Abstract
The obsessive usage of digital media may exhibit symptoms traditionally associated with behavioural addictions such as mood modification, salience, tolerance and conflict. The educational methods, interventions, and treatments available to prevent or control such a digital addiction are, currently, very limited. Digital Addiction (DA) is yet not formally recognised as a mental disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Recently, in 2018, the World Health Organization recognised gaming disorder. Fortunately, the nature of digital media can also help the hosting of methods and mechanics to combat DA, e.g. in the monitoring of online usage and enabling individuals to stay in control of it. One of the techniques proposed in the literature is Online Peer Groups platforms, towards allowing people to form a group and provide peer support to control and regulate their usage, collectively. Online peer support groups are meant to provide peer support, counselling, motivational and learning environment, and ambivalence reduction through sharing and hope installation. However, there is a lack of research about the factors influencing people with DA to accept or reject online peer support groups. In this work, we conduct user studies and explore the acceptance and rejection factors to join and participate in such DA regulation and relapse prevention method. This will help to design and introduce the method and increase its adoption.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hampton, K., Goulet, L.S., Rainie, L., Purcell, K.: Social networking sites and our lives. Pew Internet Am. Life Proj. 16, 1–85 (2011)
Griffiths, M.: A ‘components’ model of addiction within a biopsychosocial framework. J. Subst. Use 10(4), 191–197 (2005)
Widyanto, L., Griffiths, M.: Internet addiction: a critical review. Int. J. Ment. Health Addict. 4(1), 31–51 (2006)
Winkler, A., Dörsing, B., Rief, W., Shen, Y., Glombiewski, J.A.: Treatment of internet addiction: a meta-analysis. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 33(2), 317–329 (2013)
Webb, T.L., Sniehotta, F.F., Michie, S.: Using theories of behaviour change to inform interventions for addictive behaviours. Addiction 105(11), 1879–1892 (2010)
Ali, R., Jiang, N., Phalp, K., Muir, S., McAlaney, J.: The emerging requirement for digital addiction labels. In: Fricker, S., Schneider, K. (eds.) Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality. REFSQ 2015. LNCS, vol. 9013, pp. 198–213. Springer, Cham (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16101-3_13
Alrobai, A., Phalp, K., Ali, R.: Digital addiction: a requirements engineering perspective. In: Salinesi, C., van de Weerd, I. (eds.) Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality. REFSQ 2014. LNCS, vol. 8396, pp. 112–118. Springer, Cham (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05843-6_9
Alrobai, A., McAlaney, J., Phalp, K., Ali, R.: Exploring the risk factors of interactive e-health interventions for digital addiction. Int. J. Sociotechnology Knowl. Dev. 8(2), 1–15 (2016)
Davidson, L., Chinman, M., Kloos, B., Weingarten, R., Stayner, D., Tebes, J.K.: Peer support among individuals with severe mental illness: a review of the evidence. Clin. Psychol. Sci. Pract. 6(2), 165–187 (2006)
Alrobai, A., McAlaney, J., Phalp, K., Ali, R.: Online peer groups as a persuasive tool to combat digital addiction. In: Meschtscherjakov, A., De Ruyter, B., Fuchsberger, V., Murer, M., Tscheligi, M. (eds.) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2016. LNCS, vol. 9638, pp. 288–300. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31510-2_25
Alrobai, A., Dogan, H., Phalp, K., Ali, R.: Building online platforms for peer support groups as a persuasive behavior change technique. In: Ham, J., Karapanos, E., Morita, P., Burns, C. (eds.) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2018. LNCS, vol. 10809, pp. 70–83. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78978-1_6
Braun, V., Clarke, V.: Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual. Res. Psychol. 3(2), 77–101 (2006)
Alrobai, A.: Engineering social networking to combat digital addiction: the case of online peer groups. Doctoral dissertation, Bournemouth University (2018)
Sousa, M.J., Rocha, Á.: Game based learning contexts for soft skills development. In: Rocha, Á., Correia, A., Adeli, H., Reis, L., Costanzo, S. (eds.) Recent Advances in Information Systems and Technologies. WorldCIST 2017. AISC, vol. 570, pp. 931–940. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56538-5_92
Acknowledgement
This work has been partially supported by the EROGamb project funded jointly by GambleAware and Bournemouth University, SSCoDA project funded by Zayed University and H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017 project, under grant agreement No. 778228 (IDEAL-CITIES) and Shaqra University in Saudi Arabia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Aldhayan, M., Cham, S., Kostoulas, T., Almourad, M.B., Ali, R. (2019). Online Peer Support Groups to Combat Digital Addiction: User Acceptance and Rejection Factors. In: Rocha, Á., Adeli, H., Reis, L., Costanzo, S. (eds) New Knowledge in Information Systems and Technologies. WorldCIST'19 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 932. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16187-3_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16187-3_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16186-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16187-3
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)