Supervisors: Sonia Livingstone and Ellen Helsper|
Email: D.A.Kardefelt-Winther@lse.ac.uk|
Research Topic: Internet addiction: Examining the potential for online applications to compensate for real-life deficits and unmet real-life needs
Daniel is doing research into Internet Addiction, with arguments grounded in the idea that we need to further consider the properties of the individual internet application before we can fully understand this emergent phenomenon. The purpose of his thesis is to re-conceptualize the notion of internet addiction as an interplay between an individual and the properties of the application they are addicted to. He will argue that an individual will only become truly addicted to an internet application when the motivation for using it is grounded in a real-life deficit, or problematic situation, in the case where the affordances of a particular application corresponds to and satisfies this problem or deficit.
If a person is severely lacking social skills either due to a mental deficit or simply lack of practice, the internet offers a multitude of "safe" places where the individual can practice his socializing skills. This is one of the benefits that the internet offers. However, if the internet would become the only place where this individual would ever socialize, and if the increased socializing online does not transcend to the offline, then he may run the risk of becoming addicted to the medium through which he is socializing; that is to say, addicted to the particular internet application that satisfies his need for social stimulation.
This goes contrary to most internet addiction research to date, in the sense that the field has so far not considered the affordances of internet applications as relevant in determining why and how someone gets addicted. Indeed, this has been a concern for Media scholars primarily, who have been concerned with motivations behind media use. By combining the Media outlook on internet use with psychological theory of deficits and coping strategies, he aims to provide a framework that will better allow us to understand what this new and emerging phenomenon really is about. Should we even be talking in terms of addiction in the first place?