Internet addiction: When the positive emotions are not so positive

摘要

In recent years, the internet has revolutionized how people interact with each other and with technology. Though enhanced internet capabilities facilitate the creation of positive use emotions, continual usage may create an imbalance of positive reinforcements in the user's life, thus promoting the abuse, or overuse, of the Internet. This imbalance could become a habit-forming behavior that may lead to a problematic dependency on the internet. People suffering from symptoms of depression, loneliness and unhappiness are more likely to develop an internet addiction. The study tries to show how perceived positive emotions can be a factor that drives individuals to use the internet to cope with negative daily emotional struggles. This continued excessive internet use often leads to Internet addiction, which once established, the level of positive emotions that serve as a factor reinforcing the continued use of the internet, are weakened. As a result, individuals are so intrigued by the positive impacts and emotions generated by internet use that they do not see that their maladaptive behavior is failing to subside negative feelings and rather increases them for the longer term. As a result, the coping strategy in these individuals may eventually take a turn in the opposite direction and impact a user more negatively than positively. Using coping theory, the study explains how internet addiction influences both positive and negative emotions and does not have the desired effect. It also examines how internet addiction affects various emotional states, including depression, loneliness, happiness and life satisfaction. A model is proposed, tested and validated with SEM techniques to data collected from 251 participants.