THE O NLINE –O FFLINE C ONNECTION
THE O NLINE –O FFLINE C ONNECTION
The Internet is not a panacea. Divergent opinions abound concerning whether online habits are a cause or effect of offl ine psychological distress. There is also disagreement about whether cyber problems and mental disorders can be treated successfully online. Nevertheless, cyber research about our online habits suggests that some online behaviors do have deleterious offl ine consequences. The three As of cyberpsychology communication (access, anonymity, autonomy) (Suler, 2004, 2005) appear to facilitate the emergence of certain problems offl ine. Psychologist D. Jacobs, Professor Emeritus at Loma Linda University in Redlands, California, and leading authority on gambling and compulsive behaviors, believes that certain premorbid experiences, especially trauma, may tip the scales toward pathological Internet use. Jacobs views any repetitive behavior, either offl ine or
250 Joanie Farley Gillispie
online, as an anxiety-reduction, stress-management strategy. He fi nds that the accessibility and privacy of certain online activities, such as shopping, gambling, and cyber porn, may increase one’s addiction potential. But Jacob cautions that this “transference” is likely to occur only in predisposed individuals (D. Jacobs, personal communication, Oct. 17, 2005).
Other investigators propose that Internet-driven pathology per se does not exist. Denegri-Knott and Taylor (2005) believe that offl ine pathology is just acted out online. Preexisting conditions, such as other addictions, impulse control disor- ders, and anxiety or mood disorders, make it appear that the Internet is the cause of the problem rather than the effect. Yet, others disagree and propose that factors such as isolation, male gender, and personality types such as introversion, predict
problematic Internet behaviors more robustly than one’s offl ine psychological state (Koch & Pratarelli, 2004). The interactivity of Internet technology increases every year. It is itself a disinhibitory process, potentially creating more of the necessary preconditions for Jacob’s theories about compulsivity and impulse control problems online leading to pathological Internet use. Widyanto and Griffi th’s review, Internet Addiction: Does It Really Exist?, explains that the addiction potential of the Internet arises from the unique constructs of Internet technology (see Chapter 6, this issue). Never before has so much been available so quickly, so easily, and with so much realism.
Internet use taps our glut potential (Greenfi eld, 2004). We stay online longer as a result and do more, increasing the potential for offl ine effects (Martin & Petry, 2005; Thornburgh & Lin, 2002). Internet activities feel good. We get into a zone online. It’s actually a mental state akin to lucid dreaming ( J. Gackenbach, personal communication, June 7, 2006). This is one of the reasons we often fi nd ourselves online more than we had planned to be. Online communications engender arousal, disinhibition, intimacy, and autonomy (Morahan-Martin and Shumacher, 2000; Suler, 2004) which can either inhibit or facilitate positive behaviors offl ine. For example a shy person can learn how to communicate with others online and then transfer these new skills to face to face encounters. Or, someone who regularly fl ames others in email may be reinforcing negative patterns of communication which spill into his or her communications offl ine.
Beard (2005) and others (Grohol, 2005; Kaltiala-Heino et al., 2004; Shaw & Gant, 2002) concur that determining whether pathological Internet behaviors exist is complex, depending as much on contextual factors as psychological ones. Beard asks mental health professionals to be more proactive,
rather than waiting for a crisis to occur and then picking up the pieces. Introducing new technologies and simultaneously using psychology to counteract negative effects may lessen the onset of diffi culties and the development of crises … regardless of whether or not internet addiction is a true “addiction,” there are people developing a harmful dependence on the internet (2005, p. 13).
10 Cyber Shrinks: Expanding the Paradigm