The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

Introduction to the Special Series on Addiction and Technology

New technologies often create public health concerns. When a new technology emerges, many people become concerned that it will be overwhelmingly attractive to people who are exposed to it, leading to abuse and dependence. The Internet -- one of the most important technological advances in history -- is no exception. However, these concerns reflect only one side of the story of technology and addiction. For instance, the Internet might help curtail or prevent addictive behavior by creating new opportunities for education, prevention, and intervention. During the month of July, all of our science reviews will be dedicated to the topic... Read more →

The DRAM, Vol. 10(8) - Drink Up-load: The reciprocal relationship between exposure to alcohol-related images and alcohol behaviors

As youth spend more time using social media and social networks via computers and smart phones, parents often worry about the content they are viewing: And with good reason. Studies have found associations between exposure to substance-related media content and substance using behaviors (e.g., Litt & Stock, 2011). Continuing the BASIS Special Series on Addiction and Technology, this week’s edition of The DRAM reviews a longitudinal study by Tucker, Miles, and D’Amico (2013) testing a shared relationship between social media alcohol-related exposure and alcohol use behaviors in middle school students. Methods Researchers conducted a 5-wave longitudinal study over the course... Read more →

Internet Addiction: Real or Virtual Reality?

Editor's Note: This Editorial was written by Venkat Srinivasan, a writer and research engineer based in San Francisco. It originally appeared on Scientific American's MIND Guest Blog. You can follow Venkat Srinivasan on Twitter @vns2. In 1995, Ivan Goldberg, a New York psychiatrist, published one of the first diagnostic tests for Internet Addiction Disorder. The criteria appeared on psycom.net, a psychiatry bulletin board, and began with an air of earnest authenticity: “A maladaptive pattern of Internet use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress as manifested by three (or more) of the following.” The test listed seven symptoms. You might... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol. 19(8) - I can’t believe it’s not gambling: Experience with simulated gambling and gambling-related problems among adolescents

The Internet gambling marketplace is diverse and evolving. In addition to traditional gambling, the Internet also provides access to experiences that look and feel like gambling, but involve no monetary exchange (i.e., simulated gambling). Although traditional Internet gambling is age-restricted, simulated gambling experiences are open to anyone and available in many different formats (e.g., as smartphone and social networking apps, embedded within video games). This week, as a part of our Special Series on Addiction and Technology, The WAGER reviews research that examines adolescents’ gambling-related problems and technology-enabled experience with simulated gambling (King et al., 2014). Methods Researchers recruited seven... Read more →

STASH, Vol. 10(8) - Turning inward instead of outward: Problematic Internet use as an internalizing disorder

Researchers and the public are increasingly concerned with Problematic Internet Use (PIU). However, professional consensus about PIU is far from certain. Some researchers view PIU as an “internalizing” disorder (Tonioni et al., 2012), in that people attempt to cope with social anxiety and other painful feelings by escaping to an online life. Others suggest that PIU is an “externalizing” disorder that results from high levels of impulsivity and other characteristics often associated with risky behaviors, such as illicit drug use. As part of our Special Series on Addiction and Technology, today’s STASH examines research that considers whether PIU is better... Read more →

Digital Technologies and Addictions

Editor's Note: This editorial was written by Marc N. Potenza, MD, PhD. Dr. Potenza is Professor of Psychiatry in the Child Study and Neurobiology Department at Yale University School of Medicine, Director of the Problem Gambling Clinic, Director of the Center of Excellence in Gambling Research, and Director of Women and Addictive Disorders Core of Women’s Health Research at Yale University. During the past two decades, there have been substantial changes in the capabilities, availabilities, and use of digital technologies. These changes have multiple implications, both bad and good, with respect to the development, prevention and treatment of addiction. Negative... Read more →

ASHES, Vol. 10(7) - SMS: Stop My Smoking!

Two decades ago, multimedia CD-ROMs were the cutting edge of intervention technology; one decade ago, interactive websites were at the forefront; today, “there’s an app for that.” But is there anything particularly effective about the newest intervention modality? Unlike CDs and websites, interventions that use a mobile platform allow messages to reach users rapidly no matter where they are. Continuing the BASIS Special Series on Addiction and Technology, this week’s ASHES reviews a study evaluating a text-message based intervention for smoking cessation (Naughton et al., 2014). Methods Naughton et al. used a randomized controlled trial to compare (1) a conventional... Read more →

The DRAM, Vol. 10(7) - Clicks, likes, drinks, and links: Alcohol-related Facebook content and risky drinking

Social networking and alcohol both play large roles in undergraduate life. People often use social media sites like Facebook to promote a certain self-image and connect to their friends. Posting alcohol-related content has been linked in the literature to risky drinking behaviors (Ridout et al., 2012), but it is unclear whether friends’ alcohol-related posts also influence drinking behaviors, and how the association between alcohol-related posts and behaviors relates to specific drinking motives, such as enhancement or conformity. This week, as part of a Special Series on Addiction and Technology, The DRAM reviews a study that tested whether certain patterns of... Read more →