Addiction and Entertainment Products

Technological forms of entertainment have become increasingly popular among both adults and adolescents. However, there have been a growing number of reports about excessive use of entertainment technology and potentially addictive use (e.g., to video games, mobile phones, the Internet, etc.). The present chapter briefly overviews addiction to these entertainment products (i.e., “technological addictions”) by defining addiction and arguing that technological addictions are a type of behavioral addiction. The chapter also reviews the empirical literature concerning online gaming addiction and social networking addiction, as well as examining the differences between Internet gaming addiction and Internet addiction. The chapter demonstrates that issues encountered by contemporary researchers and clinicians regarding the assessment of online addictions appear complex and include several factors. It is concluded that there is a clear need to distinguish between addictions to the Internet and addictions on the Internet. Gambling or gaming addicts who chooses to engage in online gambling and gaming are not Internet addicts – the Internet is just the place where they conduct their chosen (addictive) behavior. Based on empirical research, it is evident that excessive entertainment technology use appears to be at least potentially addictive. Further research is needed on whether activities such as video game addiction and Internet addictions such as social networking addiction are distinct clinical entities.