Tamara Thompson - Does the Internet Increase Anxiety?

Judy Galens, Manager, Frontlist Acquisitions

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Does the Internet increase anxiety? / Tamara Thompson, Book Editor. pages cm. -- (At issue)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7377-7382-8 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-0-7377-7383-5 (pbk.)

1. Internet--Psychological aspects. 2. Information technology--Psychological aspects. 3. Anxiety. I. Thompson, Tamara, editor.

HM851.D626 2016 303.48'33--dc23

2015029476

Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 20 19 18 17 16

1. Mobile Device Separation Anxiety Isa Growing Problem
Olivia Rahim

2. Nomophobia Is an Artificially Created Disorder
Mario Lehenbauer-Baum

3. Digital Multitasking Is Linked to Depressionand Anxiety
Tara Haelle

4. Social Media Can Cause or Worsen AnxietyDisorders
Dana Duong

5. Cyberbullying Creates Dangerous Stressand Anxiety
Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin

6. Researching Health Symptoms Online CanCause Unnecessary Anxiety
Ben Meghreblian

7. Digital Overload: Too Much Technology
TakesaTollNed Smith

8. Using Technology Mindfully Can ReduceAnxiety from Digital Overload
Anastasia Papazafeiropoulou

9. The Internet Doesnt OverwhelmMost Americans
Chandra Johnson

10. Activity Tracking Can Cause Anxietyand Hyper-Vigilance
Mary E. Pritchard

11. Activity Trackers Are a Healthy FitnessMonitoring Tool
Tyler Hayes

12. Online Gaming Addiction Can Cause aHost of Mental Health Problems
Han-Ting Wei et al.

13. Online Gaming Can Help Ease Social Anxiety
Anastasia Wythe

14. The Constant Lure of Smartphones Is Badfor Childrens Mental Health
Peter Stanford

W hen transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden that men have become the tools of their tools, he was talking about the negative effects that the Industrial Revolutions technological advances were having on American society in 1854. But he just as easily could have been commenting on our modern societys current obsession with mobile devices.

Visit any public place and it quickly becomes apparent just how deeply involved Americans have become with the mobile technology of smartphones, tablets, and other devices that allow users to access the Internet anywhere and at any time. On public transportation, in restaurants and movie theaters, on street corners, and even in the middle of crosswalks, it can sometimes seem like every single person has their head down, tapping at a device, and their near-constant public use has become the punch line for countless late-night jokes and scathing social commentaries.

Mobile devices, of course, serve a wide array of important functions that have become integral to users lives; they facilitate everything from banking and bill paying to getting driving directions, occupying cranky toddlers in the back seat of cars, finding a restaurant or a ride, and keeping on top of the news and up to date with friends and family on social media.

According to the 2015 Internet Trends report by the consulting firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers, more than half the US population uses a smartphone to access the Internet, and 2015 daily consumption of digital media was nearly 5.6 hours per person51 percent of it on mobile phones. For young people, social media is the primary reason for Internet and smartphone use; in spring 2015, 74 percent of American teens used Facebook, 59 percent used Instagram, 57 percent used Snapchat, and 32 percent used Twitter, according to the Internet Trends study.

Nearly 90 percent of Millennials (individuals born from the early 1980s to early 2000s, roughly those aged fifteen to thirty-five) reported that my smartphone never leaves my side, night or day, 1 and 80 percent said that checking their phone is the first thing they do when they wake up, even before brushing their teeth.

The demand for mobile devices isnt likely to slow anytime soon. According to the web-based statistics portal Statista, US smartphone use is expected to grow from 182.6 million in 2015 to more than 220 million by 2018. Globally, the number is expected to reach 5 billion by 2017, with China and India being the biggest adopters of the technology.

But as much as smartphones, tablets, and computers are useful tools to keep users connected, informed, and entertained, they are also shaping the behavior of their users, and not always for the betterjust as Thoreau observed that the telegraph and steam engine were doing in his own time. Many experts say that the constant connectivity of todays mobile devices is eroding social skills and having a detrimental effect on mental health. As the authors in this volumes viewpoints discuss, the Internet has the potential to increase anxiety in a variety of ways:

The constant connectivity of smartphones can be so addictive that many users experience the anxiety of nomophobiapalpable stress and discomfort from being disconnected or out of touchwhen they are prevented from using their devices.

Multitasking with various forms of technologysuch as texting while surfing the web or talking on the

phone while gaming or watching streaming videohas been linked to both depression and anxiety.

On social media, the fear of missing out (FOMO) can worsen existing social anxiety disorders and can also create new anxieties about real-life interactions.

Searching for health information online can increase anxiety because even when people search for common and innocuous symptoms, 70 percent of the time the results show information about serious and rare conditions instead.

Cyberbullying in chat rooms or by text, e-mail, social media, or any other digital means can have serious consequences, including anxiety, depression, and suicidal behavior.

The more hours spent gaming online, the stronger the link to social anxiety disorder, social phobia, depression, and even pain.