Browsing by Subject "nuoret aikuiset"

Objective. Today almost everyone has access to the internet and thus the incidence of internet-related mental problems has also increased. Youth and young adults in particular are at risk for experiencing these problems because they use the internet more compared to the rest of the population. Loneliness is common among young people and they often gravitate toward the internet to alleviate their feelings of loneliness. This type of internet usage can be problematic, meaning that it is pathological, compulsive and harmful to the user. The objective of this review is to examine the association between loneliness and problematic internet use among youth and young adults. Methods. The studies that were included in this review were as recently published as possible and examined the association between loneliness or related experiences and problematic internet or Facebook use among youth and young adults. Keywords that were used to search for the studies were loneliness, problematic internet use, internet addiction, problematic facebook use, youth and young adults. The search was carried out utilizing the Google Scholar search engine. Results and conclusions. Based on this review there is a positive association of some magnitude between loneliness and problematic internet use. The association is likely bidirectional, meaning that problematic internet use causes feelings of loneliness and feelings of loneliness increase problematic internet use. In the future longitudinal studies are required to form a more thorough understanding of the phenomenon because loneliness and problematic internet use are both phenomena that develop relatively slowly over a long period of time. Problematic internet use as a phenomenon is diverse and appears to be widely connected to mental well-being, so understanding the causes behind it helps healthcare and educational institutions develop services to prevent it and its harmful effects.