Information+Overload+-+Implications+for+Gen+Y

Name: Caleb Rudd Student No: 01328603 Tutor: Sophie Miller

** Artefact **
media type="youtube" key="7jT0JT3N47g" width="425" height="350" align="center"

This artefact is a sketch from the first episode of American comedy show //Portlandia// that features co-lead star Fred Armisten stuck in a never-ending “technology loop”. This loop has Fred in a cycle of compulsive behaviour as he checks and sends mobile text messages, views internet blogs, watches and cues videos and engages in social networking technology. After Fred pleads for help, co-star Carrie Brownstein attempts to break this addiction by first showing Fred a picture of himself in high school saying “This was you before the internet. You were so happy”. She then telepathically communicates with Fred using the fictitious “Mind-fi” but even in this private mode of communication Fred is bombarded with distracting information, the overload of which causes Fred to experience a mental breakdown.

** Public Health Issue **
Although there is not unanimous agreement among experts or government of what is the actual demographic for Generation Y is, this Wiki will use the most common age bracket of those born between 1982 and 1995, making them aged between 16 and 28 years at present. This generation has been the first to be brought up with affordable and widespread access to the Internet for the majority of their lifespan.

Concurrently there is a continued high percent of youth in this demographic experiencing mental health issues. A recent government survey showed that one quarter of those presently defined as Generation Y had reported a mental health disorder in the previous 12 months (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011).

I will argue that although there are obvious benefits to Internet and social networking technology, as public health professionals we should be aware of the negative effects on mental health that an overuse and misuse of the internet can have. Internet addiction and information overload may have a have a significant impact on Generation Y not only at present but in the future.

// Statistics //
Generation Y is the most Internet informed and adept generation with 76.5% of those aged 15-24 in 2006-7 (20 to 29 at present) using the internet at home (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). The majority of this Internet use is at high speed with 95% of Internet connections being broadband (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011). Additionally there were 9.5 million mobile handset subscribers, an increase of over 18% from six months previously.

Facebook is the most visited social networking site on the internet with 800 million users worldwide, 10.7 million of them Australian. The two age brackets which use Facebook the most are 25-34 with 26%, and then 18-24 with 24% (Australian Facebook Statistics, nd).

In the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2011) analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of 2007, mental health problems and disorders among those aged 16-24, presently aged 20-29, accounted for the highest burden of disease accounting for 50% of the total.

To breakdown the figures 391,300 (15.4%) in this demographic experienced anxiety disorders, 161,400 (6.3%) experienced affective disorders, which includes bi-polar and depressive disorders, and 323,500 (12.7%) experienced substance use disorders. Thus of a total of 2.5 million people over one quarter, 26.4% or 671,100 persons experienced a mental health disorder in the last 12 months at the time of the survey. Also 9% of people in this age bracket reported high levels of psychological distress (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011). Our youth may have the appearance of being fit, healthy and vibrant but internally things are often quite different.

// Benefits of Internet and Social Networking Technology //
There are numerous benefits, mainly related to the ease of information access and retrieval as well as communication, which internet technology has either created or enhanced tremendously. Few would advocate a return to a time without the convenience of mobile phones, texting and ever ready internet access.

The social networking site Facebook can be a useful tool for creating and maintaining social capital as it enables users to uphold friendships as they move from one social sphere to another, for example from high school to university and then from university to work. Additionally Facebook can improve self esteem and self worth in those with low levels of either (Elison, Steinfeild & Lampe, 2007).

In their review, Shaw & Black (2008) described that for some people the Internet is a place where they can exercise control over the impressions that others have about them. Moreover, some see the internet as less risky, easier and more exciting than face-to-face communication.

// Internet Addiction //
Internet addiction is a relatively new phenomenon broadly defined as a compulsive need to spend a large amount of time on the Internet thereby negatively affecting other areas of a person’s life. There is a dependence on the Internet and increased amounts of time online are needed to get the same effect or “high” (//Internet Addiction//, 2011). Some psychiatrists believe it has characteristics, including those of excessive use, withdrawal, and tolerance that mirror substance use disorders. However there is no accord among experts whether Internet addiction is a separate disease entity in itself or rather a symptom of an underlying disorder (Pies, 2009).

Quantifying the numbers of Internet addiction sufferers is difficult due to the disagreement about the condition itself and different survey demographics. Statistics for one random adult US telephone found the rates of Internet addiction to be between 0.3% and 0.7%. Other surveys among young people, both online and in person, have reported rates from 0.9% to a staggering 38% (Shaw & Black, 2008). Zboralski K et al, 2009) in a study of Polish school children aged 13-18 years found 6% showing clear signs of Internet addiction with another 19% at high risk of being addicted. If we estimate that between 10% and 25% of Australian Generation Y is either suffering from Internet addiction or at high risk to do so, that would mean approximately 250,000 to 625,000 young people may be affected.

Shaw & Black (2008) found that Internet addiction was associated with mental health disorders such as depression and social isolation. In addition there was evidence of co-morbidity with psychiatric disorders relating to mood, anxiety, impulse control, substance use and obsessive compulsive disorders. While a higher incidence of males was generally found in the research of more concern was that onset was generally late 20s or early 30s often a decade after initial computer use. Thus Generation Y may not evidence symptoms for another 10 years leading to a time-lag of Internet addiction which our society is ill equipped to deal with.

Young, Pistner, O'Mara & Buchanan (1999) divide Internet addiction into five sub-types: cybersexual addiction (pornography), cyber-relationship addiction (chat rooms, affairs), net compulsions (gambling, online shopping or trading), information overload (web searching, database searches) and computer addiction (computer games). Logically it would seem that social networking addiction will be proposed to as an additional subcategory of Internet addiction as it shares properties of cyber-relationship addiction, net compulsion and information overload.

One of the difficulties when dealing with Internet addiction is that there is no agreed upon evidence based treatments for the condition. Psychotropic medication has not been studied to any great extent while a modified form of cognitive behavioural therapy has been suggested. Other avenues of investigation are self help books or courses, support groups and self-imposed internet bans (Shaw & Black, 2008).

A more novel technique has been suggested by American psychologist Larry Rosen. His method consists of approved regular breaks specifically for checking Internet, mobile phones and social networking (Barshay, 2011). The idea is that students will be thinking of text or post instead of the teacher and it would be better to have breaks to check and send so the student can concentrate on the class. While devised initially for use in a school setting this could be expanded for the workplace and is a modality that warrants further attention.

// Statistic and Literature Shortcomings //
One of the leading problems with statistics concerning generational groups is the lack of a standardised age range for each generation. This is especially true for Generation Y with birth ranges of late 1970s to 1980s commonly used. Also much of the literature in this field and used in this Wiki are reviews, or papers rather than quantitative studies or trials. Finally many of the surveys have been done in countries, such as Korea or China, which have an extremely high Internet use amongst Generation Y. These results may not translate across to western countries like Australia which have very different cultural and societal influences in relation to mental health and addictive behaviours.

** Social Theory **
In examining why Australia’s youth use the internet and social networking to such a degree the application of two social theories is helpful.

Social networking sites are useful tools for building social capital; Twitter, web blogs and Facebook all prime facilitators of social connections. They provide a way of maintaining social capital with little effort, whether writing a quick message after being reminded about a friend’s birthday or staying in touch when distance makes face-to-face contact impossible. Likewise new friendships can be created and strengthened with a minimal amount of energy, as a great deal of personal information can be garnered from someone’s wall and profile. If we share quality content, either status updates, links, photos, videos or comments, with friends we build social capital. If we share content that is not shared or “liked”, to the point of our newsfeed being hidden, we may lose social capital.

Another reason for Generation Y’s use and overuse of social networking can be explained via Social identity theory. Pelling & White (2009) found people who self identified as the type of person that used social networking would then have higher use of these sites. Also if they felt more pressure from others to use social networking they would tend to use social networking at high levels. The ingroup exerts pressure on these people to use social networking at high levels lest they lose approval of the ingroup and become part of the outgroup.

However the feedback from social networking and the internet can be addictive. Facebook’s red number notification like the message notification on mobile phones gives validation that we are liked, either figuratively or literally. However if absent, can lead us to question our popularity and negatively impact our self esteem. Validation can be addictive and if we post only seeking validation we can neglect real world interaction for the instant gratification of Internet feedback. Those predisposed to addictive behaviours or other mental health disorders may be drawn into this social networking validation cycle and suffer serious effects from it.

** Artefact Re-considered **
If we re-consider the artefact, the truism that behind every joke there is a grain of truth is validated, as for this comedy sketch the grain becomes a silo. The majority of Generation Y will see many of their own behaviours in this sketch and be confident that they can control them. I personally see much of myself in this sketch and sometimes suffer from information overload. For others this comedic sketch will be a bittersweet experience as for many thousands of Australian youth the technology loop has become very real phenomenon. This is a real addiction which can cause loss of productivity, damage relationships and may exacerbate or even instigate mental health conditions. Depression, anxiety, compulsive disorders and substance abuse disorders have all been linked to Internet addiction. Internet addiction may, in time, be classed as a distinct mental health or it may continue to be classified under other addictive disorders. However we as students and professionals in public health have to be mindful about the overuse of the Internet and social networking at this moment. Study and education into this addiction need to be done before a significant part of a generation experience a debilitating “Mind-fi” fail.

** References **
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). //Australian Social Trends, 2008//. Retrieved from []

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009). //Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2008-09//. Retrieved from []

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). //Internet Activity, Australia, June 2011//. Retrieved from []

// Australia //// n Facebook Statistics //. Social Bakers. Retrieved 20/11/11 from [].

Australian InstiItute of Health and Wellbeing. (2011//). Young Australians: their health and wellbeing 2011//. Retrieved from []

Barshay, J. (2011), How a “tech break” can help students refocus. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved 10/11/11 from []

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of facebook “Friends:” social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. //Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication//. 12(4), 1143-1168. Retrieved from []

// Internet Addiction //. (2011). Better Health Channel. Retrieved 10/11/11 from []

Leyman E., Mirka, G., Kaber, D. & Sommerich, C. (2004). Cervicobrachial muscle response to cognitive load in a dual-task scenario. //Ergonomics//, 47:6, 625-645. []

Pelling, E. & White, K. (2009). The Theory of Planned Behavior Applied to Young People’s Use of Social Networking Web Sites. //CyberPsychology & Behavior//. 12(6), 755-759. []

Pies, R. (2009). Should DSM-V Designate “Internet Addiction” a Mental Disorder? //Psychiatry (Edgemont).// 6(2),31–37. Retrieved from []

Shaw, M., & Black, D. (2008). Internet addiction: definition, assessment, epidemiology and clinical management. //CNS Drugs.// 22:5, 353-365. Retrieved from []

Young, K., Pistner, M., O'Mara, J. & Buchanan, J. (1999). Cyber disorders: the mental health concern for the new millennium. //Cyberpsychology Behaviour.// 2(5):475-9. Retrieved from []

Zboralski, K., Orzechowska A., Talarowska, M., Darmosz, A., Janiak, A., Janiak M., … Gałecki, P. (2009). The prevalence of computer and Internet addiction among pupils. //Postepy Higieny i Medycyn Doswiadczalnej//. 63:8–12. Retrieved 16/11/2011 from []

Reflection Task
http://healthculturesociety.wikispaces.com/message/view/+Generation+Y+-+Are+we+clicking+our+lives+away%3F/45905804

http://healthculturesociety.wikispaces.com/message/view/%27It%27s+bad+enough+that+people+are+dying+of+AIDS%2C+but+no+one+should+die+of+ignorance%27++-+Elizabeth+Taylor+%28actress%29/46085504