How addicted are we to the internet, and how much can this technology affect our lives? To answer these questions, an English university has developed a scale to measure internet addiction.
Researchers at the United Kingdom’s University of Surrey developed five different profiles of internet users, classified according to their usage habits and emotional dependency. According to them, around 40% of all online users are addicted to the internet.
Published in the Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, this study included 796 participants and introduces a new spectrum of addiction by classifying internet users into five groups.
First, there are the so-called casual users, the least numerous, who represent 14.86% of the panel. These are people who log on for specific tasks without dwelling on anything else. They show no signs of dependency, and have an average age of just over 33 – the oldest of the five categories.
Next are initial users (22.86%), who may tend to spend a little longer online than planned, sometimes at the risk of neglecting certain household chores. Nevertheless, they wouldn’t consider themselves addicted. Their average age is 26.
Then there are the experimenters (21.98%). These are individuals who become relatively anxious when they are no longer connected.
Most of the time, they’re curious and open to trying out new services or apps, even if it means spending even more time connected. Their average age is around 23 (between 22.8 and 24.3).
The fourth category concerns those in denial (17.96%) about addiction. These are people with clearly addictive behaviour, favouring online contacts to the detriment of their responsibilities (work, social life) in the real world.
However, they do not admit to feeling ill at ease when they’re no longer connected.
Finally, there are the addicts (22.36%), those who have no qualms about admitting their dependence on the internet, including sometimes acknowledging its negative impact on their lives. They are the most confident in using new technologies.
The study also reveals that individuals aged 24 and under spend an average of six hours a day online – mostly on their smartphones – compared with 4.6 hours for those over 24.
“Our main aim was to clarify the difference between using the internet in a problematic way and being addicted to it,” explained lead author Brigitte Stangl. “We found that the younger you are, the more likely you are to be addicted, and this tendency decreases with age.”
The researchers found no link between gender and online behaviour.