Internet addiction, usage, gratification, and pleasure experience: the Taiwan college students' case

This study explores Internet addiction among some of the Taiwan's college s tudents. Also covered are a discussion of the Internet as a form of addicti on, and related literature on this issue. This study used the Uses and Grat ifications theory and the Play theory in mass communication. Nine hundred a nd ten valid surveys were collected from 12 universities and colleges aroun d Taiwan. The results indicated that Internet addiction does exist among so me of Taiwan's college students. In particular, 54 students were identified as Internet addicts, It was found that Internet addicts spent almost tripl e the number of hours connected to the Internet as compare to non-addicts, and spent significantly more time on BBSs, the WWW, e-mail and games than n on-addicts. The addict group found the Internet entertaining, interesting, interactive, and satisfactory. The addict group rated Internet impacts on t heir studies and daily life routines significantly more negatively than the non-addict group. The study also found that the most powerful predictor of Internet addiction is the communication pleasure score, followed by BBS us e hours, sex, satisfaction score, and e-mail-use hours. (C) 2000 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.