he field of internet addiction has experienced significant debates on conflicting epidemiology. This meta-analysis investigated the prevalence rates of generalized internet addiction (GIA) and internet gaming disorder (IGD).
We included 113 epidemiologic studies covering 693,306 subjects published from 1996 to 2018 (for 31 nations) that reported prevalence rates for GIA or IGD. We examined pooled prevalence of GIA and IGD and the hypothesized moderators including year, geographic regions, types of scales, and sample representativeness.
All 133 effect sizes included 53,184 subjects with GIA or IGD. Weighted average prevalence for GIA and IGD were 7.02 % (95 % CI, 6.09 %–8.08 %) and 2.47 % (95 % CI, 1.46 %–4.16 %) respectively. For GIA, prevalence was increased over time and prevalence rates variated among different scales. IGD prevalence was neither moderated by year, regions, nor sample representativeness.
The prevalence of GIA was higher than the prevalence of IGD. The GIA prevalence was increasing over time and variated with different assessments. Our results reveal that GIA may reflect a pattern of increasing human-machine interaction.
Read the full article on Science Direct.
In the past few years internet addiction (IA) and internet gaming disorder (IGD) have become very frequent, leading to many personality and psychiatric disorders including low self-esteem, impulsivity, poor sleep quality, mood disorder, and suicide. IA has been included in Appendix III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as IGD. In addition, IA leads to many neuroanatomical and neurochemical alterations including cortical thinning of various components of the brain and altered dopaminergic reward circuitry.
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Dr Anna Lembke is Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. She is the author of bestselling books such as, ‘Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence’.
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New data from the WHO Regional Office for Europe reveals a sharp rise in problematic social media use among adolescents, with rates increasing from 7% in 2018 to 11% in 2022. This, coupled with findings that 12% of adolescents are at risk of problematic gaming, raises urgent concerns about the impact of digital technology on the mental health and well-being of young people.
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