from the net. You will only move onto the next image and “get points” if you and your partner get matches on the keywords you use to describe the picture. I recently was introduced to this very interesting Google feature and have been wasting hours of my time on it ever since.
Google Image Labeler exhibits many of the characteristics associated with problematic internet use (PIU). The three elements outlined by Wallace that are internet and not individual related are all present in the Image Labeler case. The notion of Operant Conditioning is very apparent because of the point system and the random assignment of partners. It is a toss up each time whether or not you will be paired with a good partner, which can be defined as a fast typer with an extensive vocabulary. This leads to unpredictable results, good and bad, and serves as a variable reward schedule. This reward schedule is more important in synchronous psychological spaces, like the real time Image labeler, and promotes a behavior which is more difficult to extinguish. This all supports the labeler’s predisposition to PIU.
Maintenance of virtual presence is also evident in the Google Image Labeler because of the highly visible high score feature. It shows the top scores of the day as well as the overall cumulative high score standings. Individuals who are on the high score rankings and want to remain virtually present must continue to play the “game” with the same positive results. Additionally, the notion of newbie disease exists with Google Image Labeler because since this Google feature is still relatively new. Therefore, it makes sense that individuals are feeling the addictive wrath of this labeler game. I have been playing this evil, time waster frequently, but will most likely stop in the near future. This goes along with the Newbie disease because it notes that levels of non-adaptive behavior fluctuate. This means there is still hope for me and 3_2BeerDayNUtah, the all time high score holder and top contributor to the game.
The Google Image labeler also epitomizes some of the dimensions outlined by the Davis, Flett, and Besser study, including distraction/procrastination and social comfort. The procrastination factor is pretty self explanatory in this circumstance; when you’re bored, it is very effective to waste your time helping Google identify images. For the latter dimension, social comfort, the game does provide some interaction with other individuals. There is a necessary degree of team work and even though you do not your partner, it is still an enjoyable, somewhat social experience.
Caplan’s PIU model does not apply that well in the case of Google’s image labeler except for the element of anonymity. The game is given a heightened sense of excitement and appeal because each time you play you are paired with an entirely new and different stranger. Caplan’s notion of mood alteration can also relate to the labeler game because it is a lot of fun and rewarding when you get a good score. This usually puts a smile on my face, serving as a nice escape from writing boring class assignments like 245 blogs—I kid because I love.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
9 The (Virtual) Reality of Chat Room Addictions
What specifically interests you?
Sports? Music? Different cultures? Movies? Saving the world from pandemic flu?
No matter how vague or weird your interests may be, I guarantee that you would be able to find a chat room full of people that are interested in the exact same thing as you are.
Just as an example, typing the phrase “chat room” in a google search provides you with over 9 million hits.
Chat rooms are synchronous online discussion forums that may be associated with Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Chat rooms often accompany several online activities such as internet gaming and even facebook applications. The inherent nature of chat rooms can influence PIU. First, as mentioned above, people can search for a chat room that specifically fits their interests. Therefore, upon entering a particular chat room, people are often already connected by something they have in common. Hence, the common ground principle plays a particularly important role and increases attraction to the other chat room users. Additionally, one can find an active chat room at any time. They are easily accessible and usually free.
But why do people turn towards chat rooms in the first place? People may want to find out new information about a topic area, talk to experts, or be entertained. People may also use chat rooms out of boredom or loneliness. As shown in the study conducted by Caplan entitled “Preference for Online Interaction,” a person’s level of loneliness and depression positively correlated with their preference for online interaction. This is due to a lower opinion of their “social competence” or how they act in social situations. Chat room users have a much greater control of the impression they can make versus face to face partly because cues, such as nonverbal actions, are eliminated. Therefore, psychosocially effected individuals may feel that they can better present themselves online and the risk of rejection is less.
Caplan’s model also indicates that compulsive use most predicts negative outcomes of internet use that can affect one’s life in the non-virtual world (work, job, school work, social lives). Compulsive use of chat rooms- not being able to control when you engage in the activity- can be time consuming and further exacerbates the problem one might have with real life interactions. A chat room addict may become extremely accustomed to interacting online and feel increasingly uncomfortable in interacting in face to face.
Overall, psychosocial problems greatly contribute to one’s use of the internet in a problematic way when it comes to chat rooms and therefore coincides with Caplan’s model. For people who feel they are not socially competent, fellow online chatters may ultimately become their only friends.
Comment 1
Comment 2
Sports? Music? Different cultures? Movies? Saving the world from pandemic flu?
No matter how vague or weird your interests may be, I guarantee that you would be able to find a chat room full of people that are interested in the exact same thing as you are.
Just as an example, typing the phrase “chat room” in a google search provides you with over 9 million hits.
Chat rooms are synchronous online discussion forums that may be associated with Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Chat rooms often accompany several online activities such as internet gaming and even facebook applications. The inherent nature of chat rooms can influence PIU. First, as mentioned above, people can search for a chat room that specifically fits their interests. Therefore, upon entering a particular chat room, people are often already connected by something they have in common. Hence, the common ground principle plays a particularly important role and increases attraction to the other chat room users. Additionally, one can find an active chat room at any time. They are easily accessible and usually free.
But why do people turn towards chat rooms in the first place? People may want to find out new information about a topic area, talk to experts, or be entertained. People may also use chat rooms out of boredom or loneliness. As shown in the study conducted by Caplan entitled “Preference for Online Interaction,” a person’s level of loneliness and depression positively correlated with their preference for online interaction. This is due to a lower opinion of their “social competence” or how they act in social situations. Chat room users have a much greater control of the impression they can make versus face to face partly because cues, such as nonverbal actions, are eliminated. Therefore, psychosocially effected individuals may feel that they can better present themselves online and the risk of rejection is less.
Caplan’s model also indicates that compulsive use most predicts negative outcomes of internet use that can affect one’s life in the non-virtual world (work, job, school work, social lives). Compulsive use of chat rooms- not being able to control when you engage in the activity- can be time consuming and further exacerbates the problem one might have with real life interactions. A chat room addict may become extremely accustomed to interacting online and feel increasingly uncomfortable in interacting in face to face.
Overall, psychosocial problems greatly contribute to one’s use of the internet in a problematic way when it comes to chat rooms and therefore coincides with Caplan’s model. For people who feel they are not socially competent, fellow online chatters may ultimately become their only friends.
Comment 1
Comment 2
Assignment 9…addictinggames.com - gaming addiction for the non-gamers
According to Caplan (2003), problematic internet usage or PIU, is defined as maladaptive cognitions and behaviors that result in negative academic, professional, and social consequences. An online activity or area which I believe is very conducive to promoting these maladaptive cognitions and behaviors is addicting games. Now, I am referring to the extremely addicting, very simple, one player, free online games, not the memory intensive, skill required, knowledge required, often multi player games such as Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo. The largest online compilation of these such games, as far as I have found is www.addictinggames.com. However, I would urge you to finish reading this blog before clicking that link, as you may not return for a long, long time.
The games at addictinggames.com are all free and load instantly or at most within a minute. There are literally thousands of games to choose from and are organized into categories such as, action games, sports games, strategy games, or classics. There is no multi player option, no way to save your current game, no ability to contact or communicate with anyone, be it cmc or ftf, and I will stress, from both personal experience as well as friends experiences, these games can be very, very addictive.
Now, what about this space could lead one to have PIU? Caplan discusses two types of “use,” excessive and compulsive. Addictive behavior is often associated with Caplan’s definition of compulsive use, which is an inability to control one’s online activity with guilt about lack of control. These addicting games fit the mold. Frequently, one will open up to the website to play a game just to kill some time. Several hours later, they are in an epic attempt to complete all 100 levels, despite a test, HW, or school. Clearly, these types of games have a very addictive and compulsive attribute. Another factor which makes these games lead to PIU is their easiness. Seemingly, anyone can go out and find many games which they are good at. Personally, I am horrible at video games and have zero interest in them. However, these pointless and easy addicting games, I love. So as a result of their level of ease, it becomes more of a challenge to beat the game, which is very doable in several hours, rather than master it or become part of a gaming community. Additionally, there is zero ability to communicate, and in fact, playing such games definitely decreases ones amount of socialization and communication. Both these factors (no communication, decreased socialization) are obvious gateways to problematic internet usage. Finally, there is complete and total anonymity within these games.
I believe this example is perhaps an exception to Caplan’s model. As described above, addicting games can lead to highly compulsive behavior. However, I do not believe, in this case, that it fosters psychosocial problems. This fact means there is a break in the chain, and the model is not accurate. Online gambling or pornography, are all inherently more dangerous, in my opinion, and these examples definitely fit Caplan’s model, as they can lead to dangerous clinical issues. I believe addicting games are a lesser evil, and thus not as pertinent of a problem. Now, I’m sure there are exceptions, and in some instances the model will fit for addicting game users. However, for the most part it is not the person’s issues or lack of issues that causes the problems, merely the nature of the website which makes addicting games PIU prone. This statement also rejects the conclusion of Davis, Flett, and Besser, which was that individual differences seem to play an important role in PIU.
As stated, I believe addicting games are a lesser evil than most other PIU prone areas. As a result, I do not believe it has many unique components. Rather, it is a diluted version of several other areas of the web prone to PIU. For example, pornography is partially problematic since it is used as an escape, to a lesser degree so to is addicting games. Gambling is inherently addictive because of the desire for money. Addicting games are inherently addicting as a result of the desire to complete a board or level.
The games at addictinggames.com are all free and load instantly or at most within a minute. There are literally thousands of games to choose from and are organized into categories such as, action games, sports games, strategy games, or classics. There is no multi player option, no way to save your current game, no ability to contact or communicate with anyone, be it cmc or ftf, and I will stress, from both personal experience as well as friends experiences, these games can be very, very addictive.
Now, what about this space could lead one to have PIU? Caplan discusses two types of “use,” excessive and compulsive. Addictive behavior is often associated with Caplan’s definition of compulsive use, which is an inability to control one’s online activity with guilt about lack of control. These addicting games fit the mold. Frequently, one will open up to the website to play a game just to kill some time. Several hours later, they are in an epic attempt to complete all 100 levels, despite a test, HW, or school. Clearly, these types of games have a very addictive and compulsive attribute. Another factor which makes these games lead to PIU is their easiness. Seemingly, anyone can go out and find many games which they are good at. Personally, I am horrible at video games and have zero interest in them. However, these pointless and easy addicting games, I love. So as a result of their level of ease, it becomes more of a challenge to beat the game, which is very doable in several hours, rather than master it or become part of a gaming community. Additionally, there is zero ability to communicate, and in fact, playing such games definitely decreases ones amount of socialization and communication. Both these factors (no communication, decreased socialization) are obvious gateways to problematic internet usage. Finally, there is complete and total anonymity within these games.
I believe this example is perhaps an exception to Caplan’s model. As described above, addicting games can lead to highly compulsive behavior. However, I do not believe, in this case, that it fosters psychosocial problems. This fact means there is a break in the chain, and the model is not accurate. Online gambling or pornography, are all inherently more dangerous, in my opinion, and these examples definitely fit Caplan’s model, as they can lead to dangerous clinical issues. I believe addicting games are a lesser evil, and thus not as pertinent of a problem. Now, I’m sure there are exceptions, and in some instances the model will fit for addicting game users. However, for the most part it is not the person’s issues or lack of issues that causes the problems, merely the nature of the website which makes addicting games PIU prone. This statement also rejects the conclusion of Davis, Flett, and Besser, which was that individual differences seem to play an important role in PIU.
As stated, I believe addicting games are a lesser evil than most other PIU prone areas. As a result, I do not believe it has many unique components. Rather, it is a diluted version of several other areas of the web prone to PIU. For example, pornography is partially problematic since it is used as an escape, to a lesser degree so to is addicting games. Gambling is inherently addictive because of the desire for money. Addicting games are inherently addicting as a result of the desire to complete a board or level.
I <3 Ladainian Tomlinson: Fantasy Football (Assignment 9)
I have been and always will be a sports fanatic. I live and die by my teams, and they can have a significant impact on my mood. In the past ten years, a phenomenon has swept across the sports world-fantasy football. It makes a sports fan's wildest dreams come true, as you draft and control your own team of professional football players. The thought of having complete control of a team of physically gifted athletes gets our (sports fans) blood pumping. Some count down to the months before the NFL season just so the leagues can begin. Your team performance depends on your players' actual performance on Sundays. Everything sounds all nice and great, but as many other things may, fantasy football can and sometimes does lead to Problematic Internet Use.
One issue with fantasy football that contributes to Problematic Internet Use is the additive features it holds. Each fantasy football website has a bevy of features that make it nearly impossible to leave the site. Injury updates, advice on the upcoming week, adding players, dropping players, live scoring updates, etc... These things are enough to keep a sports fan occupied for hours at a time while causing nothing but confusion for an outsider. This leads to both increased Internet use and the formation of in groups and out groups. I will revisit this point later.
In addition, one team never seems enough. I personally have three teams- one with my high school friends, one with my college friends, and one with my camp friends. Let me tell you- it is difficult enough to keep up with one team for a four to five month period with all that goes on in the NFL. The more teams one possesses, the more time they probably will spend online searching for moves to make their team better. And in my experience with fantasy football, it is pretty common that a person may have more than one team.
The final point I would like to make is that Fantasy football ruins Sundays. This is when the most Problematic Internet Use occurs. Many fantasy owners spend ALL DAY on their computer on Sundays, watching football on television while at the same time on their fantasy football website praying that their players come through this week and succeed. There are games at 1 pm, 4 pm, and 8 30 pm on Sunday; that’s ten hours of fantasy football observation online. Therefore, for the dedicated (and addicted) fantasy owners like myself, entire Sundays are wasted away by sitting at the computer watching fantasy football updates.
I would like to revisit my point about fantasy football causing increased internet use and the formation of in groups and out groups. This increase internet use is a problem as seen in Caplan’s Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well Being, as people with psychosocial problems think they have bad social competence, leading to increased internet use, which eventually just worsens the problem. Some would say that people who spend all of Sunday staring at a computer for football updates have psychosocial problems, and that this obsessive use worsens their issues. The Caplan model describes a vicious cycle in which someone with psychosocial problems and negative social competence worsens their problem with increased Internet use, and fantasy football seems like a perfect example of this. In addition, as we have already seen and studied in the class, the formation of in groups and out groups leads to many negative interactions and problems between the groups.
One issue with fantasy football that contributes to Problematic Internet Use is the additive features it holds. Each fantasy football website has a bevy of features that make it nearly impossible to leave the site. Injury updates, advice on the upcoming week, adding players, dropping players, live scoring updates, etc... These things are enough to keep a sports fan occupied for hours at a time while causing nothing but confusion for an outsider. This leads to both increased Internet use and the formation of in groups and out groups. I will revisit this point later.
In addition, one team never seems enough. I personally have three teams- one with my high school friends, one with my college friends, and one with my camp friends. Let me tell you- it is difficult enough to keep up with one team for a four to five month period with all that goes on in the NFL. The more teams one possesses, the more time they probably will spend online searching for moves to make their team better. And in my experience with fantasy football, it is pretty common that a person may have more than one team.
The final point I would like to make is that Fantasy football ruins Sundays. This is when the most Problematic Internet Use occurs. Many fantasy owners spend ALL DAY on their computer on Sundays, watching football on television while at the same time on their fantasy football website praying that their players come through this week and succeed. There are games at 1 pm, 4 pm, and 8 30 pm on Sunday; that’s ten hours of fantasy football observation online. Therefore, for the dedicated (and addicted) fantasy owners like myself, entire Sundays are wasted away by sitting at the computer watching fantasy football updates.
I would like to revisit my point about fantasy football causing increased internet use and the formation of in groups and out groups. This increase internet use is a problem as seen in Caplan’s Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well Being, as people with psychosocial problems think they have bad social competence, leading to increased internet use, which eventually just worsens the problem. Some would say that people who spend all of Sunday staring at a computer for football updates have psychosocial problems, and that this obsessive use worsens their issues. The Caplan model describes a vicious cycle in which someone with psychosocial problems and negative social competence worsens their problem with increased Internet use, and fantasy football seems like a perfect example of this. In addition, as we have already seen and studied in the class, the formation of in groups and out groups leads to many negative interactions and problems between the groups.
Assignment 9- Warcraft Widows
In the course of searching for more information about Warcraft, I came across a blog post by a user who desired to cut down his use of the game. He stated that he didn’t even like playing anymore, but he wasn’t sure if he could stop. Following his post were seemingly hundreds of posts from other users of the game and their loved ones describing the havoc Warcraft was wreaking on their lives. The blog post ended up closely resembling an online support community much like the ones examined in class last week. Comments from “Warcraft widows” were particularly striking. Many spoke of how they were getting ready to leave their husbands because of the excessive amount of time they spent playing Warcraft. The fact that there were so many of these “widows” leads me to believe that Caplan’s model may not be the best to explain this particular instance of PIU. In this model, individuals with psychosocial problems perceive that they aren’t socially competent and thus begin preferring online interaction because it is less threatening than ftf. Their preference for online interaction leads their online use to become obsessive and compulsive, exacerbating their social competence problems. While Warcraft undoubtedly attracts some of these people, many players seem to be perfectly well adjusted before starting to play the game. There were multiple comments on the blog I was looking at from various people who loved someone whose Warcraft use was interfering with their relationship.
In order to determine what makes Warcraft different from other online spaces, I went to its website. In the frequently asked questions, the game’s developers said that the game was always changing, writing, “…we also add new content on a regular basis, thus ensuring that there will always be new adventures, new locations, new creatures, and new items to discover.” It seems that gamers can never truly be finished with the game if new content is constantly added. One of the most telling bits of information I found in the FAQ was this one, “… our quest system provides an enormous variety of captivating quests with story elements, dynamic events, and flexible reward systems.” The “flexible reward system” alluded to sounds a lot like the variable ratio reward schedule that has been found to produce behaviors that are extremely difficult to extinguish. Wallace (1999) listed this type of operant conditioning in her book as one general attribute of Internet spaces that leads to PIU. Another of Wallace’s attributes, the maintenance of virtual presence, may also lead to PIU. Once a Warcraft player joins a guild, they might feel obligated to be online as much as possible to play the game with their guild. In addition, a guild fulfills a player’s need for human interaction, furthering their attachment to the game. When examining various aspects of Warcraft, it seems that the “Warcrack” characterization might be accurate.
9: Fan fiction....You know you want that control
When people think of problematic online use, most think of actions such as online pornography, stalking, gambling and shopping among others, but few think of the online activity I am about to discuss.
Fanfiction is, put simply, fiction written by fans. Going beyond that, it is often fans of certain books, movies, shows etc who take it upon themselves to write stories about the characters involved in the aforementioned categories. These stories may be a continuation of a storyline that was forgotten, a "ship" that was not written in the storyline (a ship is a romantic association between two characters) or a complete alternate universe that includes the characters.
Fanfiction exists in many different places from sites such as livejournal to fanfiction.net. However, all the sites have certain things in common. The reader has the ability to chose between completed and WIP (works in progress) stories, as well as choosing the characters involved, the length of the story and the overall genre. There is always a forum/reviewing option allowing for immediate feedback for the author of the story.
The fanfiction community also has certain guidelines which are usually never explicitly stated yet followed by most users. One is that when writing a story about a particular genre of entertainment, the story will involve the characters and not the actual people playing those roles. Another is that proper English grammar rules will be followed. Third, reviews will be constructive and not just along the lines of "This story sucks" etc.
Although both reading as well as writing fan fiction stories can lead to PIU, I wish to focus on just those who actually write the stories.
Davis, Flett and Besser (2002) list four dimensions for problematic internet use. They are diminished impulse control, loneliness/depression, social comfort, and distraction/procrastination. Since I have never indulged in writing these types of stories, I will use what are termed as authors notes to discuss if the above dimensions exist in this online activity.
Diminished impulse control in when people cannot control themselves online or feel a "high" after indulging in an online activity. This exists in the fanfiction world because there have been many times where authors' notes stated something along the lines of "I know I have homework to do yet I couldn't help but write another chapter". Many authors forgo sleep, and other real world activities in order to update their stories. Many author's also feel bouts of extreme happiness when their story is read (hits received) or reviewed.
Loneliness/depression is when people depend on the Internet for their happiness. I have never seen an author's note that specifically states that the author feels attached to the Internet and cannot survive without it, but it can exist since I know people who have met their best friends through fan fiction and often cannot go even a day without logging in.
Social comfort is when people believe the Internet is more accepting of them then people in real life and also when people use the Internet to expand their social network. This definitely exists in the fan fiction world since I have read many a profile or author's note talking about how the readers are more accepting of a certain writing style than that person's teacher or how friends made fun of that person but the readers online accept him/her. Many people who write for the same category or subtopic within a genre often become extremely close and help each other out with story lines or editing (known as a beta).
Distraction/procrastination is when the Internet is used to avoid participating in real world activities. Fan fiction is a way for people to escape their real world. They have control over the characters in their stories, thereby feeling like they have some control over their actual lives. Fan fiction also provides much activity for procrastination since you can update your story, edit previous chapters, reply to reviews, chat on forums, starts genre communities, or read other stories.
The above four dimensions exist in the fan fiction world making it a prime place for PIU to appear.
Caplan's Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-Being (2003) talks about three main points as outlined in the lecture which are:
1. individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence
2. these individuals prefer online interaction because it is less threatening and they feel more efficacious
3. preference for online interaction leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then worsens their problems (at school, home work)
According to Caplan, the above things occur due to certain Internet affordances such as anonymity, control, less social risk and greater intimacy.
Although there is no way for me to confirm Caplan's three main points since I have never analyzed most of the users in the fan fiction world although I have to mention that many a story is left incomplete due to real world responsibilities showing that not all people who participate in fan fiction become addicted to it. However, some do since some stories (upwords of 100,000 words) are finished in less than a month.
The internet affordances, however, do exist in the fan fiction world. Anonymity is offered by the fact that your profile consists of your username and you are under no obligation to include any other information about you. Control is offered by the fact that you can adjust your profile to fit whatever you want to be as well as having control over the characters in your story. There is less social risk involved since all interactions are mediated and often anonymous allowing for no real world punishment for actions online. There is also greater intimacy since many authors reveal things about themselves through their writing, notes or profiles.
In the fan fiction world, both individual and Internet dimensions allow for PIU to occur. In my humble opinion, in this case, I feel that individual dimensions play more of a part since the community places almost all responsibility of time management and effort in the hands of the users and less on themselves.
First comment
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9.html
Second comment
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9-its-like-porn-only-better.html
Fanfiction is, put simply, fiction written by fans. Going beyond that, it is often fans of certain books, movies, shows etc who take it upon themselves to write stories about the characters involved in the aforementioned categories. These stories may be a continuation of a storyline that was forgotten, a "ship" that was not written in the storyline (a ship is a romantic association between two characters) or a complete alternate universe that includes the characters.
Fanfiction exists in many different places from sites such as livejournal to fanfiction.net. However, all the sites have certain things in common. The reader has the ability to chose between completed and WIP (works in progress) stories, as well as choosing the characters involved, the length of the story and the overall genre. There is always a forum/reviewing option allowing for immediate feedback for the author of the story.
The fanfiction community also has certain guidelines which are usually never explicitly stated yet followed by most users. One is that when writing a story about a particular genre of entertainment, the story will involve the characters and not the actual people playing those roles. Another is that proper English grammar rules will be followed. Third, reviews will be constructive and not just along the lines of "This story sucks" etc.
Although both reading as well as writing fan fiction stories can lead to PIU, I wish to focus on just those who actually write the stories.
Davis, Flett and Besser (2002) list four dimensions for problematic internet use. They are diminished impulse control, loneliness/depression, social comfort, and distraction/procrastination. Since I have never indulged in writing these types of stories, I will use what are termed as authors notes to discuss if the above dimensions exist in this online activity.
Diminished impulse control in when people cannot control themselves online or feel a "high" after indulging in an online activity. This exists in the fanfiction world because there have been many times where authors' notes stated something along the lines of "I know I have homework to do yet I couldn't help but write another chapter". Many authors forgo sleep, and other real world activities in order to update their stories. Many author's also feel bouts of extreme happiness when their story is read (hits received) or reviewed.
Loneliness/depression is when people depend on the Internet for their happiness. I have never seen an author's note that specifically states that the author feels attached to the Internet and cannot survive without it, but it can exist since I know people who have met their best friends through fan fiction and often cannot go even a day without logging in.
Social comfort is when people believe the Internet is more accepting of them then people in real life and also when people use the Internet to expand their social network. This definitely exists in the fan fiction world since I have read many a profile or author's note talking about how the readers are more accepting of a certain writing style than that person's teacher or how friends made fun of that person but the readers online accept him/her. Many people who write for the same category or subtopic within a genre often become extremely close and help each other out with story lines or editing (known as a beta).
Distraction/procrastination is when the Internet is used to avoid participating in real world activities. Fan fiction is a way for people to escape their real world. They have control over the characters in their stories, thereby feeling like they have some control over their actual lives. Fan fiction also provides much activity for procrastination since you can update your story, edit previous chapters, reply to reviews, chat on forums, starts genre communities, or read other stories.
The above four dimensions exist in the fan fiction world making it a prime place for PIU to appear.
Caplan's Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-Being (2003) talks about three main points as outlined in the lecture which are:
1. individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence
2. these individuals prefer online interaction because it is less threatening and they feel more efficacious
3. preference for online interaction leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then worsens their problems (at school, home work)
According to Caplan, the above things occur due to certain Internet affordances such as anonymity, control, less social risk and greater intimacy.
Although there is no way for me to confirm Caplan's three main points since I have never analyzed most of the users in the fan fiction world although I have to mention that many a story is left incomplete due to real world responsibilities showing that not all people who participate in fan fiction become addicted to it. However, some do since some stories (upwords of 100,000 words) are finished in less than a month.
The internet affordances, however, do exist in the fan fiction world. Anonymity is offered by the fact that your profile consists of your username and you are under no obligation to include any other information about you. Control is offered by the fact that you can adjust your profile to fit whatever you want to be as well as having control over the characters in your story. There is less social risk involved since all interactions are mediated and often anonymous allowing for no real world punishment for actions online. There is also greater intimacy since many authors reveal things about themselves through their writing, notes or profiles.
In the fan fiction world, both individual and Internet dimensions allow for PIU to occur. In my humble opinion, in this case, I feel that individual dimensions play more of a part since the community places almost all responsibility of time management and effort in the hands of the users and less on themselves.
First comment
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9.html
Second comment
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9-its-like-porn-only-better.html
You have been outbid!......
With the continued transition of our consumer world into the cyber world one company has really drawn the population and kept them. Ebay, an online auction site has exploded into a multi-million dollar company that sells anything from toast that looks like the Queen Mary to two door Chevy Tahoes. Before I had tried out the whole buying process on eBay, I for some reason looked negatively at those who were obsessed with it. It is possible that my feelings here directly relate to the idea of ingroup and outgroup; I didn't know how the system worked and didn't use it thus it seemed foreign to me and I labeled it as bad. However, when I first entered the eBay world I became obsessed....FAST. This site kidnaps you before you even know what you have got yourself into and before you even have time to look back. I constantly found myself questioning why I continued to bid on items and were somewhat useless to me. It turns out I had become somewhat addicted to the site just like those people I had previously looked down upon. Ironic?
eBay, is one of the best examples one can use to discuss what we(COMM245 class) and Wallace have labeled as a source of Problematic Internet Use. The fact that myself and others look at our behavior and question why we continue to bid and/or even look on the site fulfills the definition of compulsive internet use that Braithwaite, Waldron & Finn label as indicative of Internet Addiction Disorder. Continuing with what Braithwaite, Waldron & Finn discuss, one reason eBay might be addictive is the fact that it gives its customers a sense of control. Consumers know how much they are spending and can control what they bid as well has knowing the seller is trustworthy ( i.e. the seller rating). This supports the notion that those with a high internal locus of control will spend more time online. Additionally, the idea of operant conditioning is ever present in the activity on eBay. The idea here is that when behavior is rewarded on a variable schedule, it is difficult to extinguish. People do not always win the items they bid on, either because the price goes to high or they are just not at a computer when the timing is prime. Therefore the winning occurs sporadically thus becoming not only addictive but much harder to stop. One can also note that eBay definitely has an advantage in the area of "newbie-disease." The idea here being that when a new consumer enters the site they don't know exactly how fast they can become addicted or to what ridiculous extremes their bidding can reach.
Recently my mother has taken to buying jewelry online; do you have any idea how much jewelry is on eBay!? I have watched her not even slowly become engrossed in her computer and the day pass by without her getting anything done and sometimes without her having talked to anyone. This example I pose because it directly supports the ideas of Davis, Flett & Besser (2002) which posit 4 predictors of problematic internet use: diminished impulse control, loneliness/depression, social comfort and distraction/procrastination. The idea of diminished impulse control is that the we begin to think about activities online a lot when we are offline and doing other things. eBay and my mother provide an excellent example of this as I frequently found my mother in the middle of doing chores (i.e. laundry, shopping..etc.) and stopping because she remembered her time was almost up on an eBay item and she had to get back to watch it. I can even remember multiple times over breaks when we had to plan dinner outings or other trips around the time that she had to be back to bid on an item. While I do thing my mother has gone a little crazy with the site, I do understand some of her extensive use. Having recovered from a serious cancer case she is always thinking about her next doctors appointment and the eBay bidding site provides a distraction. All the time she is on the site she is avoiding time in which she would be pondering her health. Not only does this show an example of one of the 4 predictors of problematic internet use but it is also an individual difference. My mother has a pre-existing problem that cause internet addictions. Being sick, she also did her best to stay out of the public eye because it made her more self-conscious of her hair loss during chemo and because she wanted to avoid getting any other minor sicknesses while her immune system was weak. Therefore I could say that this led to feelings of loneliness/depression which is another one of the predictors of internet addiction. On a whole my mother's prior state made her more susceptible to the possibilities of problematic internet disorder. It is interesting how her time online has slowly deteriorated since she fully recovered.....Do we have any information of predictors of recovery from problematic internet use?
This is one of the areas of the internet I find extremely interesting. Nowadays society is so technologically oriented that one can go a whole day solely communicating with people via text, email, and instant messaging. Do these fulfill are needs for not being lonely or is it the actual physical presence of a person that is important.
On another note, it is interesting to look at the corporate work world right now. Many high level associates have portable email devices be it a Palm or a Blackberry. My father has been known to have what we call, " blackberry thumb;" that is he is constantly spinning the wheel on his phone to check if there is any new email. In this way he has not only become addicted to the internet but also to work. This has become a major problem for people today, when they retire they become confused what to do with themselves as they have put their whole selves into a company. It is clear my dad might be one of the cases as I specifically remember a day when he became obsessed with the fact that " there have been no emails today. All is quiet." It was like he yearned for the emails to feel some level of importance, almost as if it made him feel lonely/depressed that people were not emailing and that the act of incoming emails made him feel socially comfortable.
As technology continues to develop even further I believe we will see even greater problems with internet addiction. I mean look.....we can already pre-order our groceries online, thus avoiding any social contact what so ever.....will this increase our loneliness and thus our degree of addiction? It is a cycle that doesn't seem close to being broken.
Best-WB
eBay, is one of the best examples one can use to discuss what we(COMM245 class) and Wallace have labeled as a source of Problematic Internet Use. The fact that myself and others look at our behavior and question why we continue to bid and/or even look on the site fulfills the definition of compulsive internet use that Braithwaite, Waldron & Finn label as indicative of Internet Addiction Disorder. Continuing with what Braithwaite, Waldron & Finn discuss, one reason eBay might be addictive is the fact that it gives its customers a sense of control. Consumers know how much they are spending and can control what they bid as well has knowing the seller is trustworthy ( i.e. the seller rating). This supports the notion that those with a high internal locus of control will spend more time online. Additionally, the idea of operant conditioning is ever present in the activity on eBay. The idea here is that when behavior is rewarded on a variable schedule, it is difficult to extinguish. People do not always win the items they bid on, either because the price goes to high or they are just not at a computer when the timing is prime. Therefore the winning occurs sporadically thus becoming not only addictive but much harder to stop. One can also note that eBay definitely has an advantage in the area of "newbie-disease." The idea here being that when a new consumer enters the site they don't know exactly how fast they can become addicted or to what ridiculous extremes their bidding can reach.
Recently my mother has taken to buying jewelry online; do you have any idea how much jewelry is on eBay!? I have watched her not even slowly become engrossed in her computer and the day pass by without her getting anything done and sometimes without her having talked to anyone. This example I pose because it directly supports the ideas of Davis, Flett & Besser (2002) which posit 4 predictors of problematic internet use: diminished impulse control, loneliness/depression, social comfort and distraction/procrastination. The idea of diminished impulse control is that the we begin to think about activities online a lot when we are offline and doing other things. eBay and my mother provide an excellent example of this as I frequently found my mother in the middle of doing chores (i.e. laundry, shopping..etc.) and stopping because she remembered her time was almost up on an eBay item and she had to get back to watch it. I can even remember multiple times over breaks when we had to plan dinner outings or other trips around the time that she had to be back to bid on an item. While I do thing my mother has gone a little crazy with the site, I do understand some of her extensive use. Having recovered from a serious cancer case she is always thinking about her next doctors appointment and the eBay bidding site provides a distraction. All the time she is on the site she is avoiding time in which she would be pondering her health. Not only does this show an example of one of the 4 predictors of problematic internet use but it is also an individual difference. My mother has a pre-existing problem that cause internet addictions. Being sick, she also did her best to stay out of the public eye because it made her more self-conscious of her hair loss during chemo and because she wanted to avoid getting any other minor sicknesses while her immune system was weak. Therefore I could say that this led to feelings of loneliness/depression which is another one of the predictors of internet addiction. On a whole my mother's prior state made her more susceptible to the possibilities of problematic internet disorder. It is interesting how her time online has slowly deteriorated since she fully recovered.....Do we have any information of predictors of recovery from problematic internet use?
This is one of the areas of the internet I find extremely interesting. Nowadays society is so technologically oriented that one can go a whole day solely communicating with people via text, email, and instant messaging. Do these fulfill are needs for not being lonely or is it the actual physical presence of a person that is important.
On another note, it is interesting to look at the corporate work world right now. Many high level associates have portable email devices be it a Palm or a Blackberry. My father has been known to have what we call, " blackberry thumb;" that is he is constantly spinning the wheel on his phone to check if there is any new email. In this way he has not only become addicted to the internet but also to work. This has become a major problem for people today, when they retire they become confused what to do with themselves as they have put their whole selves into a company. It is clear my dad might be one of the cases as I specifically remember a day when he became obsessed with the fact that " there have been no emails today. All is quiet." It was like he yearned for the emails to feel some level of importance, almost as if it made him feel lonely/depressed that people were not emailing and that the act of incoming emails made him feel socially comfortable.
As technology continues to develop even further I believe we will see even greater problems with internet addiction. I mean look.....we can already pre-order our groceries online, thus avoiding any social contact what so ever.....will this increase our loneliness and thus our degree of addiction? It is a cycle that doesn't seem close to being broken.
Best-WB
Assignment#9 Online shopping
It was my freshman year when I was first introduced to online shopping. Since I am from
Online shopping seems to have many factors that can lead to Problematic Internet Use (PIU). First of all, it has lots of addictive features. Every time you visit the website, it has eye-catching products with advertising phrases that make you think you should not miss this great chance to get these items. It is quite probable that you keep coming back to the website not to miss any good opportunities. When you are shopping, the item you are looking at may be something necessary, but often, it is not the case. However, your rationalization says since it is such a great opportunity, you should be able to find a good deal which you believe it might benefit you. Moreover, most of the online shopping websites have features that would ‘help’ customers to find what they want such as ‘Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed’ and ‘Bestsellers in related categories.’ With these features, your shopping soon would branch out to getting a whole set of outfit when you only wanted to buy a shirt. Something unique or rather irony about online shopping is that many people say that online shopping is faster and more convenient, but these addictive features usually make you spend longer hours on shopping.
Caplan’s theory of PIU and Psychosocial Well-Being can be applied to this PIU. Caplan’s model first says that individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence (Lecture Slide). Indeed, lonely or depressed people usually think they do not look good enough to present themselves in front of others. Shopping is a type of activity that you embellish yourself and try out new style for better looks. Since people with psychosocial problems think that they are not good enough to be part of other people who try new style and they would never be able to find good looks that fit them, they prefer going shopping online. Their preference for online shopping is combined with addictive features of online shopping and eventually, these result in an excessive and compulsive online shopping. As Caplan’s model predicted, this PIU becomes a vicious cycle.
9- MySister = MyDonation to MySpace
One infamous culprit for Caplan’s Problematic Internet Use is MySpace. MySpace, a networking site involving interests, movies, music, and more, has multiple attributes that can provoke problematic Internet use. Unfortunately, my sister suffers from many attributes associated with Problematic Internet Use. But before I have fun psychoanalyzing my sister, I’ll discuss some of the potentially hazardous MySpace lures.
Wallace (1999) mentions that the operant conditioning factor plays an important role in addictive Internet use saying that it operant conditioning is more effective in a synchronous environment. (p. 182) Though MySpace is asynchronous, it still has some very potent operant conditioning features. One feature is the “friend request” feature (This can also be applied to Facebook, which I’m sure has been done a hundred times in this blog by now). Anyway, it works like this; once you’ve signed on and checked your home page, often, or maybe not so often depending on how successful you are at selectively presenting yourself, someone may request to be your friend. Yes, the excitement of being “friend requested” is in fact entrancing to a MySpac-er. One example of this is apparent when you begin to compare the amount of friends that you have (social capital) to the amount of friends your friends have (FRIENDS BLAHHH). Where does operant conditioning fit in? Imagine you’ve been “friend requested” numerous times at each log in. Your “fan-base” is expanding, and you feel this self-acceptance within your group of MySpace friends. Each time you’ve signed on positive reinforcement is taking place. But how do you feel when you sign on and you don’t get a message that says “Would you like to be friends with ‘OnLy <3 BraNdon 4EvEr’?” Obviously, not so good. But, what do you do next? You sign on again, and maybe this time there is a friend request, again reinforcing this sign-on behavior or maybe you’re again left feeling urgent. In some instances, it has gotten so bad that my sister will ‘refresh’ her home page every few minutes to check and see if she has been friended.
Another lure could be MySpace’s intergroup competitiveness of creating the best, most artistically designed page. Way too often, my sister diligently encodes memorized html into boxes that produce extravagant designs and artistic layout. When MySpace is used this way it can certainly become a time consumer.
MySpace does create habitual use as well. Often, my sister will sign onto MySpace almost subconsciously. It may be the very first thing she does when she gets out of bed and the last thing she does before she goes to sleep.
These are just a few poignant features of MySpace that are hazardous but ultimately, the features are endless, when it comes to its potential for Problematic Internet Use. According to an article on www.marketwatch.com written by Andrea Coombes, “Companies are worried about the risk of sharing company secrets and the time spent on such sites [as MySpace and Facebook].” (Oct. 26, 2007) Companies are responding by “restricting time usage on sites like MySpace and Facebook,” according to Coombes.
Reflecting Caplan and Davis’ study observations, my sister has some predisposed conditions that could be a supportive of a preference for Internet use. At one point within the past few years she has been depressed or lonely, which are both conditions that could lead to more Internet use. Here is where Caplan’s psychosocial problems could apply to MySpace. Why wouldn’t someone want to make friends asynchronously and with the removal of gating features (recall McKenna’s facilitation factors)?
More specifically however, if she uses the Internet excessively, according to Caplan, she is more susceptible to PIU and because MySpace is so time consuming, it advocates her excessive use of the Internet.
Likewise, Caplan also discusses the compulsive use of the Internet as a factor in PIU. My sister ritually partakes in MySpace activities and engages in its opportunistic layout and set-up for habituation.
Finally, the operant conditioning features mentioned above can be interwoven with the mood alteration and withdrawal symptoms of PIU mentioned by Caplan. Essentially, because MySpace offers this cult-like language and satisfying condition in relation to “friend requests,” people who use MySpace may be more susceptible to PIU.
Wallace (1999) mentions that the operant conditioning factor plays an important role in addictive Internet use saying that it operant conditioning is more effective in a synchronous environment. (p. 182) Though MySpace is asynchronous, it still has some very potent operant conditioning features. One feature is the “friend request” feature (This can also be applied to Facebook, which I’m sure has been done a hundred times in this blog by now). Anyway, it works like this; once you’ve signed on and checked your home page, often, or maybe not so often depending on how successful you are at selectively presenting yourself, someone may request to be your friend. Yes, the excitement of being “friend requested” is in fact entrancing to a MySpac-er. One example of this is apparent when you begin to compare the amount of friends that you have (social capital) to the amount of friends your friends have (FRIENDS BLAHHH). Where does operant conditioning fit in? Imagine you’ve been “friend requested” numerous times at each log in. Your “fan-base” is expanding, and you feel this self-acceptance within your group of MySpace friends. Each time you’ve signed on positive reinforcement is taking place. But how do you feel when you sign on and you don’t get a message that says “Would you like to be friends with ‘OnLy <3 BraNdon 4EvEr’?” Obviously, not so good. But, what do you do next? You sign on again, and maybe this time there is a friend request, again reinforcing this sign-on behavior or maybe you’re again left feeling urgent. In some instances, it has gotten so bad that my sister will ‘refresh’ her home page every few minutes to check and see if she has been friended.
Another lure could be MySpace’s intergroup competitiveness of creating the best, most artistically designed page. Way too often, my sister diligently encodes memorized html into boxes that produce extravagant designs and artistic layout. When MySpace is used this way it can certainly become a time consumer.
MySpace does create habitual use as well. Often, my sister will sign onto MySpace almost subconsciously. It may be the very first thing she does when she gets out of bed and the last thing she does before she goes to sleep.
These are just a few poignant features of MySpace that are hazardous but ultimately, the features are endless, when it comes to its potential for Problematic Internet Use. According to an article on www.marketwatch.com written by Andrea Coombes, “Companies are worried about the risk of sharing company secrets and the time spent on such sites [as MySpace and Facebook].” (Oct. 26, 2007) Companies are responding by “restricting time usage on sites like MySpace and Facebook,” according to Coombes.
Reflecting Caplan and Davis’ study observations, my sister has some predisposed conditions that could be a supportive of a preference for Internet use. At one point within the past few years she has been depressed or lonely, which are both conditions that could lead to more Internet use. Here is where Caplan’s psychosocial problems could apply to MySpace. Why wouldn’t someone want to make friends asynchronously and with the removal of gating features (recall McKenna’s facilitation factors)?
More specifically however, if she uses the Internet excessively, according to Caplan, she is more susceptible to PIU and because MySpace is so time consuming, it advocates her excessive use of the Internet.
Likewise, Caplan also discusses the compulsive use of the Internet as a factor in PIU. My sister ritually partakes in MySpace activities and engages in its opportunistic layout and set-up for habituation.
Finally, the operant conditioning features mentioned above can be interwoven with the mood alteration and withdrawal symptoms of PIU mentioned by Caplan. Essentially, because MySpace offers this cult-like language and satisfying condition in relation to “friend requests,” people who use MySpace may be more susceptible to PIU.
9. Internet Gamers Anonymous...
Okay… I’ll start off, my name is Taek and I have been internet gaming-free for the past six months. I suffered from problematic internet use in other online psychological spaces as well but for now, we’ll discuss my gaming addiction.
It was never in a particular game, it was just a general phase of non-stop playing. I would start to play these games (mainly StarCraft, WarCraft III, Diablo II, Counter-Strike, Guild Wars, etc.) and because they completely occupied my cognitive resources, I would forget and skip meals, I would intentionally sleep less to maximize play time and then spend my time away from play by browsing the internet for alternate strategies and tips for better game play. This routine did not seem abnormal and it did not seem as if the games would get old anytime soon even though the missions, objective and game play rarely changed. I had unwillingly become obsessed with the control that was present in the virtual world and I had come believe that training to become better at these games would later help me prove something in life. The training would pay off in front of the ever present audience. There was always someone in the games to witness the “ownage” and affirm my 1337 skillz.
Given that the entertainment factors of the games were only secondary factors; the biggest factor for my addiction was one that linked the real world and the virtual world together for me. My real world were themselves problematic internet gamers who played and socialized in the same games. Having them in the games made it seem acceptable that I spent so much time online. The internet had become the place I went to relax.
In this case, the problem wasn’t the individual psychosocial problems that led to excessive use of online gaming. The games did not serve as the outlet for the negative self perceptions or social incompetence as Caplan’s Theory of Problematic Internet use and Psychosocial Well Being theorized. However, given the social benefits that I felt for playing the games (mainly social acceptance among friends and strangers), had depression been present at the time of play, it seems quite possible that the games may have become the exclusive means of interaction with others due to the fact that the internet was less threatening and offered a more effective means of communication.
Although Caplan claims that problematic internet gaming use stems from preference to internet interactions, in my case it was the opposite; problematic internet gaming use perpetuated internet interactions due to its convenience and social benefits. The more I played with online, I uncovered more of the different affordances of internet interaction that I could enjoy. The anonymity allowed me to say whatever I wanted to and not feel bad about it, having greater control over my self-presentation made me more confident when interacting, and I felt no responsibility to appease anyone. But like Caplan's theory, it had become a self perpetuating cycle.
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-9-too-much-gaming-online.html
#9: TMZ.com so trashy, yet so good
Most things are good in moderation but harmful in excess. The internet is no exception. The internet is an amazing creation that helps people stay connected, find information and of course a wonderful tool for procrastination. But what happens when some harmless procrastination, such as TMZ.com (a trashy online celebrity tabloid) gets out of control? What if reading and clicking on pictures on TMZ.com starts affecting your daily activities where you experience negative outcomes in academic, social and professional areas? According to Scott Caplan, such excessive and compulsive behavior that leads to negative outcomes can be considered Problematic Internet Use (PIU). People with psychosocial problems, such as loneliness and depression are most susceptible to PIU because they are socially incompetent. These individuals are thus drawn to the safer, less threatening internet environment. This preference for online interactions reinforces the behavior and excessive/compulsive conduct ensues. A vicious cycle has been formed! TMZ.com is a likely place for people with psychosocial problems to congregate because TMZ.com loves to trash celebrities and show celebrities at their worst moments. What better to make a lonely, depressed person feel better than to look and read about people worse off than you. Don’t tell me that hearing Britney Spears go loco didn’t make you feel a little better about your life. Psychosocial individuals can get addicted to TMZ.com because hearing that other people have problems will make them feel less alone.
TMZ.com also allows viewers to post comments on articles. Psychosocial individuals, who are already prone to PIU, will feel more at ease at posting comments online because of certain characteristics of the internet. For example, all postings are anonymous. This allows individuals with low social competence in FtF interactions to be more socially ambitious online. Anonymity decreases the perceived social risk of stating one’s opinions. Further, anonymity leads to more intense and intimate self-disclosure about ones true beliefs (for example, in regards to the current Hollywood scandal). The anonymity on TMZ.com allows psychosocial individuals to disclose their true feelings about Britney Spears’s antics without fear of social retribution.
Further, TMZ.com is open 24/7 with new and juicy gossip all the time. It is always updated with new photos and new stories. It’s high distractibility or procrastination abilities further PIU, especially in those psychosocial individuals who are already at risk.
TMZ.com also allows viewers to post comments on articles. Psychosocial individuals, who are already prone to PIU, will feel more at ease at posting comments online because of certain characteristics of the internet. For example, all postings are anonymous. This allows individuals with low social competence in FtF interactions to be more socially ambitious online. Anonymity decreases the perceived social risk of stating one’s opinions. Further, anonymity leads to more intense and intimate self-disclosure about ones true beliefs (for example, in regards to the current Hollywood scandal). The anonymity on TMZ.com allows psychosocial individuals to disclose their true feelings about Britney Spears’s antics without fear of social retribution.
Further, TMZ.com is open 24/7 with new and juicy gossip all the time. It is always updated with new photos and new stories. It’s high distractibility or procrastination abilities further PIU, especially in those psychosocial individuals who are already at risk.
9 - Information Junkie
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.
#9 thinking back to freshman year...
For this assignment, I was trying to think of an internet space that may be of problematic use to me. I thought of, at first, my obsession with the Netflix online movies, and even online shopping, but I take advantage of these mostly because of their convenience and ease. Really the only other online space that I use in a problematic way is Facebook. While I, for the most part, abuse Facebook in a way that is more consistent with Wallace's operant conditioning perspective, it is easy to see how abusive use of Facebook could lead to PIU and align with Caplan's model, because all of the affordances of internet interaction apply.
While we all Facebook stalk more than we should as a means of essentially procrastinating and killing time, I think our use of Facebook at the introduction to the Cornell community could be well applied to Caplan's model, because when you enter a new community where you don't really know anyone, you are much more vulnerable, and you desire more control and put much more attention and care in (similar to Wallace's "newbie" perspective). When we first come to Cornell, and perhaps first acquire Facebook (as I did within my first few months here), we are quite vulnerable because not only are we new to the Cornell community, but we are also new to the Facebook community, and our social activity within the Cornell community is put on display on the Facebook community, and there is therefore a lot of pressure to build up a social life. However, the pressure is almost greater to build up an impressive social life on Facebook rather than in real-life FtF, simply because Facebook is easy for everyone to access and scrutinize, and it is also much easier to fake a blossoming social life on Facebook simply by friending as many people as you possibly can, and posting on as many walls as possible, etc.
So because of this initial vulnerability that comes along with being a newcomer to the Facebook (and Cornell) community, this can also contribute to the psychosocial problem of feeling lonely and therefore having perceived low social competence which Caplan identifies as leading to a preference for internet interaction rather than FtF interactions, and because of the affordances of internet interaction that Caplan identifies, the online interactions seem less threatening than FtF interactions, and this can lead to excessive and compulsive online interaction that can detract from real interactions at school. These "affordances of internet interaction" that Caplan identifies are greater anonymity, greater control over self-presentation, more intense and intimate self-disclosure, less perceived social risk, and less social responsibility.
First of all, there is greater anonymity in Facebook because although you may have a profile that identifies your personal information, the majority of time people spend on Facebook is spent wasting time stalking other people, which is done completely anonymously--no one knows who is Facebook stalking who or when. Second, there is obviously greater control over self-presentation on facebook because you can control your profile, carefully craft the information that you disclose and present, tag or untag photos, write on walls, delete unwanted wall comments, adjust privacy settings, etc., until you have your have presented what may be close to your ideal self, which may also be the first impression that someone gets of you. Also, Facebook can allow for more intense and intimate self-disclosure, because people will often post very intimate poetry, thoughts, or feelings in their profile because they don't have to face the way that someone will react to it, and people can also post very intimate inside jokes on other people's walls, and this can all be done very carefully so that intimate information may be disclosed, but not without being carefully thought out and controlled. There is also less perceived social risk on Facebook because you can stalk other people, friend other people, untag photos, and completely control what people are allowed to see in your profile so that they may only be able to see your best photos, and they'll never know who didn't accept your friend request, and who you stalk by the secrecy of your own computer screen all day long. Finally, there is also less social responsibility on facebook, because although there are standards of use (i.e. wall-to-wall reciprocation is considered standard), the responsibilities are much less on facebook because the tasks of accepting friendships, returning wall posts, tagging photos are quite easy and effortless, and are much easier to do on your own terms, rather than, for example, meeting someone for lunch everyday to declare a friendship.
However, because of these affordances, it can be so easy to create and maintain an active social life on Facebook, much more so than maintaining and active FtF social life, and so this, on top of the initial loneliness of perceived low social competence of being new to the Facebook community can easily lead to PIU because it requires little, it can be done on your own terms, and you can create a vivid social life online without even having much of a social life offline, which is so beneficial because it is the online social life that everyone spends so much time stalking anyway. So while Facebook and its easy stalking capabilities don't necessarily have to be problematic, it's properties and affordances lend very easily to a downward spiral of PIU that can cycle and reinforce itself quite dangerously.
Comments:
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9-tmzcom-so-trashy-yet-so-good.html
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-8-piu-facebook-stalking.html
While we all Facebook stalk more than we should as a means of essentially procrastinating and killing time, I think our use of Facebook at the introduction to the Cornell community could be well applied to Caplan's model, because when you enter a new community where you don't really know anyone, you are much more vulnerable, and you desire more control and put much more attention and care in (similar to Wallace's "newbie" perspective). When we first come to Cornell, and perhaps first acquire Facebook (as I did within my first few months here), we are quite vulnerable because not only are we new to the Cornell community, but we are also new to the Facebook community, and our social activity within the Cornell community is put on display on the Facebook community, and there is therefore a lot of pressure to build up a social life. However, the pressure is almost greater to build up an impressive social life on Facebook rather than in real-life FtF, simply because Facebook is easy for everyone to access and scrutinize, and it is also much easier to fake a blossoming social life on Facebook simply by friending as many people as you possibly can, and posting on as many walls as possible, etc.
So because of this initial vulnerability that comes along with being a newcomer to the Facebook (and Cornell) community, this can also contribute to the psychosocial problem of feeling lonely and therefore having perceived low social competence which Caplan identifies as leading to a preference for internet interaction rather than FtF interactions, and because of the affordances of internet interaction that Caplan identifies, the online interactions seem less threatening than FtF interactions, and this can lead to excessive and compulsive online interaction that can detract from real interactions at school. These "affordances of internet interaction" that Caplan identifies are greater anonymity, greater control over self-presentation, more intense and intimate self-disclosure, less perceived social risk, and less social responsibility.
First of all, there is greater anonymity in Facebook because although you may have a profile that identifies your personal information, the majority of time people spend on Facebook is spent wasting time stalking other people, which is done completely anonymously--no one knows who is Facebook stalking who or when. Second, there is obviously greater control over self-presentation on facebook because you can control your profile, carefully craft the information that you disclose and present, tag or untag photos, write on walls, delete unwanted wall comments, adjust privacy settings, etc., until you have your have presented what may be close to your ideal self, which may also be the first impression that someone gets of you. Also, Facebook can allow for more intense and intimate self-disclosure, because people will often post very intimate poetry, thoughts, or feelings in their profile because they don't have to face the way that someone will react to it, and people can also post very intimate inside jokes on other people's walls, and this can all be done very carefully so that intimate information may be disclosed, but not without being carefully thought out and controlled. There is also less perceived social risk on Facebook because you can stalk other people, friend other people, untag photos, and completely control what people are allowed to see in your profile so that they may only be able to see your best photos, and they'll never know who didn't accept your friend request, and who you stalk by the secrecy of your own computer screen all day long. Finally, there is also less social responsibility on facebook, because although there are standards of use (i.e. wall-to-wall reciprocation is considered standard), the responsibilities are much less on facebook because the tasks of accepting friendships, returning wall posts, tagging photos are quite easy and effortless, and are much easier to do on your own terms, rather than, for example, meeting someone for lunch everyday to declare a friendship.
However, because of these affordances, it can be so easy to create and maintain an active social life on Facebook, much more so than maintaining and active FtF social life, and so this, on top of the initial loneliness of perceived low social competence of being new to the Facebook community can easily lead to PIU because it requires little, it can be done on your own terms, and you can create a vivid social life online without even having much of a social life offline, which is so beneficial because it is the online social life that everyone spends so much time stalking anyway. So while Facebook and its easy stalking capabilities don't necessarily have to be problematic, it's properties and affordances lend very easily to a downward spiral of PIU that can cycle and reinforce itself quite dangerously.
Comments:
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9-tmzcom-so-trashy-yet-so-good.html
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-8-piu-facebook-stalking.html
Monday, November 5, 2007
9: Online Shopaholics Anonymous
Some people obsess over Facebook updates. Others like to gamble online. And still others have a thing for Internet porn. Online shopping is my vice. Compared to some other online activities, online shopping (or window shopping) sounds innocent, but as a result of the serious lack of opportunity for closet expansion in the Ithaca area, online browsing and spending is taking up way too much of my time. I recognized my disease last week, after spending an absurd amount of time in a computer lab where I should have been studying for a research methods prelim. But instead of analyzing SPSS data, I spent my time poring over the American Apparel online store and the customer reviews of a specific skirt I was interested in purchasing. Although I do not think I have a psychosocial “issue” that lead me to this online space, I can certainly say that there are more than a few American Apparel customers showing symptoms of PIU. An outrageous number of people are interested in seeing a polyester microfiber tulip skirt in neon orange, and are making their opinions very public on customer feedback pages. In any case, they are doing a good job of maintaining virtual presence.
It is very easy to get carried away while browsing online store to online store. The locus of control an online consumer has is, in many ways, greater than the control one has while shopping in person. ANYTHING can be purchased online, and thanks to sites like eBay and Amazon.com, almost anything can be found at some sort of discount. For some, social comfort and diminished impulse control can lead to disproportionate use of online shopping compared to shopping in person. People who feel uncomfortable trying items on in a department store, or people who would not even want to walk into a store for fear of snooty salespeople, will certainly feel much more comfortable browsing through store inventories in the privacy of their own homes. This idea coincides nicely with Caplan’s idea of self-perceptions of social incompetence, because shopping online is far less threatening experience than trying on bikinis in the dead of winter under miserable fluorescent lighting. The factor that has the greatest influence on my PIU is distraction/procrastination. I’m looking at new shoes for Spring 2008 as I type this very blog.
Computer mediated shopping certainly has the ability to gain preferential status over “real” shopping due to factors of anonymity and heightened private self-awareness, as well. I would never purchase a silver lamé swimsuit in person, purely because I am too afraid of American Apparel’s hipster salespeople seeing me in it. But I will be ordering one online some time before spring break. Now, if only there were online tanning beds…
It is very easy to get carried away while browsing online store to online store. The locus of control an online consumer has is, in many ways, greater than the control one has while shopping in person. ANYTHING can be purchased online, and thanks to sites like eBay and Amazon.com, almost anything can be found at some sort of discount. For some, social comfort and diminished impulse control can lead to disproportionate use of online shopping compared to shopping in person. People who feel uncomfortable trying items on in a department store, or people who would not even want to walk into a store for fear of snooty salespeople, will certainly feel much more comfortable browsing through store inventories in the privacy of their own homes. This idea coincides nicely with Caplan’s idea of self-perceptions of social incompetence, because shopping online is far less threatening experience than trying on bikinis in the dead of winter under miserable fluorescent lighting. The factor that has the greatest influence on my PIU is distraction/procrastination. I’m looking at new shoes for Spring 2008 as I type this very blog.
Computer mediated shopping certainly has the ability to gain preferential status over “real” shopping due to factors of anonymity and heightened private self-awareness, as well. I would never purchase a silver lamé swimsuit in person, purely because I am too afraid of American Apparel’s hipster salespeople seeing me in it. But I will be ordering one online some time before spring break. Now, if only there were online tanning beds…
9 short term PIU
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.
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.
9.0 So...I had this problem once
OK, so I know this is a bit cliche, since the post before me was about online gambling, but I have personally experienced this specific problematic internet use and thought I'd explore it in my blog. The summer between my junior and senior year in high school, I became interested in poker when my boyfriend began spending his Friday nights with the guys playing Texas Hold'em. Being excluded from this activity was no fun, especially when Mike would brag about winning around $40 each week. I definitely wanted to learn how to play so that I could invade the guys night with my superior skills.
Mike taught me how to play and after catching on quickly, I was soon getting paid through the friendly tournaments on Friday nights. The guys certainly underestimated me. At first, it was so much fun just interacting socially with everyone that the game came secondly. However, after awhile, things became a little more serious. When I left for college, I joined a Donlon poker club and preceded to take the majority of the money at the table again after playing the dumb girl card. I know, I know, it's not helping the female image.
Anyways, eventually I couldn't get my poker fix just through playing once a week. I downloaded partypoker and began playing almost every night with fake money. Unfortunately, the play money games seemed pointless since the majority of people went all-in with every hand. The essence of the game was lost. So, of course, I got out my debit card and began playing with the minimum buy-in of $50. It seemed almost immediate that I had doubled my money, but soon everything was gone. I bought back in, lost it, and so on and so forth. The habit began. Eventually, I realized that not only was my bank account suffering, but so was my social life and grades. I put an end to my online poker career by deleting the program from my hard-drive and swearing to quit cold turkey. Fortunately, I did.
Gambling in an online space can lead to problematic internet use because it is always accessible. When I played, I was up until 3 or 4 AM sometimes finishing a tournament. One could play poker any time of day or night and expect to have other people playing too. This brings up another draw to online gambling- its interactive nature. Online gamblers are able to play with other people who have similar passion and knowledge of the game. They are able to interact with these players through the chat option, it also lessens any guilt they might have by knowing that millions of other people are doing it too. Additionally, online poker is easy to do. Amateurs can sit down at a virtual table and not feel judged or inferior, like thy might in a public casino. It is also easy to transfer money and become part of the gambling network.
Online poker applies to the locus of control, since online gamblers feel they have an extent of control over their circumstances. Especially with texas hold'em, people feel like it is a game of skill (in addition to luck), and they have some influence over the end result.
Additionally, online gambling is in a synchronous space, so operant conditioning is a factor. Because online gambling is constantly changing and updating, users can view online games, check stats and join new tables whenever. This constant updating makes it difficult to an over-user to lessen or extinguish use.
Maintenance of virtual presence might be an issue for an online gambler, if he/she wishes to maintain his reputation or status as a "key player," or especially if he has developed a relationship or reputation with other users.
Newbie disease is very evident on online gambling. For me, I was addicted to the program for the first two weeks of use. After that, (and my money was all gone), it began to lose its appeal.
As with most problematic internet use, people who are already predisposed to addictive behavior will most certainly have a difficult time coping with online gambling, as Davis, Flett and Besser state. People who have a predisposed condition might lead them to more problematic internet usage.
Online gambling can also lead to users satisfying their loneliness or boredom, procrastinating or fulfilling a need for social comfort, through the online forum.
In conclusion, online gambling can be a very appealing forum, however, it can also be a breeding place for problematic internet use, as my experience confirms.
Assignment 9: Too Much Gaming Online
Problematic Internet Use, or PIU, refers to spending so much time online it affects other aspects of your life such as academics and personal relationships. Usually one becomes addicted to some sort of aspect of online capability, such as porn or online gambling, but another area of the internet that I think contributes to PIU is actual video games, such as World of Warcraft or Ultima Online. Though it may be a copout to do this assignment on online videogames, I also have a project in Comm 282 about online videogames, so why not talk about something I've already researched.
The first point, according to Caplan, says that PIU is caused by individuals always have negative thoughts in terms of social competence. For example, the confidence to walk up to random people in a social setting and start a conversation. With online videogames, one is almost forced to start conversation whether it be vocally or text-based, in order to succeed in the game. There is no need to worry about what you're wearing, how you look, and what you say. Especially if you are communicating through text-based conversation. There is time to think about what you are going to say.
The second reason that leads to PIU, according to Caplan is individuals feel less threatened in an online space than in reality. There is a sort of comfort with online gaming that individuals have. Whether it be the anonymity or the physical distance, people feel less threatened than in reality where there can be stares or rules, what have you.
The third reason that leads to PIU, according to Caplan, is individual's preference for online interaction. For example, an individual would rather spend time with friends they have made online rather than their friends, or lack their of, in reality. Virtual reality can be a release to indiviuals. No pressure from bosses, parents, etc. No worry of what project is due or what assignment needs to be turned in.
To conclude, I believe all of Caplan's reasons apply except for the first one. I'm not neccessarily sure one could flat out say, people enjoy online gaming because they only have negative thoughts about their social competence. I would imagine someone could be socially competent and still lead to PIU. Is it not possible for a person to be confident, yet still have a cumpulsive need to play online games? As for the unique properties to my space (online gaming), I don't think there is many if any. They are video games, that are being played, but gambling can also be considered games. I do believe there are many outcomes that are possible in online videogames, whereas in gambling, you either win or lose. With videogames online, there is hardly ever an end. It's more like you have successes and failures. Plus, I think the outcomes with videogames have less of an effect on the person. For example, if one loses a huge pot in gambling, I think they would become more infuriated than if they would have been killed by a level 4o paladin. Come on now.......
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=5832116808974264597
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=4225698872532868403
The first point, according to Caplan, says that PIU is caused by individuals always have negative thoughts in terms of social competence. For example, the confidence to walk up to random people in a social setting and start a conversation. With online videogames, one is almost forced to start conversation whether it be vocally or text-based, in order to succeed in the game. There is no need to worry about what you're wearing, how you look, and what you say. Especially if you are communicating through text-based conversation. There is time to think about what you are going to say.
The second reason that leads to PIU, according to Caplan is individuals feel less threatened in an online space than in reality. There is a sort of comfort with online gaming that individuals have. Whether it be the anonymity or the physical distance, people feel less threatened than in reality where there can be stares or rules, what have you.
The third reason that leads to PIU, according to Caplan, is individual's preference for online interaction. For example, an individual would rather spend time with friends they have made online rather than their friends, or lack their of, in reality. Virtual reality can be a release to indiviuals. No pressure from bosses, parents, etc. No worry of what project is due or what assignment needs to be turned in.
To conclude, I believe all of Caplan's reasons apply except for the first one. I'm not neccessarily sure one could flat out say, people enjoy online gaming because they only have negative thoughts about their social competence. I would imagine someone could be socially competent and still lead to PIU. Is it not possible for a person to be confident, yet still have a cumpulsive need to play online games? As for the unique properties to my space (online gaming), I don't think there is many if any. They are video games, that are being played, but gambling can also be considered games. I do believe there are many outcomes that are possible in online videogames, whereas in gambling, you either win or lose. With videogames online, there is hardly ever an end. It's more like you have successes and failures. Plus, I think the outcomes with videogames have less of an effect on the person. For example, if one loses a huge pot in gambling, I think they would become more infuriated than if they would have been killed by a level 4o paladin. Come on now.......
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=5832116808974264597
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2015420513633824972&postID=4225698872532868403
9 – It’s like porn, only better!
I’ve done it, you’ve probably done it, and if you haven’t done it you probably will. Whether it’s watching the latest Soulja Boy rendition featuring Dora the Explorer
or a watching an old man play Final Countdown by farting with his hands,
an increasing amount of time in our lives is being consumed by Internet video (I don’t want to know what you were thinking…). Often the object of inside jokes, viral advertisements, or even entire sub-cultures, internet videos are an underrated, slightly dorky and often overlooked form of entertainment.
Here is a video that comprehensively summarizes all of the internet memes since the beginning of the internet. See how many you recognize. (I am a firm believer that this video can be used as a standalone tool to predict problematic internet use.)
While I have not heard of a case where Problematic Internet Use is caused solely by Internet videos I can definitely see a case in which it plays a major part. I wouldn’t be surprised to see many future cases of Internet Addiction in which YouTube and other video sites play a major part. Even in writing this blog post I found myself demonstrating excessive and compulsive use in choosing YouTube content to include in my post (the hand fart guy does A-Ha – Take on Me and Guns N Roses – Sweet Child of Mine). The Related Videos box in YouTube is my most reviled, yet respected arch-nemesis. It is shocking sometimes how one stupid little 30 second video leads to another and two hours instantly disappear. It is because of this addictive, attention grabbing content that has caused the birth of viral videos. This is a sector sought after by marketing companies who are to capitalize on this addiction.
Because I have never posted a video, I can only imagine how much time regular YouTube celebrities spend on YouTube. Similar to blogging, regular video creators are subject to Wallace’s operant conditioning in which they can broadcast their political opinion, share unique talent, or recite T-Pain lyrics to millions of viewers but on their own schedule. They also have to spend a great deal of time maintaining their virtual presence which is especially important with a richer form of media than blogging or social networks. Newbie disease seems to apply less; I often still get sucked into uncontrollable sessions of video watching even though it is not a new phenomenon for me.
Of Davis, Flett and Besser’s four dimensions for problematic internet use, people spend time on Youtube and other video sites for different reasons. People who will post YouTube videos seem to show more signs of loneliness/depression (e.g. lonelygirl18), whereas other do it for social comfort and the feeling of knowing that other people watch their content. The much wider audience that only watches videos and does not post probably uses it most for my personal favorite reason, distraction/procrastination. I would say that this supports Davis, Fleet and Besser’s conclusion in that individual differences play a role.
I would predict that Caplan’s Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-Being is less supported for people who post videos because it is a richer form of media. People with psychosocial problems and low social competence will probably be more likely to choose other forms of CMC over internet videos for greater interactional control and anonymity. It seems like though some users seek attention because they are lonely, the most successful videos are ones that feature individuals that are very socially competent have few psychosocial problems (though this is not always the case). YouTube videos, however, can increase the feeling of a one to one conversation (although often unidirectional) and lead to more intense and intimate-self disclosure. Of Caplan’s PIU variables, video uploaders would probably experience perceived social benefits and social control. For those who are watching videos, I think compulsivity and mood alteration play very major roles. Sometimes all you need is a kooky internet video to make your day.
What Second Life is actually like
or a watching an old man play Final Countdown by farting with his hands,
an increasing amount of time in our lives is being consumed by Internet video (I don’t want to know what you were thinking…). Often the object of inside jokes, viral advertisements, or even entire sub-cultures, internet videos are an underrated, slightly dorky and often overlooked form of entertainment.
Here is a video that comprehensively summarizes all of the internet memes since the beginning of the internet. See how many you recognize. (I am a firm believer that this video can be used as a standalone tool to predict problematic internet use.)
While I have not heard of a case where Problematic Internet Use is caused solely by Internet videos I can definitely see a case in which it plays a major part. I wouldn’t be surprised to see many future cases of Internet Addiction in which YouTube and other video sites play a major part. Even in writing this blog post I found myself demonstrating excessive and compulsive use in choosing YouTube content to include in my post (the hand fart guy does A-Ha – Take on Me and Guns N Roses – Sweet Child of Mine). The Related Videos box in YouTube is my most reviled, yet respected arch-nemesis. It is shocking sometimes how one stupid little 30 second video leads to another and two hours instantly disappear. It is because of this addictive, attention grabbing content that has caused the birth of viral videos. This is a sector sought after by marketing companies who are to capitalize on this addiction.
Because I have never posted a video, I can only imagine how much time regular YouTube celebrities spend on YouTube. Similar to blogging, regular video creators are subject to Wallace’s operant conditioning in which they can broadcast their political opinion, share unique talent, or recite T-Pain lyrics to millions of viewers but on their own schedule. They also have to spend a great deal of time maintaining their virtual presence which is especially important with a richer form of media than blogging or social networks. Newbie disease seems to apply less; I often still get sucked into uncontrollable sessions of video watching even though it is not a new phenomenon for me.
Of Davis, Flett and Besser’s four dimensions for problematic internet use, people spend time on Youtube and other video sites for different reasons. People who will post YouTube videos seem to show more signs of loneliness/depression (e.g. lonelygirl18), whereas other do it for social comfort and the feeling of knowing that other people watch their content. The much wider audience that only watches videos and does not post probably uses it most for my personal favorite reason, distraction/procrastination. I would say that this supports Davis, Fleet and Besser’s conclusion in that individual differences play a role.
I would predict that Caplan’s Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-Being is less supported for people who post videos because it is a richer form of media. People with psychosocial problems and low social competence will probably be more likely to choose other forms of CMC over internet videos for greater interactional control and anonymity. It seems like though some users seek attention because they are lonely, the most successful videos are ones that feature individuals that are very socially competent have few psychosocial problems (though this is not always the case). YouTube videos, however, can increase the feeling of a one to one conversation (although often unidirectional) and lead to more intense and intimate-self disclosure. Of Caplan’s PIU variables, video uploaders would probably experience perceived social benefits and social control. For those who are watching videos, I think compulsivity and mood alteration play very major roles. Sometimes all you need is a kooky internet video to make your day.
What Second Life is actually like
9.0: Up the Ante
Problematic internet use (PIU): “problematic behavior related to too much time online -- maladaptive cognitions and behaviors involving Internet use that result in negative academic, professional, and social consequences” (Caplan 2004).
There are many areas of the internet that can lead to problematic use. The most prominent thing that comes to my mind is World of Warcraft. However, World of Warcraft seems too cliché for this assignment, so I decided to do it on another game that can be fun and/or addictive. The game that I think could cause excessive use is online Texas Hold ‘em. Not only is it an entertaining game, it also incorporates the aspect of gambling into it.
A reason why Texas Hold ‘em online may be so addictive is because of the first point in Caplan’s theory of PIU. This first point states that individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence. Perhaps a player of online Hold ‘em does not have the confidence in their poker abilities to play against people in real life. Online, they can start over if they lose all of their “money”. However, if playing in real life, they lose real money and are asked to leave the poker table if they do not win. Gamers who play Hold ‘em online may be weary of their social competence when it comes to playing real-life poker.
The above explanation can also be tied to the second aspect of Caplan’s theory. Individuals prefer online interaction because it is less threatening and they feel more efficacious in the online space. Players of poker online feel less threatened because there is no risk of losing money, and no threat of being shown up by more experienced players.
The second part of Caplan’s PIU theory causes preference for online interaction. This leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then worsens their problems (in this case, the playing of online poker). If a player is successful and gains experience and wins “money” through Texas Hold ‘em, they will continue playing until they lose. Then, because they lost, they will want to try to be successful again by playing more, thus creating a cycle.
The PIU cycle is continuous. First, the poker player plays and creates and addiction to the game and the online gambling. By becoming obsessed with the game, they separate themselves from the real world. Because they isolate themselves, they feel more socially incompetent, and continue their problematic internet use.
There are many areas of the internet that can lead to problematic use. The most prominent thing that comes to my mind is World of Warcraft. However, World of Warcraft seems too cliché for this assignment, so I decided to do it on another game that can be fun and/or addictive. The game that I think could cause excessive use is online Texas Hold ‘em. Not only is it an entertaining game, it also incorporates the aspect of gambling into it.
A reason why Texas Hold ‘em online may be so addictive is because of the first point in Caplan’s theory of PIU. This first point states that individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence. Perhaps a player of online Hold ‘em does not have the confidence in their poker abilities to play against people in real life. Online, they can start over if they lose all of their “money”. However, if playing in real life, they lose real money and are asked to leave the poker table if they do not win. Gamers who play Hold ‘em online may be weary of their social competence when it comes to playing real-life poker.
The above explanation can also be tied to the second aspect of Caplan’s theory. Individuals prefer online interaction because it is less threatening and they feel more efficacious in the online space. Players of poker online feel less threatened because there is no risk of losing money, and no threat of being shown up by more experienced players.
The second part of Caplan’s PIU theory causes preference for online interaction. This leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then worsens their problems (in this case, the playing of online poker). If a player is successful and gains experience and wins “money” through Texas Hold ‘em, they will continue playing until they lose. Then, because they lost, they will want to try to be successful again by playing more, thus creating a cycle.
The PIU cycle is continuous. First, the poker player plays and creates and addiction to the game and the online gambling. By becoming obsessed with the game, they separate themselves from the real world. Because they isolate themselves, they feel more socially incompetent, and continue their problematic internet use.
Assignment 9: PIU: Facebook stalking
Facebook stalking allows people to see if their facebook friends (and sometimes other people who you might not be friends with depending on their blocking preferences) have updated their profiles. A person’s facebook friends can consist of many different people including: good friends, acquaintances, or people who you don’t even know. Some people frequently update their profile, while others rarely change their profile. Facebook stalking can be associated with PIU, but not all facebook stalkers have PIU. PIU (problematic internet use) is when there is problematic behavior related to too much time online. I think that there are individual differences between all stalkers that lead some people to develop PIU while others do not. There are certain properties of facebook stalking that are related to the internet, such as maintenance of virtual presence, locus of control, and operant conditioning (Wallace). The maintenance of virtual presence is an online factor that involves Facebook stalking. Facebook stalkers have the ability to update their own Facebook profiles to keep others informed of their interests, relationship status, pictures, etc. These internet properties are present for everyone who participates on facebook, but I think they only have a problematic impact for those with individual differences that are associated with PIU. Locus of Control is the degree to which one feels they have control over their circumstances. Facebook stalkers are in greater control over the way they present themselves in their profiles and they are anonymous in the fact that a person cannot trace who has stalked their profile. Operant conditioning is when a behavior is rewarded with a variable schedule; the behavior is more difficult to extinguish. With such an inconsistent reward schedule, the behavior is more difficult to extinguish. Finding an updated facebook profile is a great reward for those who stalk other people’s profiles. People post new items on their own profile and on other people’s profiles at random times throughout the day, therefore facebook stalkers feel even more compelled to check facebook incessantly. Davis, Flett, and Besser found that PIU is predicted on 4 dimensions including: diminished impulse control, loneliness/depression, social comfort, and distraction/procrastination. If a person is lacking social comfort she/he will be more relieved if she/he can use facebook as an online space to observe people instead of having a FTF interaction. Also, there might be a frequent need to keep looking at facebook if a person is looking for a distraction. According to Caplan’s model of problematic internet behavior, facebook stalking is problematic for those who do so compulsively. This occurs when a person cannot control their facebook stalking along with guilt about lack of control. The behavior is also problematic when stalkers check facebook profiles an excessive amount. Caplan’s model of problematic internet behavior hypothesizes that individuals who have low social competence and psychosocial problems have a preference to interact with others using the internet rather than FTF. This can cause compulsive use of the internet. In conclusion, I don’t think that all facebook stalkers have problematic internet use, only those with individual differences related to PIU, including depression/loneliness and low social competence, which prefer facebook for social interaction, who will excessively and compulsively stalk facebook profiles.
As9, Human Pets
Problematic Internet use is when a user no longer has the personal discipline to control his or her time spent online, which leads to an array of negative but some positive consequences. In this blog post I will refer to facebook and address a recent addiction I have had with the networking website. I few blog posts ago I wrote about my facebook and how one might interpret the type of person I am according to my facebook profile. This inspired me to spice up my profile according to the type of person I am to more accurately represent myself. In doing so I came across the sub networking application human pets on facebook. As explorative as I am I just had to check out this fascinating sounding program. Human Pets application is based on the idea that you can search for, care for, and buy/sell other people also using the application similar to a pet store. It of course is based on profile each user creates and pictures they can post of themselves. I soon started checking my human pets application many times a day to see if I had been sold, bought, if I had any new messages. Before I knew it my price had raised to 40 thousand points which is more than most people have. This was the result of 2 girls “fighting” over ownership of me. I wont lie this made me feel kind of “popular” in a way, and started my addiction to this fascinating new program known as Human Pets. Caplan in 2004 described Problematic Internet use as “problematic behavior related to too much time online.” Caplan believed that this problematic use resulted in only negatieve outcomes as a result. However as an actually PIU suffer I can assure those that wish to question me that not all outcomes are negative. Caplan’s theory of problematic internet use and psychosocial well being says that “Individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence.” This part of the theory I can agree with in my situation to an extent. Before I really used the internet to talk with others I had a very negative view of myself and my image, however since then because of how I have been treated online my confidence has grown significantly and I am most of the time very comfortable in FtF social situations. The next part of Caplans theory says “These individuals prefer online interactions because it is less threatening and they feel more efficacious.” Again I agreed to this at first, but now I much prefer to meet people socially in FtF than online because of the huge amount more you can get to know faster about the person. Online you may talk to someone for a few days a couple hours a day and learn less then you can in one of two days of FtF interaction. The last part of Caplans theory says “Preference for online interactions leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction which then worsens their problems.” I totally disagree with this part of the theory, before I used to computer to initiate social interactions with people I was terrible at meeting someone and continuing a conversation. I was at the point where it was not even an option, but since I have spent time doing it online and building confidence I have been able to in FtF communication start and maintain many more interactions then before I practiced online. As closure to this post I stat that I do in fact disagree with Caplan more then I agree with his theories. Although I do understand how his theories could apply to someone fresh to the CMC world after time has been spent on there and real life FtF interactions have been experienced I believe that persons are able to more easily able to perform in the real world because of the practice they have had online. As I think about it, it is almost like school. You learn in the classroom in order to perform in the outside world, and with the cut down on field trips over the years apparently we don’t think that more and more time spent in a classroom environment will hurt your performance in the world. I see this classroom example and the Internet example as equals…
9. Too Many Photos?
The internet is a very unique environment with multiple unique spaces throughout the net and many of these spaces have been very helpful for many individuals. However, many of these spaces also have certain elements that can cause certain individuals to develop problematic internet use (PIU). One of these internet spaces is the photo application on Facebook. This application allows individuals to upload and tag photos into albums on their profile. Then, individuals’ friends can make comments on the photos that have been uploaded.
The photo application can be addictive because it can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There also is not limit to the number of photos that you can load onto your profile (except for a 60 photo limit per album). This application also allows for a great deal of selective self-presentation because each individual can choose to upload photos that reflect how they want to be perceived from their Facebook profile and leave off pictures that would hurt this image. This can often cause individuals to want to constantly be looking through their hundreds of photos to ensure that the image they want to portray is being portrayed.
The application also allows individuals to “bask in reflective glories” by uploading photos with friends that they want to be associated with. This not only aids in their selected self-presentation, but also allows them to help build and strengthen their real life relationships. If someone is feeling depressed or lonely, they can log into Facebook and look through their photos to remember times in the past when they weren’t in a depressed mood. Also, by commenting on photos you help to build relationships by showing that you look and like your friends’ photos. If someone doesn’t have a lot of social relationships they may come to rely heavily on these online ways of communicating.
Caplan’s model of Problematic Internet Use and Psychological Well-Being does fit the Facebook photo application. As mentioned before, people who are depressed or lonely (a psychosocial problem) will have a lower social competence. Then, these depressed and/or lonely individuals who prefer to interact online will find the internet to be a less threatening place to interact, in this case because they can easily manage the self that they present. This will then cause them the excessively and compulsively use the internet, leading to negative outcomes such as damaged social relationships, which restarts the whole cycle of problematic internet use.
One thing that is especially unique about this space though is that it can also cause problematic internet use in someone who does not necessarily have a psychosocial problem, but are in long distance relationships. For example, one of my friends from the NYCKI Board that I wrote about in my blog on online communities loves to tag photos on Facebook and comment excessively on them. He’s great at interacting with people and does not have a psychosocial problem, but because this community that he is heavily invested in is spread out, his use of the photo application becomes excessive because he sees it as a way to interact with the other members of the community while we are not in the same physical space. Just this past weekend, he has already commented on well over 50 photos of other members of the NYCKI board and uploaded 2 albums worth, all within just 24 hours.
Comments:
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/8-google-image-labeleraka-google-time.html
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-9-warcraft-widows.html
The photo application can be addictive because it can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There also is not limit to the number of photos that you can load onto your profile (except for a 60 photo limit per album). This application also allows for a great deal of selective self-presentation because each individual can choose to upload photos that reflect how they want to be perceived from their Facebook profile and leave off pictures that would hurt this image. This can often cause individuals to want to constantly be looking through their hundreds of photos to ensure that the image they want to portray is being portrayed.
The application also allows individuals to “bask in reflective glories” by uploading photos with friends that they want to be associated with. This not only aids in their selected self-presentation, but also allows them to help build and strengthen their real life relationships. If someone is feeling depressed or lonely, they can log into Facebook and look through their photos to remember times in the past when they weren’t in a depressed mood. Also, by commenting on photos you help to build relationships by showing that you look and like your friends’ photos. If someone doesn’t have a lot of social relationships they may come to rely heavily on these online ways of communicating.
Caplan’s model of Problematic Internet Use and Psychological Well-Being does fit the Facebook photo application. As mentioned before, people who are depressed or lonely (a psychosocial problem) will have a lower social competence. Then, these depressed and/or lonely individuals who prefer to interact online will find the internet to be a less threatening place to interact, in this case because they can easily manage the self that they present. This will then cause them the excessively and compulsively use the internet, leading to negative outcomes such as damaged social relationships, which restarts the whole cycle of problematic internet use.
One thing that is especially unique about this space though is that it can also cause problematic internet use in someone who does not necessarily have a psychosocial problem, but are in long distance relationships. For example, one of my friends from the NYCKI Board that I wrote about in my blog on online communities loves to tag photos on Facebook and comment excessively on them. He’s great at interacting with people and does not have a psychosocial problem, but because this community that he is heavily invested in is spread out, his use of the photo application becomes excessive because he sees it as a way to interact with the other members of the community while we are not in the same physical space. Just this past weekend, he has already commented on well over 50 photos of other members of the NYCKI board and uploaded 2 albums worth, all within just 24 hours.
Comments:
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/8-google-image-labeleraka-google-time.html
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/assignment-9-warcraft-widows.html
Assgn.9- Music to your soul
The world online has endless opportunities. From gambling to shopping you rarely find yourself bored online. People who are depressed/lonely especially, find something online to do that they can either relate to or can make them happy. One such item is downloading music.
They say music is therapy to the soul. Its rhythms and words can heal wounds of the heart and can make any person feel better about life. The music industry however is a very profitable business and at 15 dollars a CD, an expense that many simply cannot afford. This is when the light shines through the clouds and shines on peer to peer file sharing networks. Programs such as Limewire, Kazaa, DC ++, and Grokster are booming in popularity. Users are able to download pretty much any type of music they are in the mood for by a simple search and a fairly quick download. Best part about these programs...its FREE. This can lead to PIU
(problematic internet usage) because users will spend constant time online downloading music. They will build their music library to the extreme just to have music of all varieties right on their computer. Focus comes off of homework, research, email or other important tasks on the computer because once you start downloading, you keep thinking of new songs that you want to hear. As soon as you hear a new song on the radio, you rush home to download it so that its accessible to you at any time.
Many factors are described by Davis 4 dimensions. Users have diminished impulse control because they simply cannot help but download the music. When feeling lonely or depressed for some, music is that drug or distraction to make everything seem better. Also some feel that if they know many types of music then they will be more socially acceptable. When a hot song comes out that everyone knows, being able to sing the song along with others or spit the hottest rap song on BET 106&Park makes you feel as part of that group and not as alone. Also people may see you differently based on your musical tastes and knowledge. The internet factors are also a huge factor in the attraction to file sharing networks. These networks are very accessible to any interested user. Downloading the program is a quick process and you can download it onto almost any computer anywhere. Also if you have a laptop with a wireless internet connection, you can listen to music and download where ever you are at any point of the day. The affordability also comes into play. Where else could you get endless music at any time for the low price of free? Sites such as iTunes and Yahoo! have music for download but you have to pay for each individual song. Hence, why these networks are not so widely used.
Caplans concept of compulsive use is seen in these users. Their inability to control the downloading is accompanied with the feeling of guilt over the lack of control. It is known that although file sharing is free and convenient, bottom line is that it is illegal. We are stealing licensed music from artists who are essentially losing money because less CDs are being bought as you can just get the music online for free. Also guilt may cross ones mind about putting spyware or other possible viruses on your computer system. In the end, music downloading is an important part of our online networking and will continue to be as users lean towards music for fulfillment. As the need of fulfillment continues, so will the development of PIU.
Comments:
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9_online_shopaholics_anonymous.html
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9_its_like_porn_only_better.html
They say music is therapy to the soul. Its rhythms and words can heal wounds of the heart and can make any person feel better about life. The music industry however is a very profitable business and at 15 dollars a CD, an expense that many simply cannot afford. This is when the light shines through the clouds and shines on peer to peer file sharing networks. Programs such as Limewire, Kazaa, DC ++, and Grokster are booming in popularity. Users are able to download pretty much any type of music they are in the mood for by a simple search and a fairly quick download. Best part about these programs...its FREE. This can lead to PIU
(problematic internet usage) because users will spend constant time online downloading music. They will build their music library to the extreme just to have music of all varieties right on their computer. Focus comes off of homework, research, email or other important tasks on the computer because once you start downloading, you keep thinking of new songs that you want to hear. As soon as you hear a new song on the radio, you rush home to download it so that its accessible to you at any time.
Many factors are described by Davis 4 dimensions. Users have diminished impulse control because they simply cannot help but download the music. When feeling lonely or depressed for some, music is that drug or distraction to make everything seem better. Also some feel that if they know many types of music then they will be more socially acceptable. When a hot song comes out that everyone knows, being able to sing the song along with others or spit the hottest rap song on BET 106&Park makes you feel as part of that group and not as alone. Also people may see you differently based on your musical tastes and knowledge. The internet factors are also a huge factor in the attraction to file sharing networks. These networks are very accessible to any interested user. Downloading the program is a quick process and you can download it onto almost any computer anywhere. Also if you have a laptop with a wireless internet connection, you can listen to music and download where ever you are at any point of the day. The affordability also comes into play. Where else could you get endless music at any time for the low price of free? Sites such as iTunes and Yahoo! have music for download but you have to pay for each individual song. Hence, why these networks are not so widely used.
Caplans concept of compulsive use is seen in these users. Their inability to control the downloading is accompanied with the feeling of guilt over the lack of control. It is known that although file sharing is free and convenient, bottom line is that it is illegal. We are stealing licensed music from artists who are essentially losing money because less CDs are being bought as you can just get the music online for free. Also guilt may cross ones mind about putting spyware or other possible viruses on your computer system. In the end, music downloading is an important part of our online networking and will continue to be as users lean towards music for fulfillment. As the need of fulfillment continues, so will the development of PIU.
Comments:
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9_online_shopaholics_anonymous.html
http://comm245green.blogspot.com/2007/11/9_its_like_porn_only_better.html
#9 Vegas Baby... (Online) Vegas!
Online gambling has long been at the forefront of behaviors considered "problematic." This observation undoubtedly has a lot of merit. Gambling incorporates locus of control and variable reward scheme, two elements which are identified by Wallace as linking to Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Gamblers rely on chance and probability to dictate their winnings (or losses). The fact that gamblers are rewarded at irregular intervals when betting induces a more addictive effect. The effect is similar when the locus of control is shifted to outside factors instead of the individual. While the variable reward scheme is an aspect of the environment (both online and offline), most of the factors that make gambling problematic are individual factors. Gamblers are often cited for their diminished impulse control and with gambling becoming ever more accessible with its migration online it has become less of an activity and more of a distraction for many people. These are two of the dimensions listed by Davis, Flett & Besser as being predictors for PIU.
More and more research is pointing towards online gambling becoming a refuge for gamblers who want to hide their behavior. A 2002 study (Ladd & Petry) compared online gambling to other forms of gambling like lottery tickets, sports betting, card games, and even bingo. Although online gambling was the least common gambling activity recorded (just over 8% of participants), the researchers noted that the majority of online gamblers had the most serious gambling problems. The online gamblers were also the participants most likely to be unmarried, have lower forms of education, and have lower incomes. All of these factors could further contribute to another predictive problem, as identified by Davis et al, loneliness/depression.
In regards to Caplan's claim that PIU stems from the notion of "excessive and compulsive use", gambling is more accessible now that it is online. This increased accessibility allows a gambler's problematic habit to be fed at any time and for longer periods of time. As gambling addiction has been a problem long before the advent of the internet, trying to fit online gambling into Caplan's "vicious cycle" seems a bit contrived. However, it should be noted that some of the broader aspects of Caplan's theory (like excessive and compulsive use) play a large role in problematic gambling.
Gambling can be an addictive habit online or offline. However, an addiction is more likely to grow and cause serious problems if it is easily hidden. For compulsive gamblers, the internet provides a perfectly anonymous and easily hidden conduit to continue this habit.
More and more research is pointing towards online gambling becoming a refuge for gamblers who want to hide their behavior. A 2002 study (Ladd & Petry) compared online gambling to other forms of gambling like lottery tickets, sports betting, card games, and even bingo. Although online gambling was the least common gambling activity recorded (just over 8% of participants), the researchers noted that the majority of online gamblers had the most serious gambling problems. The online gamblers were also the participants most likely to be unmarried, have lower forms of education, and have lower incomes. All of these factors could further contribute to another predictive problem, as identified by Davis et al, loneliness/depression.
In regards to Caplan's claim that PIU stems from the notion of "excessive and compulsive use", gambling is more accessible now that it is online. This increased accessibility allows a gambler's problematic habit to be fed at any time and for longer periods of time. As gambling addiction has been a problem long before the advent of the internet, trying to fit online gambling into Caplan's "vicious cycle" seems a bit contrived. However, it should be noted that some of the broader aspects of Caplan's theory (like excessive and compulsive use) play a large role in problematic gambling.
Gambling can be an addictive habit online or offline. However, an addiction is more likely to grow and cause serious problems if it is easily hidden. For compulsive gamblers, the internet provides a perfectly anonymous and easily hidden conduit to continue this habit.
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