Janet Morahan-Martin

Incidence and Correlates of Pathological Internet Use among College Students.

This study surveyed 277 undergraduate Internet users, a population considered to be high risk for pathological Internet use (PIU), to assess incidence of PIU as well as characteristics of the Internet and of users associated with PIU. Pathological use was determined by responses to 13 questions which assessed evidence that Internet use was causing academic, work or interpersonal problems, distress, tolerance symptoms, and mood-altering use of the Internet. Approximately one-quarter of students (27.2%) reported no symptoms (NO) while 64.7% reported one to three symptoms (Limited Symptoms) and 8.1% reported four or more symptoms (PIU). Based on popular stereotypes as well as previous research, it was predicted that pathological Internet users would more likely be males, technologically sophisticated, use real-time interactive activities such as online games and chat lines, and feel comfortable and competent online. Further, it was hypothesized that pathological users would be more likely to be lonely and to be socially disinhibited online. Partial confirmation of this model was obtained. Pathological users were more likely to be males and to use online games as well as technologically sophisticated sites, but there was no difference in Internet Relay Chat use. Although reported comfort and competence with the Internet was in the expected direction, differences were not significant. Pathological users scored significantly higher on the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and were socially disinhibited online.

Gender, Internet and computer attitudes and experiences

Abstract It is widely assumed that participation by females on the Internet is hampered by their attitudes towards computers, which in turn is reflective of their attitudes towards new technology. Research generally supports that females have less overall experience with computers and are more likely than males to have negative attitudes towards computers. Although limited, research on Internet experiences and attitudes has found parallel gender differences, with females reporting lower levels of experience and more negative attitudes. This paper explores whether Internet and computer experiences, skills and attitudes are related, using evidence from two studies of incoming college students, in 1989/90 and 1997. There were significant gender differences in many computer experiences and attitudes of incoming students in 1989/90. Males were more experienced with computers, more likely to have taken high school courses requiring computer use, and reported higher skill levels in applications such as programming, games and graphics than females. By 1997, incoming students were more experienced with using a computer than the earlier students. However, gender differences in computer experience and skill levels had diminished in some areas. The 1997 survey also assessed Internet experiences, skills, competence and comfort. Students had more exposure to computers than to the Internet. Males were more experienced and reported higher skill levels with the Internet than females, with the exception of e-mail. The overall competency and comfort level for students in 1997 was significantly higher for computers than for the Internet; 19% of the students did not feel competent and/or comfortable with the computer compared to 36% with the Internet, with females reporting higher levels of incompetence and discomfort for both. Competence and comfort levels with the Internet and computers were highly intercorrelated, and both predicted Internet skills and experiences.

Loneliness and social uses of the Internet

Abstract Loneliness has been associated with increased Internet use. Lonely individuals may be drawn online because of the increased potential for companionship, the changed social interaction patterns online, and as a way to modulate negative moods associated with loneliness. Online, social presence and intimacy levels can be controlled; users can remain invisible as they observe others’ interactions, and can control the amount and timing of their interactions. Anonymity and lack of face-to-face communication online may decrease self-consciousness and social anxiety, which could facilitate pro-social behavior and enhance online friendship formation. Support for this model was found in a survey of 277 undergraduate Internet users that was used to assess differences between lonely and not-lonely individuals in patterns of Internet use. Loneliness was assessed on the UCLA Loneliness Scale; students in the highest 20% (Lonely) were compared with all other students (Non-lonely). Lonely individuals used the Internet and e-mail more and were more likely to use the Internet for emotional support than others. Social behavior of lonely individuals consistently was enhanced online, and lonely individuals were more likely to report making online friends and heightened satisfaction with their online friends. The lonely were more likely to use the Internet to modulate negative moods, and to report that their Internet use was causing disturbances in their daily functioning.

Internet abuse: addiction? disorder? symptom? alternative explanations?

As Internet use has proliferated worldwide, there has been debate whether some users develop disturbed patterns of Internet use (i.e., Internet abuse). This article highlights relevant literature on Internet abuse and computer-mediated communication effects that supports and disputes major questions about Internet abuse. Is the addiction paradigm appropriate for Internet use? Is behavior that has been labeled Internet abuse symptomatic of other problems such as depression, sexual disorders, or loneliness? What are alternative explanations for this phenomenon? Is there adequate research to support Internet abuse as a distinct disorder?

Attitudinal and experiential predictors of technological expertise

This study sought to clarify which computer and Internet skills and experiences differentiate technological expertise and to identify predictors of this expertise. Two hundred and fifty-eight incoming university students were surveyed on Internet and computer experiences, skills, and attitudes. Six specific Internet and computer uses that differentiate technological expertise were identified based on frequency of use. Males and those who own computers had greater technological expertise. Factor analyses identified two skill factors (Internet skills, Computer/Math skills), three experience factors (Internet, Computer, Recreational Use of Internet), five attitude factors (Importance of Internet and computer knowledge, Computer aversive, Internet and computer comfort/competency, Internet and computer overuse, Technology aversive). These factors as well as gender, computer ownership, and weekly computer and Internet use were entered as independent variables in a general linear model (GLM) which was then used to determine which factors affected technological expertise. The overall GLM was significant (R^2=.414, F=5.85, p<.001). Internet and computer skills and computer abuse were the strongest predictors of technological expertise. Weekly Internet use, Internet and computer comfort/competency also were predictors, and gender was almost significant (p=.056) as a predictor. Neither computer ownership nor other Internet and computer attitudes were significant predictors.

Gender and information communication technology

Information communications technology is used more and more in education, so much so, that it is becoming a ubiquitous resource for supporting students’ learning. Several commentators have, however, raised concerns that socio-economic and cultural factors may mediate access to and use of information communication technology (ICT; e.g. Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition 1989; Jackson, Ervin, Gardner, & Schmitt 2001a; Littleton & Hoyles 2002). Issues of equality of opportunity and access to information and communications technology may thus arise for a number of different groups, for example those of low socio-economic status and ethnic minorities, creating a number of ‘digital divides’ with respect to the take-up, or effective use of, ICTs. Gender is thought to be one such digital divide (Cooper & Weaver 2003; Joiner et al. 2005). However, recently, there have been a number of commentators who have suggested that the gendered digital divide may be diminishing (Losh 2004) or even disappearing (Stanford Internet Study 2000; UCLA Internet Project 2000, 2001, 2003). The aim of this special issue was thus to examine this issue of the gendered digital divide in the use of computer technology. The special issue opens with a review article by Joel Cooper, who unequivocally states that that ‘There is a dramatic digital divide for gender such that women are not reaping the benefits of the technological revolution on a par with men’ (p. 321). This, he suggests, is a ‘pernicious and often overlooked wedge’ (p. 320) that divides, and is a problem, for modern society. In making the case for a digital divide, Cooper points to manifestations of the divide in terms of gendered patterns of engagement with and ownership of computer technology and he also highlights the persistence of females’ computer anxiety over time and across international boundaries. Having presented evidence to suggest that there is a digital divide, Cooper asserts that this divide is ‘multiply determined’ (p. 322) and goes on to consider factors that may facilitate it. Among the factors discussed are the potentially deleterious effects of ‘boy-toy’ computer software and the consequences of girls making personal attributions for computational failures and attributions of effort and luck for computational success. Cooper also speculates that ‘gender stereotypes can have the power of the self-fulfilling prophecy, creating further evidence for the stereotype’ (p. 328) and he presents work on stereotype threat, which suggests that the ‘mere knowledge of a negative stereotype applying to a person’s group can cause that person to perform poorly at a particular task’ (p. 329). Towards the end of the paper, Cooper describes an experimental study specifically designed to explore the effect of stereotype threat on girls’ performance with computers and this work indicates that ‘the mere knowledge of a stereotype that holds that girls are not good at computers causes girls to suffer stress when learning from a computer and leads to decrements in computer performance . . . at least when their identity as females is made salient’ (p. 331). The paper culminates with the development of a model for understanding some of the key factors that create the digital divide for gender. Although Cooper acknowledges that ‘solving the problem of the gender digital divide will not be easy’ (p. x), some specific suggestions for change emerge from the model that he proposes, and he underscores the need to alter stereotypes by attacking the phenomena that support them. One must, however, continually guard against making simplistic overgeneralisations with respect to gender and computing and the ‘digital divide’ for, as in Cooper’s words, ‘social context matters’ (p. 324). The importance of understanding students’ technological engagements in context is a theme that emerges from the paper by Emma Mercier, Brigid Barron and Kathleen O’Connor. These authors used surveys, drawings and interviews to investigate 10–14-yearolds’ perceptions of knowledgeable computer users and their self-perceptions as ‘a computer-type person’. Their findings indicate that students’ engagement in technology is: ‘a complex relationship between

Consider the Children: Is Parenthood Being Devalued?

The study is a comparison of the motivations for having children among young adults in 1977 and in 1986. Nine advantages and disadvantages of having and raising children were assessed in both years. A 2 × 2 MANOVA was conducted to test for the effects of year and gender as well as the interaction of year and gender, with the nine parental motivations as dependent variables. Results of the MANOVA revealed significant effects for both year of testing and gender, but no interaction between year and gender. The results of this study provide support for sociohistorical change in motivations for parenthood. The study does not support the view of contemporary parents as egocentrically more concerned with their own needs than the needs of their children, but shows rather that the positive aspects of parenthood were more emphasized in 1986 than 1977. The current study also suggests support that young women have rejected the traditional view that women attain roles and status from being mothers. There was no interaction between year and gender.

DIGITAL PATHOLOGIES IN EDUCATION: INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE

The advent of cheap computers during the 1980s and then the explosion of the Internet during the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennium expanded educational possibilities to an extent that was unimaginable only a few decades ago, and many articles in the Journal of Educational Computing Research attest to the positive ways that educators can use computers in the classroom. However, there are also disadvantages to educational computer use, these sometimes occurring as a result of the very popularity of the new technologies among children and college students. In this special edition of the Journal, we consider some of these downsides. Our purpose is not to discourage creative educational use of computers within and outside the classroom, but to encourage greater awareness of misuses of digital media and possible remedies. When computers initially became prominent in educational settings, much of the research on digital pathologies focused upon computer anxiety (e.g., Cambre & Cook, 1985; Marcoulides, 1988), implying that students who suffered from computer anxiety would be at a severe disadvantage as the use of computers became increasingly embedded within education. However, in developed societies at least, all students currently in primary and secondary school and a sizable number of those in college/university level education are now “digital natives” (a term coined in 2001 by Prensky to describe people who have grown-up in a world where computers, video games, the Internet, etc. are taken for granted). Unsurprisingly then, work on the impact of computer anxiety has diminished.