Internet study finds 6 percent of users are
addicts
Posted at 12:54 a.m. PDT Monday, August 23, 1999
BOSTON (AP) -- Almost 6 percent of Internet users suffer from some form of
addiction to it, according to the largest study of Web surfers ever conducted. ``Marriages
are being disrupted, kids are getting into trouble, people are committing illegal acts,
people are spending too much money. As someone who treats patients, I see it,'' said David
Greenfield, the therapist and researcher who did the study.
The findings, which were released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American
Psychological Association, appear likely to bolster the expanding acceptance of compulsive
Internet use as a real psychological disorder.
Kimberly Young, a pioneer in the new field of research, said the latest study is
so broad that it ``adds a layer of legitimacy to the concern that Internet addiction is
real.''
However, the 6 percent figure is lower that some estimates of 10 percent or more
stemming largely from research on college students.
Greenfield, who is a psychologist in West Hartford, Conn., carried out the study
jointly with ABC News. He collected 17,251 responses to an Internet use questionnaire
distributed and returned through the Web site ABCNEWS.com.
He adapted his questions from a widely used set of criteria for gambling
addiction. For example, the questionnaires asked if participants had used the Internet to
escape from their problems, tried unsuccessfully to cut back, or found themselves
preoccupied with the Internet when they were no longer at the computer.
If participants answered ``yes'' to at least five of 10 such criteria, they are
viewed as addicted. A total of 990 participants, or 5.7 percent, did answer ``yes'' to
five or more questions. With an estimated 200 million Internet users worldwide, that would
mean that 11.4 million are addicts.
The question about using the Internet as an escape yielded more ``yes'' answers
than any other: 30 percent.
Greenfield's analysis of the data suggests that Internet users' feelings of
intimacy, timelessness and lack of inhibition all contribute to the addictive force of the
Internet.
``There's a power here that's different than anything we've dealt with before,''
said Greenfield.
Researchers did caution that, while one of the best estimates yet, the 6 percent
figure is based on a group of people who use only one Web site, however broadly aimed. The
questionnaire also followed ABC news coverage on Internet addiction, so relatively more
compulsive users might been drawn to the survey.
Researchers said Internet addiction will ultimately be broken down into several
categories, perhaps revolving around sex and relations, consumerism, gambling, stock
trading, and obsessive Internet surfing for its own sake.
Therapists at the psychology meeting said they have successfully treated some
Internet addicts, often with a mix of talking sessions and programs aimed more narrowly at
reducing a sharply defined set of behaviors.
