The Internet has become an important part of many people’s lives across the world since its first launching in 1960s. In spite of its many beneficial roles for various new applications and services, the emergence of the Internet also has created a new problem called "problematic Internet use" or "Internet addiction," in which individuals experience interpersonal, school, or work-related problems due to excessive use of the Internet. However, since problematic Internet use is a relatively new phenomenon, research in this field has produced as yet a limited number of research studies. This study reviews available research related to defining, assessing, and measuring the problematic Internet use of college students, and examines characteristics related to Internet use for this population. This study utilizes a web-based survey with a randomly selected sample of registered undergraduate and graduate students of the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) (Young, 1998) and the Online Cognition Scale (OCS) (Davis, 2002) were employed to measure aspects of problematic Internet use. Result scores of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) showed that only 0.8 percent of the respondents were diagnosed as Internet users with significant problems, whereas 28.0 percent were classified with frequent problems. Consolidation of the percentage of respondents with the frequent problems and the significant problems resulted in a total of 28.8 percent presenting with problematic Internet use. A gender difference with regard to problematic Internet use was evident, with male students scoring higher on both the Internet Addiction Test and the Online Cognition Scale. Time spent online for non-academic purpose was positively correlated with problematic Internet use, whereas both age and GPA were negatively correlated with problematic Internet use. The hard science students were more likely to be problematic Internet users than soft science and fine arts students while freshmen students were more vulnerable to problematic Internet use than graduate students. Overall, the findings of this study support previous research except for Internet applications and services used by college students. The percentage of online chatting users has dramatically jumped from mere 9.1% (Scherer, 1997) to 56.4%. In contrast to this jump, the percentage of Usenet service use has decreased from 36.9% (Scherer, 1997) to 11.7%. Relatively new services such as blog/social networking and file sharing, which were not reported in earlier studies conducted by Scherer (1997) and Young (1996, 1998), have become increasingly popular. It seems that, as network technology is evolving and more services have become available, the trend of Internet use is also changing. / text

The research examines the relationship between cyber addiction (excessive use of the Internet, CA), information overload (IO), and assesses their impact on workplace productivity. A multi-methods approach is used employing the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and a quantitative survey design to assess and test the stated hypothesis. The study used random sampling methods targeting 150 respondents from different information technology departments of various organizations. The study hypothesizes that CA and IO have a reciprocal association, which adversely affects workplace productivity and employee performance. From the findings, IAT scores increase with an associated possibility of reporting burnout, fatigue, and other components associated with CA and IO. Also, CA and IO were significantly correlated, as evaluated by the chi-square test, although the same approach did not yield significant associations between CA and perceived internet dependence. Other findings CA components, such as social media use, significantly associated with task postponement and burnout. As well, CA affected IO with substantial impacts on workplace productivity. The paper highlights managerial aspects that organizations should consider in optimizing the output of their staff. Recommendations include wellness programs, altering the leadership and management styles, and sensitizing the employees on the adverse effects caused by the two variables.

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the gaming behaviors of married individuals and couples who play Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game(s) (MMORPGs) including gaming addiction, time spent gaming, satisfaction in gaming participation, gaming interaction (between joint gaming spouses), and socio-demographic variables and the subsequent marital satisfaction levels of both individuals in the couple. Hypotheses were generally supported, excluding the hours spent gaming. 685 couples were separated and analyzed according to whether both individuals in the marriage gamed or just one individual gamed (couple-gaming type). Couples in which only one individual gamed (individual-gamer couples) had significantly lower marital satisfaction than all other groups and couples in which both gamed about the same amount of time (equal-gamers) held the highest marital satisfaction of the groups. Prediction models of marital satisfaction were determined for each couple-gaming type. The strongest predictions present in most of the models for marital satisfaction were the frequency that the couple retired to bed at the same time and the frequency that the couple quarreled specifically about gaming. Much MMORPG research has been presented on youth and adults, however to date there is no research on married gamers. Recent research on the video game habits of emerging adults called for further in depth investigation of the implications of video game use in the family formation stage of life.