Antecedents and Preventions of Problematic Internet Use:

A Systematic Literature Review

Anis Aniza Awi

, Puteri Fadzline Muhamad Tamyez

, Nurhaizan Mohd Zainudin

and Siti Aisyah Panatik

Faculty of Industrial Management, University Malaysia Pahang, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

Keywords: Problematic Internet Use, Addiction, Global Lessons, Children, Adolescent, Adult, Community.

Abstract: The aim of this systematic literature review is to map the investigation in the subject of Problematic Internet

Use (PIU) focuses on Evidences as well as Global Lessons. Further, this particular analysis endeavours to

review the substantial facts and lessons used in PIU research and to estimate the severity of problems that

persist when an individual uses the internet excessively. This review was guided and consistently compiled

using PRISMA which is considered a rigorous method for conducting a literature review. Furthermore, the

technique has a number of distinct unique advantages. Besides that, the authors have started the process by

providing the full text of all related articles from the search engine. All articles next will be reviewed after

full-text reading to ensure the suitability of focus literature. The initial search yielded 307 results. Following

a thorough inspection of the articles’ titles and abstracts, the articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria

were excluded. In a total of 62 studies, trends in the study of all age levels as well as children,

adolescent/emergent and adult PIU were discovered. These trends were conceptualized into specific, activity-

related and contextual elements. Findings suggested that sociodemographic and psychosocial factors are

actually likely the most explored that have demonstrated considerable relationships with PIU. While, more

research focuses on activity- related factors are required in order to accomplish a clearer in terms of

understanding the PIU behaviours and to incorporate into an extensive model which will guide future research

in this growing industry.

1 INTRODUCTION

The usage of the Internet has grown dramatically over

the last several decades and has become an important

aspect of daily life by offering worldwide

connectivity, access to information, and

entertainment opportunities (Tomczyk & Solecki,

2019). The rapid advances in technological

improvement and the global growth of the internet

has significantly enhanced the quality of the majority

of people all over the world.

The internet has broken through all borders across

the world and has become an essential source of

information and pleasure for individuals (Cacioppo,

Barni, Correale, Mangialavori, Danioni, & Gori,

2019). Starting from emails, social networks, instant

messaging, blogs and message boards has removed

the barriers between public and anonymous to

communicate about any topics (Randall, 2018). As to

date, the collection of various resources and services

in the internet has successfully become the most

powerful tool for all human beings that can bring

millions users in a single room (Gansner, Belfort,

Cook, Leahy, Colon-Perez, Mirda & Carson, 2019).

However, the rapid use of Internet technology has

skyrocketed and currently affected many human’s

lives specifically those users who have a flimsy line

between online and the actual world’s interaction due

to addictive reasons. This may exert many detrimental

effects on their personal lives and surroundings (Ke &

Wong, 2018). The presence of Problematic Internet use

(PIU) has drawn attention since the early of 90’s

among public until professionals and has led to

research relating to clinical cases that present negative

behaviour (Randall, 2018).

The literature related to the concept of PIU has

begun to accumulate since the majority countries in

this world have started to issue a seriousness of PIU

when the growth rate of PIU kept growing hundreds

percent every single year. Though, many researchers

Awi, A., Tamyez, P., Zainudin, N. and Panatik, S.

Antecedents and Preventions of Problematic Internet Use: A Systematic Literature Review.

DOI: 10.5220/0010810100003347

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Psychological Studies (ICPsyche 2021), pages 167-173

ISBN: 978-989-758-580-7

167

have defined the problems related to internet usage as

an addiction, however some researchers do not

believe the term ‘addiction’ appropriate to be use as

the term is actually for physiological dependence

which relates to stimulus such as substance (Tomczyk

& Solecki, 2019; Laconi, Kaliszewska-Czeremska,

Gnisci, Sergi, Barke, Jeromin, & Király, 2018).

Multiple terms exist in individual with excessive

internet usage including Problematic Internet Use

(Caplan, 2007), Pathological Internet Use (Davis,

2001), Internet Dependency (Scherer, 1997) and

Internet Addiction (Young, 1996). Although there is

a consensus among researchers that the 'PIU'

phenomenon exists, there is no unified definition

accepted by all researchers in the field. Before the

existence of the term ‘Problematic Internet Use’, back

to decades ago the term ‘Pathological Internet Use’

was more popular among researchers when the

meaning behind the word was ‘dependence in relation

to the internet’ (Sarchiapone & Wasserman, 2016).

Furthermore, the meaning also consists of two

types: specific and generalized. ‘Specific’ refers to

specific dependency, such as gaming or gambling

(online) (Zhang & Bian, 2020). In other words, it was

referring to a content-dependency, such as misuse of

the internet in specific internet content (Tam, 2016).

The dependency would still exist even though in the

absence of the internet. Meanwhile, for ‘generalized’

dependency, it is described as online without clear

purposes or in other meaning is ‘wasting time’ by

using the internet specifically for social functions

(Davis, 2001).

The same researchers have figured out the

symptoms includes (1) obsessive thought towards

internet, inability to decrease the dependency to the

internet, diminished the impulse control, overly

anticipating future online use, sense of guilt during

online use, less time spent of offline activities and

feeling internet is an only individual’s friend (Zhang

& Bian, 2020). Caplan (2002), second this by his

assertion, explained the term ‘addiction’ should not

be associated with the internet by suggesting a new

term ‘Problematic Internet Use (PIU)’.

Broadly speaking, PIU is often characterised as

uncontrollable on a habit, substance or procrastinate

that causes severe emotional, physiological and

psychological reactions (Laconi, Kaliszewska,

Gnisci, Sergi, Barke, Jeromin & Kiraly, 2018). The

words were initially developed by Beard and Wolf

(2001), who determined that the term 'problematic' is

the most acceptable for usage since it has less

theoretical inconsistencies than other terminologies.

On the one hand, PIU can be accurately defined as a

multifaceted illness characterised by cognitive and

behavioural symptoms that manifest as academic,

social, or professional difficulties (Caplan, 2002).

Following Davis (2001)’s work, Caplan (2018)

added the symptoms of PIU with mood alteration,

perceived social control when communicating or

interacting online instead of face-to-face and

becoming compulsive-excessive use of the internet.

Based on his own definition of PIU, Caplan (2018)

has developed a measurement to access PIU that

called as ‘General Problematic Internet Use Scale

(GPIUS). Following this, an individual who has

potential high level of PIU might experience at least

three of the symptoms including large numbers of

usage during internet online, lack of control, has a

negative consequences, always become procrastinate

and lastly had negative consequences and continuation

(Rial, Golpe, Isorna, Brana, & Gomez, 2018). Thus,

this study aims to explore the antecedents and

preventions of problematic internet use.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

A literature review is an essential process in academic

research that identifies and enriches prior knowledge,

which then updates as well as improves the

knowledge of existing research. Therefore, this

review was guided and consistently complied with the

PRISMA procedure (refer Figure 1), which is

considered as a rigorous method to conduct a

literature review. Furthermore, the procedure offers

several unique advantages. Firstly, it guides

researchers in clearly defining research questions and

directs researchers to identify the inclusion and

exclusion criteria for literature. The procedure also

provides guidelines for researchers to accurately

determine substantial databases within a reasonable

timeframe (Moher et al., 2016).

2.1 Search Strategy

Between May and July 2020, a literature search was

conducted using (4) electronic databases; Psych-

Article, Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed. All the

databases are more comprehensive than other

commonly used databases because it includes various

multidisciplinary databases. Series of search strings

was used by combining the following search terms

(and their derivatives): ‘Problematic Internet Use’,

‘Internet overuse’, ‘Addicted of Internet’, ‘Excessive

internet use’, ‘Internet Addiction’, ‘Compulsive

Internet use’, ‘Pathological Internet use’ and ‘Internet

disorder’. Studies were selected based on the

following inclusion criteria.

ICPsyche 2021 - International Conference on Psychological Studies

168

2.2 Search Process

The author has started the process by providing the

full text of all related articles from the search engine.

All articles next will be reviewed after full-text

reading to ensure the suitability of focus literature.

The initial search yielded 307 results. Following a

thorough inspection of the articles’ titles and

abstracts, the articles that did not meet the inclusion

criteria were excluded. The process of review is

presented in Figure 1. Additional articles were

identified through searching the citations in the

literature selected, resulting in the inclusion of

another nine studies.

Figure 1: The Flow Diagram of The Study.

2.3 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

The current literature review that has the author

included which: had to (1) relating to problematic

internet use with contain of empirical data; (2) have

been published after 2010; (3) include samples and/or

interventions for Internet; (4) were published in peer-

reviewed journals that focuses on social science (5)

presented in full-text article; and (6) be published in

English, as the present authors speak these language.

The characteristics and basic information about the

studies included in the review can be found in

3 RESULTS

3.1 Factors Associated with

Problematic Internet Use

The Internet is seen as a technological marvel that

facilitates the individual development especially

towards children and adolescents, including the

access to knowledge, study, problem-solving,

innovation and critical thinking. The use of internet is

usually something natural that everyone does in daily

life, however the Internet has been shown to have a

detrimental effect on the creation of personal skills

due to unnecessary, unregulated and non-purposeful

use. Tendencies to become over user towards internet

have been studied in the past literature and the result

comes out as it definitely has an impact on people’s

lives. Present studies interested in explanations why

the internet can become problematic to use.

3.1.1 Sociodemographic Variable

Out of 28 studies related to sociodemographic

variable has been fully reviewed, it is reported the

level of family income (3), gender (5), living in urban

and/or rural areas (4), age (12), family conflict (2) and

financial difficulties (2) has reported to be associated

with PIU. From our review, gender and age are the

most commonly used variables which the results

differ from one study to another. For example, studies

by Liu et. al. (2013) found that girls in adolescent’s

age are more likely to have high levels of PIU than

boys. these statements are supported by studies from

western countries which express similar results

(Randall, T. C., 2018; Kircaburun, K., & Griffiths, M.

D., 2018).

However, new data indicated that both genders

have a possibility of having a high level of PIU,

although prior adult study revealed that boys are more

likely to have a high degree of addiction (Ioannidis et.

al., 2019; Wartberg, L., & Lindenberg, K., 2020). In

terms of family conflict, evidence has indicated that

children or adolescents who originate from broken

families have a highly significant internet exposure

that leads to PIU. The results clearly demonstrate that

parents have a significant role in their children's lives,

and those involved in family conflict have a higher

risk of receiving PIU than those involved in non-

family conflict. Aside from that, another intriguing

result indicated that those who live in cities are more

likely to be addicted than those who live in rural areas

(Machimbarrena et. al., 2019). This is because certain

counties have had the biggest economic downturns,

causing them to become the least connected

Antecedents and Preventions of Problematic Internet Use: A Systematic Literature Review

169

countries. Furthermore, the presence of hurdles such

as the fact that they cannot afford to have internet

connection and that people are unaware of it, is the

major reason why the number of individuals with

high PIU in rural areas does not exceed the number of

people with high PIU in urban areas.

3.1.2 Internet Use Exposure

Out of 21 studies related to Internet use exposure

focusing on group age has been fully reviewed, 13

studies were found to be correlated with PIU in all age

groups. Behind their high PIU levels there are many

reasons. Studies have found that people with high PIU

use the Internet as a tool of entertainment, online

gaming and social life. With better internet coverage,

the use would increase silently (Kircaburun, &

Griffiths, 2018). For children, studies have shown

that parents are the biggest influencer towards

children’s PIU and tend to be the first person

introduce digital technologies to them. Even though

they influence their children the most, many parents

are still uncertain about how much their children have

been in access with the internet daily due to lack of

monitoring and lack of concern. This resulted in the

inability of children with PIU to control and regulate

the internet connection behaviour. Hence, it is not

surprising when children become overused to this

virtual world more easily when parents are not given

close attention and monitor them deeply.

3.1.3 Psychosocial Factors

Out of 13 studies related to psychosocial factors that

have been fully reviewed, 10 studies found that users

with a high level of PIU have established a substantial

interaction with psychosocial factors. As a result,

internet users who report low life satisfaction,

negative outcomes, a lack of trust and a lack of social

support have a significant likelihood of being

statistically associated with PIU and resulting in

severe repercussions. The adverse effects between

PIU are repression, family problems, and poor

employee productivity. The severe effects of PIU are

correlated not only with the quality of life and family

institutions, but also with issues of health such as

serious soleness and depression. The psychological

dependency can begin to manifest various symptoms.

In another empirical study, the researcher

identified people under serious PIU were started to

neglect certain actual life responsibilities, to neglect

daily tasks, to interrupt parental-child relations and

began to avoid activities in everyday life. For

instance, this claim can be contended by researchers

in Southeast Asia who indicate that the group with

high PIU displayed higher levels of procrastination

compared to people who are not under the group. As

a result, preventative measures must be taken

promptly to avoid the situation becoming further out

of control.

3.2 Prevention of Problematic Internet

Use

PIU has sent an alarming red alert to the majority of

the world's countries and has taught many countries

after the majority of PIU-related research showed

substantial findings. According to the present

research review, most studies have recommended

several strategies for policymakers and governments

to guarantee that the number of internet users with

high PIU does not reach pandemic proportions.

3.2.1 Monitoring & Supervise

Out of 62 research that were thoroughly evaluated, 36

studies advised that the government, universities and

parents take a proactive approach to preventing the

PIU from becoming a severe pandemic. Researchers

have revealed that earlier intervention required less

time and effort needed. In other words, it is easier to

promote and deal with someone who has a low level

of PIU and are less influenced. There are particular

difficulties for those who are already heavily addicted

and unable to retain control over their minds and

bodies (Gomez, Harris, Barreiro, Isorna, & Rial,

2018). According to the findings from researchers in

China, each age group which includes children,

adolescents, and adults has its own unique method of

addressing the target audience. For example, children

who have been diagnosed with a high PIU must be

handled on an individual basis (Zhai, Li, Jia, Liu, Sun,

& Wang, 2019). Direct eye contact and face-to-face

communication are required.

Adults with high PIU, on the other hand need to

be approached in a group or team. To keep the

problems from worsening, every country should start

by collaborating with professionals who are qualified

to train people, such as delivering health information

to the potential high level PIU. It is more sustainable

and empowers everyone to care for their own bodies

and situations (Kojima, Sato, Akiyama, Shinohara,

Mizorogi, Suzuki, & Yamagata, 2019).

3.2.2 Strengthening and Developing

Parenting Skills

Out of 62 research that have been fully reviewed, 12

studies proposed by providing free learning packages

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to all parents or potential parents in order to provide

an in-depth understanding of the role of parents and

how to use appropriate parenting techniques. This

includes two-way communication between parent

and children as well as raising the children's self-

esteem (Ioannidis, Hook, Goudriaan, Vlies, Fineberg,

Grant, & Chamberlain, 2019).

Furthermore, research has shown that children

who are subjected to tight parenting have a lower risk

of developing PIU than children who are subjected to

a non-strict parenting style. When explicit rules are

established, children have a lower risk to develop PIU

(Kircaburun & Griffiths, 2018). Other study, to date

and emphasise has revealed a similar outcome on this

subject. The study found that regardless of the

difficulties that bind their children, parents play an

essential role. This is because parents have a

responsibility to train their children. If the parent has

a strong relationship to their children and knows the

appropriate role to portray in front of them, it will

decrease the children's dangerous internet exposure

(Randall, 2018).

3.2.3 Increasing Community Understanding

with Fully Information Campaign

Out of 62 studies that have been fully reviewed, 6

studies suggested to sensitising and informing

Government officials as well as community chiefs

regarding the PIU by doing workshops as well as,

ultimately, to legitimise the prevention programme.

This is because current analysis reported that

someone with PIU is usually addicted to surfing the

web (not related to office work) throughout the

business hours.

3.2.4 To Raise Awareness among

Community

Out of 62 studies that have been fully reviewed, 5

studies suggested distribution of banners, pamphlets,

stickers and leaflets on the nature as well as scope of

the PIU by publishing of those in strategic locations

across the town. A community wide regarding the

seriousness of this' drug' info campaign through talks

and campaigns including several community groups

(e.g. students), school teachers, religious groups,

youth, and parents and in facilities.

3.2.5 Strengthening Parenting Abilities

Out of 62 studies that have been fully reviewed, 3

studies suggested developing learning packages for

parenting education. This includes the coming

things/topics as well as skill development: the nature,

extent and scope of the PIU. The parents' roles as

prevention and great parenting education to

understand the child even better and interaction in the

family by increasing the discipline.

4 FINDINGS

To date, a total 62 studies have met the inclusion

criteria. The majority of studies investigated the

relationship between Problematic Internet Use and

Social Demographic factors; however, other

important factors such as Internal Exposure and

Psychosocial on PIU were also included. Research

from East Asia has been well represented the PIU in

terms of demographics, with most studies from

China, Hong Kong, and India. While for Western

countries most studies related to PIU comes from

Germany, Italy and Russia. The prevalence of

generalised PIU ranged from 12.3 to 67.8 percent.

The other findings have also shown that PIU can

increase a range of risk factors including anxiety,

mood disorders, suicidal inclinations, impulsivity,

and aggression. More study is needed to see if the

intervention strategies have an effect.

5 DISCUSSION

In the current modern century, Internet is ‘no more’

referring to what we do, however now people around

the world started to have strong bond that relate to one

another. Just like recently, the internet has drawn

attention people around the world when many online

networks started to shoot up an unprecedented

number of virtual online ‘audiences’ due to the

pandemic situation, Coronavirus 19 (Covid-19).

These phenomena prove that modern technology has

made people ‘connect’ their life into the virtual world

easily no matter where they live. Based on the study

view, the author highlighted that no standard

diagnosis and criteria exists. Most of the previous

studies revealed the effects of the internet on human

cognitive ability. The impact of the internet on the

human brain based on minor studies by previous

researchers has shown that it can both improve certain

cognitive abilities such as memory and learning,

however major studies revealed that it can be

detrimental and cause structural brain changes (Zhai,

B., Li, D., Jia, J., Liu, Y., Sun, W., & Wang, Y.,

2019). A recent meta-analysis of cognitive

performance among people with high problematic

internet usage found that this disorder was associated

Antecedents and Preventions of Problematic Internet Use: A Systematic Literature Review

171

with major cognitive deficits in executive control,

concentration, motor inhibition, decision making, and

executive function (Ioannidis, 2019).

In addition, PIU has possible effects on various

interrelated features of cognition, namely memory,

critical thought, metacognitive judgement, discovery

(curiosity), and reading (Kircaburun, K., & Griffiths,

M. D., 2018). As a result of this disparity in the

population, people have become even more shallow

thinkers (Ke, G. N., & Wong, S. F., 2018). This

systematic review was aimed to track and analyze the

topics related with Problematic Internet Use globally.

The results highlighted the factors influencing the

level of PIU and lessons globally based on journal

review for 10 years of studies.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Overall, this paper has outlined factors of associated

PIU, global lessons and potential strategy in

combating PIU based on empirical literature of

studies after 2010. The author also concludes that

different group age of PIU have different approaches.

To date, the diagnostic criteria to identify potential

PIU disorders used are not yet globally agreed upon.

Researchers are welcome to collaborate in future

studies in order to develop better efficient and

effective treatment approaches especially for those

who started to have PIU symptoms. In this case,

future studies will help to contribute to many people,

especially policy makers and to healthcare.

Ultimately, intervention and prevention policies

could minimize all negative repercussions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researchers would like to express they’re thanks

to all reviewers for the suggestions to improve this

paper. The researchers would also like to

acknowledge University Malaysia Pahang,

RDU200315 for funding this research.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors confirm that this article content has no

conflict of interest.

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