Beyond internet addiction. A new framework to understand risks and benefits of being online

This paper introduces a research whose purpose is to investigate the relationships between online and offline lives. Starting by the concept of functional organ (Leont'ev, 1972) and inverse instrumentality (Ekbia & Nardi, 2012), the goal of this study is trying to define a model able to predict why some people have their life empowered by the web and while others get trapped in the problematic use. The model, designed after a deep analysis of existing literature, takes into account online behaviors, self-control traits, life satisfaction and online and offline social activity; in order to understand when intense use of the internet can become empowering or problematic