Theoretical Models of the Development and Maintenance of Internet Addiction

Abstract

Dear practitioners, scientists, and students, Research in the area of Internet addiction continues to develop so rapidly that following the launch of the first edition of this book in 2015 we immediately began work on a second edition. This resolution emerged as we became aware of new models to explain Internet addiction (see chapter by Matthias Brand), further advances—and accompanying methodological problems—when conducting MRI studies to better understand Internet addiction (see chapter by Halley Pontes, Daria Kuss and Mark Griffiths), as well as the publication of several twin studies suggesting partial evidence for a genetic component in explaining individual differences in Internet addiction (see new chapter by Elisabeth Hahn and Frank Spinath). We also include a chapter on the neuroscientific basis of online pornography addiction, a specific form of Internet addiction (see chapter by rethink the title of the book: Internet Addiction: Neuroscientific Approaches and Therapeutical Interventions Including Smartphone Addiction. We thank all new contributors (as well as the existent authors) for their excellent chapters. Finally, special thanks again go to Éilish Duke. She not only did a fantastic job in helping to make the chapters more readable, but also contributed another chapter in the smartphone sectio Rudolf Stark and Tim Klucken). Additional insights from practitioners treating Internet addiction on a daily basis are also included in this edition (see chapter by Bert te Wildt and Klaus Wölfling). Aside from these new developments, all of which are covered in this second edition of the book, a sibling of Internet addiction has appeared on the horizon in recent years and has started to dramatically change everyday life: addiction to the smartphone. This little technological device is a game changer in how we communicate in everyday life, work and navigate unknown territory. Despite the manifold positives of smart use of the smartphone (also covered in this edition), more and more researchers have become aware of problems arising from excessive smartphone use, potentially resulting in loss of productivity and a loss of focus on how to lead happy and fulfilling lives. As a consequence we further enhanced this edition of the book with the inclusion of a fourth section dealing with smartphone addiction. Here we try to cover early insights into this phenomenon, dealing with psychodiagnostics of smartphone addiction (see chapter by Lin et al.), mechanisms leading to overuse of the smartphone (see chapter by Éilish Duke and Christian Montag), some initial therapeutic interventions and finally, the first neuroscientific evidence showing that smartphone usage could indeed change our brain (in this case, motor areas; see chapter by Arko Ghosh). These developments led us to also