Anxiety related coping styles, social support and Internet Use Disorder

[[abstract]]For some persons, the “offline world” is full of frustrations, mortifications, and disappointing relationships. This might be, in particular, the case for lonely, shy, and/or socially anxious individuals. For these groups of persons, the “online world” might offer a promising alternative with its abundant possibilities to cope with one’s own disappointments in everyday life [e.g., Refs. (1–6)]: In detail, social media and messenger applications offer possibilities to connect with other humans and to seek for approval and acceptance (3, 7, 8). Gaming platforms can provide fun but can also be a cathartic outlet to release aggression (9) and an escape from real-life challenges (10). From this perspective, for some individuals, the online world could be perceived as more attractive than the offline world. Therefore, the online world might resemble a safe refuge from disappointments of the offline life and may even function as a short-term remedy but with the risk of developing addictive Internet use [see, for example, Model of Compensatory Internet Use by Kardefelt-Winther (11)]