If I forget the mobile at home and I get nervous, am I addicted?

Mobile phone addiction is a concept that experts are still agreeing on. Some defend its existence, but others think it is only possible to talk about abuse or pathological use. In any case, many times we suffer from strong negative consequences and anxiety with our mobile phone. Answering the question of this section, probably you don’t have an addiction. Not just because you don’t have a problem, but because we understand that, due to its characteristics, mobile phone addiction is practically impossible (Sánchez-Carbonell, Beranuy, Castellana, Chamarro, & Oberst, 2008). You might be abusing it or not using it properly. Many times we misunderstand the scientific term of addiction with the colloquial sense. When a person says that they are addicted to their mobile phone, many times what they mean is that they depend on a technology as they are dependent on electricity or their car. Thinking about how you use your mobile phone and how other people use them may help you assess your need. Due to our way of being and communicating, the mobile phone is hugely attractive. For example:

• Communication. The mobile phone allows us to continuously communicate, at any time and place (provided we have network coverage and charged battery). The mobile phone helps us to manage time and acquire information. Its condition of mobility (it is a mobile device) makes access to mobile owners be perceived as permanent.  A bad interpretation of this permanent mobility has led, in this society that values immediacy so much, to the emergence of anxiety when calls or sms are not answered. This is because availability is understood as “obligatory,” thus creating the illusion of “perpetual availability.” All this (society, immediacy, and anxiety) puts pressure on users to carry their mobile phone with them and be available at all times.
  
  
• Socialization. The mobile phone significantly intervenes in socialization and the feeling of group belonging. Among the youngest, by promoting an emancipation process where parents feel more confident if their child has a mobile phone. In this way, as we get older, the mobile phone facilitates independence and enhances contact with friends and other people outside the family and the working environment. Having a mobile phone means having a personal phone that also keeps my social network alive.
  
  
• Expressing feelings. The mobile phone is useful to express more primary feelings and emotions. By using text messages, you can use emoticons such as J or write i <3 u (meaning I love you) and then the emotion is more easily expressed. However, is this emotion as deep? Some authors, such as Bauman (2003), speak of liquid emotions that are so easily expressed as superficially in this society. Thinking about it is really worthwhile.
  
  
• Added tranquillity and control. The mobile phone is a control device that creates a feeling of safety in parents, partners or oneself when being away. The need to control is one of the reasons why we use mobile phones. However, this control and tranquillity are fictitious. Firstly, because, due to the portable condition, we can lie about where we really are. And secondly, because the mobile phone’s battery and coverage are limited.
  
  
• Extra-equipment. The equipment included in a mobile phone at present is so wide that they really become small laptops with a digital camera and games consoles. We have to differentiate and see whether the difficulty is with the need to communicate and therefore with the mobile, or with Internet, for example. In the latter case, this would be another problem behaviour.

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How to detect an addiction?

Detecting an addiction is a complex task. Many times we can mistake it for abuse and/or problem use. Thus, it is interesting to establish some criteria and observe to what extent they affect the daily life of the affected person.
Diagnostic criteria for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) addiction (Sánchez-Carbonell, Beranuy, Castellana, Chamarro, & Oberst, 2008):

1. Psychological dependence:
   
   
   1. a. Focalization. Gradually, the affected person tends to focus his/her life towards this addictive behaviour and some friendships are then lost, with only those friends involved in the same addictive behaviour being kept, they abandon the family, studies, their conversation topics are about the addictive behaviour or the object of their addiction, etc. Their motivational range is reduced to the object of addiction, and practically all their attention focuses on it.
      
      
   2. b. Mood modification. The affected person experiences mood modification in relation with their addictive behaviour. In this sense, they can feel guilt, sadness, anxiety, remorse, etc., when they engage in the behaviour again or due to the consequences of this behaviour.
      
      
   3. c. Loss of control. The person engaging in addictive behaviour loses control over how long they want to do it or how much they want to spend, for example. In general, the affected person tries to control it and sets some goals (e.g., I’ll be connected for just one hour and then I’ll study) that they can’t achieve once involved in the behaviour. Thus, many attempts of control just fail.
      
      
   4. d. Craving. Irresistible yearning or drive to engage in the addictive behaviour. The person can’t control it; despite having been some time without doing it, that yearning can suddenly emerge and make them engage in that addictive behaviour without practically any time to think about it.
      
      
2. Severe harmful effects: They are the result of this behaviour and are directly related. They can be of different kinds:
   
   
   1. a. Conflicts with activities:  Affected people stop doing activities that they used to do and enjoy. For this reason, academic performance may be lower, they may quit sports, work less hours, not look for a job, have a backache, neglect their hygiene or diet, etc.  
      
      
   2. b. Interpersonal conflicts: Affected people have problems due to their addictive behaviour with their parents, children, partner, siblings, friends, teachers, workmates, etc.
      
      
   3. c. Intrapersonal conflicts: Affected people feel powerless to control their behaviour, guilt, discomfort, negative thoughts about themselves, etc.
      
      
3. Tolerance and withdrawal.
   
   
   1. a. Tolerance: Initial excitement decreases because of the effect of tolerance, and to get it back people can resort to such tricks as increasing the number of conversations on a chat, playing with two or three avatars at once, playing more than one online game at the same time, etc.
      
      
   2. b. Withdrawal: There are physical and psychological symptoms if the connection is not possible or long as expected. These symptoms can be:  irritability, impatience, mood swings, restlessness, sadness, anxiety, etc. 
      
      
4. Other possible symptoms are denial, hiding or minimizing the behaviour. People lie about their connection time, hide their connections, or justify their behaviour by trying to convince others that they have no problem at all. There can also be a relapse in the case that there was an addiction diagnosed and the problem had died down; the person could relapse into the addictive behaviour and quickly recover their initial addictive behaviour pattern.
   
   If these symptoms are not enough, we can observe if the following evolutionary sequence, which is usual in addictions without substance, sounds familiar (Echeburúa, Corral, & Amor, 2005):
   
   
   • The behaviour is pleasant and gratifying for the person.
   • Thoughts concerning this behaviour increase when the person is not engaging in the behaviour.
   • The behaviour tends to be more and more frequent.
   • People tend to play down the interest and dazzling resulting from the behaviour (psychological mechanism called denial).
   • There is an intense desire to engage in the behaviour with very high expectations.
   • The behaviour is kept despite increasing negative consequences. It is usually justified and people try to convince others that this is not so.
   • As adverse effects increase, affected people start to become aware of the reality and try to control the behaviour by themselves.
   • What keeps the behaviour at this moment is not the pleasant effect but the relief in discomfort. This relief is smaller and smaller, and shorter and shorter.
   • People show less and less capacity to stand negative emotions and daily frustrations. Strategies to cope with stress become weaker because they are not used, and the addictive behaviour is the only response to cope with it.
   • The addictive behaviour becomes more serious. At this moment, an external crisis –bad marks, family problems, arguments with friends- could lead affected people or their family to look for some treatment.

 Remember that the questionnaires and tests about Internet addiction, mobile phone addiction, or video game addiction that you can find on the Internet or in newspapers are useful to detect a problem or concern, but they can’t replace the criterion of a specialist based on an interview and on the use of diagnostic tools.

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I only play World of Warcraf

Of all Internet applications and other Information and Communication Technologies, MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) are the most dangerous application when developing an addiction, because they may produce some sort of trance, disconnection from reality, enable the game of identities, and are dissociative. That is, it is a rather reinforcing activity that gets people involved and may keep them “glued” for many hours, and it can also result in serious harmful effects.
Nevertheless, there is no reason for alarm, because World of Warcraft (WOW), as the other MMORPG games, is an excellent hobby or pastime that can also be used to meet new people, create online social networks, and keep one’s mind busy, creative and strategic. As with everything, you have to know where the limit is and what you use it for.

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What is World of Warcraft?

World of Warcraft is one of MMORPG with more subscribers. For those of you who don’t know, some characteristics of MMORPG help their players to be “glued:” Because MMORPG allow thousands of players to enter into a virtual world simultaneously, to interact between them, and to carry out different missions. It is a subgenre within online role-playing games where you can play non-stop, with a potential to become a full-time activity, that is, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

MMORPG players (among them, there are more and more women) get their score by accumulating experience and getting through missions (there is a direct relation between hours played and the character’s score). To do so, players have to create a character or avatar that will live in this fantasy world and will socialize with the other characters. Many players create more than one avatar, as every one of them has different weapons and functions and, depending on the mission, it will be better to play with one or the other.

Most times, though, cooperation among various players is needed, as to solve some missions you need a team of avatars that a single player could not handle at the same time. Thus, to achieve objectives, players are forced to organize groups or clans of different characters conducted by different players.

MMORPG are different from traditional video games, which started the industry and popularization of this technology. In traditional video games, regardless of their mode (Arcade, shooter, graphic adventure, sports games, etc.), players play on their own with the artificial intelligence of the console or PC (although new devices include online connection). In contrast, in MMORPG you interact with other players and every clan has a series of rules, roles and hierarchies, and interactions with other clans are created: alliances, conflicts, infiltrations, etc. This complex interactivity is one of the most relevant characteristics of MMORPG (Talarn & Carbonell, 2009).

Furthermore, MMORPG are open, non-linear games as traditional games, where players can choose their own itineraries for plot development and there is no definite ending, but they are never-ending games, where you can always find new incentives and activities to carry out. But, at the end of a certain mission, players get a reward in the form of skills and information that place them in a new disposition to continue the game.

A last aspect that is worth standing out is that, in traditional video games, players can only play a certain part (the shooter, the driver, the jumper, etc.). In MMORPG, players create their avatars with the physical and psychic characteristics they want. That is, a social reinforcement is achieved, players play with their identity, live in a virtual fantasy world, get points, satisfy their power fantasies, gain prestige, acquire more experience, and feel the pressure of the entire clan to keep on playing. All these characteristics make them very attractive and suggestive to generate addiction.

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What should I do if I have such a problem?

Some treatment centres can help you with diagnosis and care, if needed. You can go to the following public health care services:

 - Unit of Addictive Behaviour in Adolescents (UNICA-A), Service of Child and Youth Psychiatry and Psychology, Clínic Hospital of Barcelona

 - Addictive Behaviours Unit, Hospital of Mataró

 - Addictive Behaviours Unit, Hospital of Terrassa

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I am a teacher: can I do some sort of prevention at school?

To educate adolescents in the use of ICT, we have to work from the “hidden curriculum,” which includes school environment, atmosphere, relationship among students, and also parents, educators, and non-teaching staff. This hidden curriculum shapes a series of experiences and messages with a very important educational influence on adolescence, and is particularly relevant when trying to promote healthy habits in the child-youth population. Therefore, cross-curricular education about ICT use, a healthy and non-alarming use that teachers and educators can carry out at any time is very interesting.

In this sense, teachers use ICT as a normal thing in their education, and students see this and learn by imitation; besides, it would be interesting that teachers teach students to look for information, to discriminate it, to distinguish between what you do and what you can do according to these new “virtual” values, which have to be taught as well.

Apart from this, there are some basic guidelines for parents that may facilitate prevention (Sabadell-Click, 2008):

1. Find a place for the games console, platform or PC in a common, neutral site at home.
2. Define and agree on the time of play, days of play, or Internet surfing, always using dialogue and common sense.
3. Learn to use technologies in a rational and critical way to understand the current world.
4. Stimulate the child or teenager in other alternatives for their free time such as:

1. Playing with friends, as direct communication with others and social relationships are the basis of learning and growing.
2. b. Talking and speaking with family and siblings.
3. Reading, music, participatory debate.
4. Sports, environment, country.
5. Creativity, handicrafts, painting.

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Basic guidelines to promote a healthy use of Internet

Participate and share. Parents and educators can participate and share with their children or students everything Internet has to offer. Many children play and, in this case, parents can take part in choosing the game, play with them, share the emotion of the game, understand why they are so trapped, etc. Sharing Internet is a good excuse to listen and to transmit our point of view.

Socialize. Problems can derive from isolation produced by TV, mobile phone, PC or games console in the bedroom. Placing these devices in a common area can enhance interaction with  parents and siblings, and can also allow us to informally observe what they do when connected, who they play with, etc.

Group. Play and exploration are inherent in human beings and adolescents. Inviting some friends to play on the PC is better than playing on one’s own, and in this way we facilitate social relationships.

Programme times of use. It is always better that they arrange different times and avoid binge playing. It is better to play for an hour a day than 7 consecutive hours once a week.

Talk to the adolescent. The appreciation that adults make of the adolescent’s use of Internet is usually negative, and tends to be addressed at restricting this use. Thus, adolescents move away and try to avoid talking about these issues with the adult. The result is a lack of adult references with whom to contrast advantages and disadvantages of using these tools. Listening to them is also a good option.

Understand the excess of Internet as a way to react to psychological discomfort. We should ask ourselves why the adolescent focuses his/her leisure and socializing life on Internet. It is good to have an active listening attitude and avoid value judgements in order to help.

Resort to external interruptions. Use external tasks as signs to interrupt the connection. They are natural alarms that can be carried out and take away the adolescent’s attention on the game, for example: doing their homework at a certain time (and tell them when the time comes), taking the rubbish out at 9 (and playing from 8 to 9), etc.

Create new habits. Break routines to adapt to a new timetable. For example, if the first thing the adolescent does when they get home is to check their email or log in Messenger, we can ask them to do it after their tea.

Think about abstinence of a particular application. If they can’t stop playing World of Warcraft, this doesn’t mean that they also have problems with Internet surfing or Messenger. We can limit their use of the problem application without isolating them from their peers.

Suggest that they do alternative activities. Particularly if they have stopped doing some of them to have more time to play or be connected. Look for other leisure activities that motivate the adolescent and promote them. Encourage the family to take part in these activities.

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Basic guidelines to promote a healthy use of mobile phones

Buy the mobile phone at the appropriate evolutionary moment. Although we can’t exactly say what this moment is, because every child evolves in a different way, buying them a mobile phone too soon promotes their inappropriate use, and buying it too late may limit their socialization during adolescence. The group of friends and their evolutionary development may give us a useful hint of the appropriate time.

Take on responsibility for expenses. Agreeing on weekly or monthly pocket money realistically and promoting the pedagogy of effort helps to make good use of the mobile phone.

Teach them to self-regulate immediate pleasure. Tolerate waiting. Agreeing on the model of mobile phone trying to find some balance between needs and expectations promotes a good use. Besides, part of the anxiety adolescents feel when they get no immediate answer to their sms is a result of their scarce tolerance to waiting.

Speak about the time they spend talking. Agree on the time they spend talking with friends so that they become aware of it, as many times they just lose all sense of time.

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Basic guidelines to promote a healthy use of video games

Game area. Sharing their game area and playing with them can be interesting to reduce isolation and observe what they do and what they play.

Promote play as a relational area. Playing with them, inviting friends to play, etc., promotes a healthy and social use of play. We can also make sure that the kind of games they have allows for more than one player (multiplayer) and not with virtual people (multiplayer online games).

Game duration. Agree on the duration of play by introducing, if needed, external interruptions (for example, taking the rubbish out or going to the older brother’s football match) so that they become aware of the time they spend playing. Most adolescents (and not so adolescent as well) lose all sense of time when playing.

Kind of game. Knowing their tastes gets us closer to the teenager and, if needed, we can regulate the kind of game. To do so, we can collect information about the content of the game from their labelling and other pieces of information on the box. In this sense, there are PEGI codes that can be found here: http://www.pegi.info/es/

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Do you want to know more?

Echeburúa, E., Labrador, F.J., & Becoña, E. (2009). Adicción a las Nuevas tecnologías en adolescentes y jóvenes. Madrid: Pirámide.
This is a monograph on technological addictions that analyzes risks of ICT abuse in young people, tackles addiction and diagnosis from different perspectives, and provides us with tools for their treatment. Moreover, although to a lesser extent, it offers prevention aspects at the school and family level.

Prats, M.A., & Dorado, C. (2009). I-confiable. Educar en l’ús saludable i segur de les noves tecnologies Available online: http://www.i-confiable.net/llibre/llibre_i-confiable.pdf
This monograph reviews all technologies and applications (chats, Messenger, mobile phone, TV, etc.) and provides readers with a list of good practices and guidelines for healthy use.

Revista de Psicoterapia, 2009, no. 73, vol. XIX.
Revista de Psicoterapia is an important means to spread psychological and therapeutic contributions related to the main models of humanistic orientation, of an integrating character concerning the therapeutic aspect and with scientific rigour in the theory. Issue no. 73 is a monograph on information and communication technologies, and presents reflections on the network society, video games addiction, online role-playing games, psychotherapy for these addictions, cybersex, and e-psychology.

Riart, J. (2007). Manual de tutoría y orientación en la diversidad. Madrid: Pirámide.
This is a tutorial and guidance manual that deals with many current issues for prevention and attention to diversity. Chapter 30 (Sánchez-Carbonell, Castellana, & Beranuy, pp. 331-342) offers an interesting proposal of activities to be developed from tutorials and promote a healthy use of Internet, mobile phones, and video games.

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Other references used in the text

Bauman, Z. (2003). Liquid love: On the fragility of human bonds. London: Polity Press.

Sabadell Hazlo Clic. (2008). Recomanacions per a un ús responsable d’Internet (en xarxa). Available online: http://www.sabadell.cat/FesClic/p/isat_cat.asp

Sánchez-Carbonell, X., Beranuy, M., Castellana, M., Chamarro, A., & Oberst, U. (2008). La adicción a Internet y al móvil: ¿moda o trastorno? Adicciones, 20 (2), 149-160. Available online: www.adicciones.es/ficha_art_new.php?art=593

Echeburúa, E., Corral, P., & Amor, P.J. (2005). El reto de las Nuevas Adicciones: Objetivos terapéuticos y Vías de intervención. Psicología Conductual, 13, 511-525.

Talarn, A., & Carbonell, X. (2009). Algunas reflexiones a propósito de los juegos (y los jugadores) de rol online. Identidad y adicción. Revista de Psicoterapia, 73 (19), 51-68.

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