MEDIA ADDICTS IN SERBIA: PROBLEM DIMENSIONS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Ljubiša Bojić

DOI Number
-
First page
681
Last page
693

Abstract


Advances in mobile devices technology enabled media access anywhere and anytime. The appearance of social networks opened new realms of life simulation, potentially boosting media addictions. Personal characteristics in combination with stressful situations may be causing repression of inner impulses, thus provoking some psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety or loneliness. In this situation, person might look into characteristics and content of different media to find the one which addresses his or her repressed impulses, thus enabling “simulation of life”. Person susceptible to one addiction might at some point decide to change it with another one, like alcohol or drugs use. The results of this research indicate that materialistic persons oriented towards societal success are more likely to become media addicts. Stressful situations coming from family, workplace, education and moral and ethical norms are strongly linked to media addiction. Family as a liberating agent has been found to correlate with a decrease in levels of media addiction. The repression of inner impulses has been increasing with levels of media addiction. Media addiction has been increasing with those research participants with feelings of happiness tied to shopping.


Keywords

personal attributes, stressful situations, repression of inner impulses, psychological conditions, nature of media.

Full Text:

PDF

References


American Psychiatric Association (1995). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Anderson, D. R., Collings, P. A., Schmitt, K. L. & Jacobvitz, R. S. (1996). Stressful Life Events and Television Viewing. Communication Research, 23(3): 243-260. doi: 10.1177/009365096023003001.

Anderson C. A. & Bushman B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53: 27–51.

Bojic, Lj. (2013). Process of Media Addiction and Its Implications to Political Participation in Serbia. l’Institut d’études politiques de Lyon, Soutenue le 07-11-2013 à Lyon 2 , dans le cadre de École doctorale Histoire, géographie, aménagement, urbanisme, archéologie, sciences politiques, sociologie, anthropologie (Lyon) , en partenariat avec Triangle, action, discours, pensée politique et économique (Lyon) (laboratoire).

Branković, S. (2014). Methodology of Social Research. Belgrade: Institute for Textbooks.

Bjork, J. M., Dougherty, D. M. & Moeller F. G. (1997). A positive correlation between self-ratings of depression and laboratory-measured aggression. Psychiatry Research, 69: 33–8.

Chen, Y. F. (2004). The Relationship of Mobile Phone Use to Addiction and Depression amongst American College Students. Moblie Communication and Social Change, 10: 1-594.

Donnellan, M. B., Trzesniewski, K. H. & Robins R. W. (2005). Low self-esteem is related to aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. Psychological Science, 16: 328–35.

Douglas, A. C., Mills, J. E., Niang, M., Stepchenkova , S., Byun, S., Ruffini, C., Lee, S. K., Loutfi, J., Lee, J. K, Atallah, M. & Blanton, M. (2008). Internet addiction: Meta-synthesis of qualitative research for the decade 1996–2006. Computers in Human Behavior, 24: 3027–3044.

Freya, B. S., Benesch, C. & Stutzer, A. (2007). Does Watching TV Make Us Happy? Journal of Economic Psychology , June, 28 (3): 283-313. doi:10.1016/j.joep.2007.02.001.

Grusser, S. M., Thalemann, R., Albrecht, U., & Thalemann, C. N. (2005). Excessive computer usage in adolescents—a psychometric evaluation. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, 117: 5–6, 188–195.

Huh, S. & Bowman, N. D. (2008). Perception of and Addiction to Online Games as a Function of Personality Traits. Journal of Media Psychology, 13 (2).

Kershaw, S. (2005). Hooked on the Web: Help Is on the Way. The New York Times. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/01/fashion/thursdaystyles/01addict.html?pagewanted=print. Accessed on January 25, 2010.

Ko, C. H., Yen J. Y. & Yen, C. F. (2007). Factors predictive for incidence and remission of internet addiction in young adolescents: a prospective study. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10: 545–51.

Kraut, R., Lundmark, V., Patterson, M., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53: 1017-1031.

Kubey, R. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002). Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor. Scientific American.com. URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=television-addiction-is-n-2002-02. Assessed on December 29, 2011.

Lemmens, J. S., Valkenburg, P. M. & Peter, J. (2009). Development and Validation of a Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents. Media Psychology, 12(1): 77-95. doi: 10.1080/15213260802669458.

Leung, L. (2004). Net-Generation Attributes and Seductive Properties of the Internet as Predictors of Online Activities and Internet Addiction. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 7(3): 333-348. doi:10.1089/1094931041291303.

McIlwraith, R. D. (1998). I'm Addicted to Television: The Personality, Imagination, and TV Watching Patterns of Self-Identified TV Addicts. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 42: 371.

Morahan-Martin J. (2005). Internet Abuse: Addiction? Disorder? Symptom? Alternative Explanations? Social Science Computer Review, 23 (1): 39-48. doi: 10.1177/0894439304271533.

Nalwa, K. & Anand, A. P. (2003). Internet Addiction in Students: A Cause of Concern. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 6(6): 653-656. doi:10.1089/109493103322725441.

Pettit, G. S. (1997). The developmental course of violence and aggression. Mechanisms of family and peer influence. Psychiatry Clinics of North America, 20: 283–99.

Shapira, N. A., Lessig, M. C., Goldsmith, T. D., Szabo, S. T., Lazoritz, M., Gold, M. S. & Stein, D. J. (2003). Problematic Internet Use: Proposed Classification and Diagnostic Criteria. Depression and Anxiety, 17: 207–216. doi: 10.1002/da.10094.

Suler, J. (1999). To Get What You Need: Healthy and Pathological Internet Use. Cyber Psychology and Behavior, 2: 385-394.

Turkle, S. (1984). The second self: computers and the human spirit. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Wood, R. T. A. (2008). Problems with the Concept of Video Game “Addiction”: Some Case Study Examples. International Journal of Mental Health Addiction. 6:169–178. doi: 10.1007/s11469-007-9118-0.

Yen, J. Y., Yen C. F. & Chen C. C. (2006). Family factors of Internet addiction and substance use experience in Taiwanese adolescents. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10(3): 323–9.

Yen, J. Y., Ko, C. H. & Yen, C. F. (2007). The comorbid psychiatric symptoms of Internet addiction: attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (adhd), depression, social phobia, and hostility. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41: 93–6.

Young, K. S. & Rodgers R. C. (1998). The Relationship between Depression and Internet Addiction. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 1(1): 25-28.

Zimbardo PG. The human choice: individuation, reason, and order vs. deindividuation, impulse, and chaos. In: Arnold WJ, Levine D, eds. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1969.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


© University of Niš, Serbia
Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND
Print ISSN: 0353-7919
Online ISSN: 1820-7804