14 DAY TRIAL // The long-term effects of prolonged Internet exposure are subject to debate these days between Taiwanese and American researchers. The former say that teens who are addicted to surfing the Web are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior, and so they need monitoring from parents and teachers. On the other hand, the other group of scientists is reluctant in accepting that the two phenomena are related, which doesn't mean that they completely dismiss the hypothesis.
Education professor Dewey Cornell, from the University of Virginia, argues that the new study published by researchers in Taiwan “does not demonstrate that one behavior caused the other,” and that other studies have also shown “that persons who play violent video games will be more prone to have aggressive thoughts, feelings and actions.” However, the topic of Internet addiction still remains a mystery even to most psychologists, despite the fact that the condition was first reported and described more than a decade ago.
“It could be that using the Internet causes people to behave more aggressively or it could be that aggressive people seek out the Internet,” University of Michigan (UM) psychology professor Brad Bushman points out. His main objection to the Taiwanese study is the fact that it doesn't establish clearly what came first – the addiction, or the aggressive behavior. “Or some other third factor could cause both – people with poor social skills don’t have any friends, so they spend a lot of time on the Internet and can’t resolve conflicts in non-aggressive ways,” he adds.
The researchers behind the new paper write that teens who use the web for social networking, playing violent games, or searching for adult content are far more likely to “observe, experience and try aggressive behaviors resulting in positive outcome, (such as) identification in a group, being a hero or winning in games.” This may lay the foundation for their innate aggressive behavior to develop, if it's left unchecked by parents and teachers.
The finds are detailed in the online Journal of Adolescent Health. More than 9,000 teens were surveyed for this research, and the investigators learned that 25 percent of the male students and 13 percent of females were Internet addicts. This estimate can be easily extended to much larger populations, which means that ways of counteracting this growing phenomenon need to be devised.