There could be no better year-end wrap-up or gift for stakeholders in youth online safety worldwide than UNICEF's just-released "State of the World's Children…in a Digital World." In it are the latest research, stories and commentaries from multiple international perspectives, including, to its credit, those of young people in 26 countries. In addition to their views and practices, the report … [Read more...] about The state of global youth, digitally speaking: Research
Internet addiction
An 18-year-old’s exploration of ‘Internet addiction’ in video
In a series of man-on-the-street interviews, one young woman's answer to the question, "Do you think you're addicted to the Internet?" was: "Yes…. Twitter. I can't get off of it." Another responded, "I love creeping on Facebook. I never post; I'm just always creeping, creeping, creeping [also called "lurking," looking at people's comments, likes, photos, etc.]." A third said, "I just run to the … [Read more...] about An 18-year-old’s exploration of ‘Internet addiction’ in video
‘Internet addiction’: New ‘disorder’ about age-old needs?
Judging by the just-released documentary Web Junkie, about a Chinese "Internet addiction" treatment center, it's loneliness that's at the heart of what the Chinese officially call a clinical disorder (more often called "problematic Internet use" in the West). If you can get past the boot-camp-like conditions and young patients' (inmates'?) tears, you'll get to a scene – at 4:50 into the … [Read more...] about ‘Internet addiction’: New ‘disorder’ about age-old needs?
Puzzling over ‘Internet addiction’
While the US mental healthcare field is considering whether "Internet addiction" is a disorder, it doesn't seem to understand how vast and diverse Internet use is. When a CNN reporter asks psychiatry professor Charles O'Brien at University of Pennsylvania – chair of the working group that determines whether disorders make an official list in the United States – about it, both use "Internet … [Read more...] about Puzzling over ‘Internet addiction’
‘Net addiction’ & depression
One young person's strategy for so-called Net addiction is FreeFace.com. He commented in a New York Times blog asking students for their strategies that, as a part-time student [who] "found myself drifting sometimes, usually to news websites or Facebook," he started using this time management software that restricts access to sites and programs during time periods the user sets for him or herself. … [Read more...] about ‘Net addiction’ & depression