Saturday, April 26, 2008

Pew Internet Releases Writing, Technology and Teens Report

THIS WAS AN EMAIL NEWSLETTER I RECEIVED; THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED:

The state of writing among teens today is marked by an interesting paradox: While teens are heavily embedded in a tech-rich world and craft a significant amount of electronic text, they see a fundamental distinction between their electronic social communications and the more formal writing they do for school or for personal reasons.

* 87% of youth ages 12-17 engage at least occasionally in some form of electronic personal communication, which includes text messaging, sending email or instant messages, or posting comments on social networking sites.
* 60% of teens do not think of these electronic texts as "writing."

Teens are utilitarian in their approach to technology and writing, using both computers and longhand depending on circumstances. Their use of computers for school and personal writing is often tied to the convenience of being able to edit easily. And while they do not think their use of computers or their text-based communications with friends influences their formal writing, many do admit that the informal styles that characterize their e-communications do occasionally bleed into
their schoolwork.

* 57% of teens say they revise and edit more when they write using a computer.
* 63% of teens say using computers to write makes no difference in the quality of the writing they produce.
* 73% of teens say their personal electronic communications (email, IM, text messaging) have no impact on the writing they do for school, and 77% said they have no impact on the writing they do for themselves.
* 64% of teens admit that they incorporate, often accidentally, at least some informal writing styles used in personal electronic communication into their writing for school. (Some 25% have used emoticons in their school writing; 50% have used informal punctuation and grammar; 38% have used text shortcuts such as "LOL" meaning "laugh out loud.")

All of this matters more than ever because teenagers and their parents uniformly believe that good writing is a bedrock for future success. Eight in ten parents believe that good writing skills are more important now than they were 20 years ago, and 86% of teens believe that good writing ability is an important component of guaranteeing success later in life.

These are among the key findings in a national phone survey of 700 youth ages 12-17 and their parents conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the National Commission on Writing. The survey was completed in mid-November and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. The report also contains findings from eight focus groups in four U.S. cities conducted in the summer of 2007.

For the full report please visit:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/247/report_display.asp

About the Pew Internet & American Life Project: The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. Support for the project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The project's Web site:
http://www.pewinternet.org

About the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools and Colleges: In an effort to focus national attention on the teaching and learning of writing, the College Board established the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges in September 2002. The decision to create the Commission was animated in part by the Board's plans to offer a writing assessment in 2005 as part of the new SAT(r), but the larger motivation lay in the growing concern within the education, business, and policy-making communities that the level of writing in the United States is not what it should be.
http://www.writingcommission.org/

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Monday, April 21, 2008

"Breaking Free of the Web"


Dr. Kimberly Young, co-author of our class text, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a professor of management sciences at St. Bonaventure University. (Faculty Page)She is also the director of the Center for Internet Addiction.

FROM THE CENTER FOR INTERNET ADDICTION BLOG
Friday, March 28, 2008
Should Internet Addiction be included in the DSM?

In the American Journal of Psychiatry for March, an editorial offers the opinion that Internet addiction is a 'compulsive-impulsive' disorder, and should be added to the official DSM guidebook of disorders(Emphasis added). The editorial characterizes net addiction as including 'excessive gaming, online sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging'. From the article: 'Like other addicts, users experience cravings, urges, withdrawal and tolerance, requiring more and better equipment and software, or more and more hours online, according to Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Dr. Block says people can lose all track of time or neglect "basic drives," like eating or sleeping. Relapse rates are high, he writes, and some people may need psychoactive medications or hospitalization." Going back to 1994, when I started to study Internet addiction, many did question its validity. Today, documented cases in Italy, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Korea as well as the US, support that Internet addiction is a serious condition.

The Dark Side of the Internet

1/8 Americans exhibit internet "addiction"
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 WAMC interview re: Internet Addiction 60 min (WMP file)

* Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, Professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University's Impulse Control Disorders Clinic; and Lead author of Internet Behavior Study (published in "CNS Spectrums: The International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine")
4% preoccupied with internet venues
6% affected personal relationship
9% conceal usage
12% stayed longer than intended
14% felt difficult to stay away from Internet for multiple days in the world
Study DOES NOT call it an Internet Addiction because there is no official criteria to define it as addictive!
- used questions to extrapolate from parallel concerns: obsessive compulsive disorder, impulse control issues, substance abuse

* Kent Norman, Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Director, Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes, University of Maryland; Author of (forthcoming) "Cyberpsychology: An Introduction to the Psychology of Human and Computer Interaction" (Cambridge)
Kent's criteria to monitor concern - behavioral "addiction" markers
salience - can't stop thinking about it - thinking about being online even when offline
mood modification - "high," uphoria
tolerance - need more and more
withdraw - what do I do when no Internet available (i.e. on vacation)
conflict - esp with family members and work collegues, also internal voice
relapse - go back online after getting off

* Patricia Wallace, Director, Information Technology and Distance Programs at the Center for Talented Youth, Johns Hopkins University; and author, "The Psychology of the Internet" (Cambridge) and "The Internet in the Workplace" (Cambridge)
web stickiness - advertising created
rewards - affirm activity online (gaming, auctions, etc)
addiction is problematic term because no substance involved, no intoxicant
most internet use is productive - watch for markers exhibited by a few people

* Lee Rainie, Founding Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project- contrast compulsive behavior in life with those who are compulsive online
- most online users are productive, enriched social lives, some pain however many more happy and fulfilled


SELECTED RESOURCES RE: UNITED STATES and "INTERNET "ADDICTION" from PubMed, A service of the U S National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (http://www.pubmed.gov)

Internet addiction: recognition and interventions. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2008 Apr;22(2):59-60.
J J Fitzpatrick .
No abstract available.

Issues for DSM-V: internet addiction.
Am J Psychiatry. 2008 Mar;165(3):306-7.
J J Block.
No abstract available.

Internet addiction : definition, assessment, epidemiology and clinical management.
CNS Drugs. 2008;22(5):353-65.
Martha Shaw, Donald W Black.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.

Internet addiction is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges or behaviours regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress. The condition has attracted increasing attention in the popular media and among researchers, and this attention has paralleled the growth in computer (and Internet) access.Prevalence estimates vary widely, although a recent random telephone survey of the general US population reported an estimate of 0.3-0.7%. The disorder occurs worldwide, but mainly in countries where computer access and technology are widespread. Clinical samples and a majority of relevant surveys report a male preponderance. Onset is reported to occur in the late 20s or early 30s age group, and there is often a lag of a decade or more from initial to problematic computer usage. Internet addiction has been associated with dimensionally measured depression and indicators of social isolation. Psychiatric co-morbidity is common, particularly mood, anxiety, impulse control and substance use disorders. Aetiology is unknown, but probably involves psychological, neurobiological and cultural factors.There are no evidence-based treatments for internet addiction. Cognitive behavioural approaches may be helpful. There is no proven role for psychotropic medication. Marital and family therapy may help in selected cases, and online self-help books and tapes are available. Lastly, a self-imposed ban on computer use and Internet access may be necessary in some cases.

A Review of the Research on Internet Addiction
Educational Psychology Review. 2005, Vol. 17, No. 4: 363
Chien Chou, Linda Condron, John C. Belland

Research indicates that maladaptive patterns of Internet use constitute behavioral addiction. This article explores the research on the social effects of Internet addiction. There are four major sections. The Introduction section overviews the field and introduces definitions, terminology, and assessments. The second section reviews research findings and focuses on several key factors related to Internet addiction, including Internet use and time, identifiable problems, gender differences, psychosocial variables, and computer attitudes. The third section considers the addictive potential of the Internet in terms of the Internet, its users, and the interaction of the two. The fourth section addresses current and projected treatments of Internet addiction, suggests future research agendas, and provides implications for educational psychologists.

Modification in the proposed diagnostic criteria for Internet addiction. Cyberpsychol Behav. 2001 Jun;4(3):377-83.
K W Beard , E M Wolf.
School of Professional Psychology, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, USA.

The Internet is a new technology that has impacted the world and provided many benefits to its users. At the same time the Internet has had negative ramifications. Some people are becoming preoccupied with the Internet, are unable to control their use, and are jeopardizing employment and relationships. The concept of "Internet addiction" has been proposed as an explanation for uncontrollable, damaging use of this technology. Symptoms of excessive Internet use are compared to the criteria used to diagnose other addictions. In particular, pathological gambling is compared to problematic Internet use because of overlapping criteria. This article suggests some modifications to the diagnostic criteria that has been commonly proposed for Internet addiction.
--------------------------------
Canadian Medical Association Journal (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/)

Internet addiction: a new disorder enters the medical lexicon.
CMAJ. 1996 June 15; 154(12): 1882–1883.
M OReilly

The latest consequence of the information age may be addiction to the Internet. A psychologist who has established the Centre for Online Addiction in the US says the disorder causes the same type of social problems as other established addictions. Michael OReilly went on line to find physicians interested in discussing potential problems posed by the Internet. (Full article - .pdf)