Internet addiction and psychological impact on adolescents: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: Extensive engagement of young people with the internet can lead to the development of addictive behaviors. The purpose of this scoping review is to study the psychological effects of internet addiction on adolescents. Methods: The data were collected in three databases. The search retrieved 25 empirical studies that were divided into four categories: depression and anxiety, suicide, emotional and behavioral effects, school bullying and cyberbullying. The bibliography was searched based on a series of selection and exclusion criteria: a) articles of the last 5 years (2017-2022), b) articles that include primary empirical studies (quantitative and qualitative methodology), c) articles in which adolescents participate and d) articles published in Greek or the English language. The exclusion criteria were: a) articles that were meta-analyses, b) articles that did not present primary empirical findings (bibliographic reviews), c) articles that did not involve adolescents, d) case studies consisting of a small sample and e) articles that were published in a language other than English and Greek. Results: Searching for articles in the four databases led to the retrieving of 920 articles. The outcomes measured in this scoping review include 25 primary empirical studies. Conclusions: The review showed the aggravating role that internet addiction has in the manifestation of other forms of psychopathology in adolescents, the negative effects that cyber addiction has on the emotional state of adolescents, the effects that this form of addiction has on adolescent behavior and the psychological effects experienced by young people need to be taken seriously by professionals working with teens who are addicted to the internet