Addiction and Entertainment Products

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