[Air-L] Readings on internet 'addiction'?

[Sanjay Sharma]

Hello All


I'm putting together a new UG social media module, and after eliciting feedback from students, there's interest in internet 'addiction'.


In the past, I shun away from these kinds of discussions about 'addiction', as they can be empirically dubious, with simplistic - psychological, rather than sociological - notions of subjectivity and behaviour.  Although now that (controversially) the WHO may be classifying gaming disorder as a mental health condition, it struck me that the topic does need some serious attention. And more generally, there are seemingly convincing claims about how the design of social media platforms and apps exploit our attention, e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia


Are there critically informed academic resources/readings the hive-mind of AoIR would recommend on this topic? (I'm happy to compile and re-circulate to the mailing-list).


Thanks

Sanjay


Dr Sanjay Sharma
Department of Social & Political Sciences (MJRD156)
College of Business, Arts & Social Sciences
Brunel University
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/sanjay-sharma<http://www.brunel.ac.uk/sss/sociology/staff-profiles/sanjay-sharma>
darkmatter Journal<http://www.darkmatter101.org/> editor
twitter: @sanjay_digital<https://twitter.com/sanjay_digital>