Engl. transl.: Surfing aimlessly - analyzing the factors behind problematic internet use

Summary: Background and aims of the study: Nowadays the internet use is inomissibile for the members of the young generations. The online world is the primary source of infomation and quick communication, and these activities can take more hours per day. The main goal of the present study was to examine interrelationships among problematic internet use, social factors, stress and life satisfaction. Method: Data collection was going online during the first semester of the year 2014 (N= 386 girls). The anonymous questionnaire contained items on perceived social support and the amount of online activites beyond sociodemographics. After descriptive statistics, factor, correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were applied to detect interrelationships. Results: According to our data, 78% of the participants spent daily at least 2 hours, 40% more than 4 hours online. Using factor analysis, four factors of online activities were identified: Social networking-surfing, News-information, Risky and Lonely game factors. Only the News-information factor was not related to the problematic internet use. Based on multiple regression analyses, we may conclude that shyness, stress, loneliness and two factors, the Social networking-surfing and the Risky factors acted as background variables for problematic internet use. Conclusions: As a summary we may conclude that the internet has an important role in the everyday life of the participants. In case of the direct aim of the online activities the problematic use did not appear. These activities were mostly searching for information and news. In introduction of prevention, education about the correct use of the internet may be reasonable as early as possible.

The study found that internet usage is a very important activity in the life of the respondents: 40% of them spend more than 4 hours on an average day online. The authors differentiated 4 factors of online activities with factor analysis. problematic internet use showed association with life dissatisfaction, stress, willingness to belong and the feeling of loneliness. Regression analysis showed that problematic internet use can be explained most by the social media-browsing factor, stress, risk-taking factors and loneliness. This this type of behavior is connected both by certain personality traits, the pattern of internet usage and the time one spend online. "Az internet mára elôlépett a szociális támogatás megszerzésének egy új színterévé. Az online társas közösségek felkeresésével szociális kompenzálás valósul meg (24), amikor is a mindennapokhoz szükséges szociális ingereket a személyek nem kapják meg a valós környezetüktôl, így az interneten keresik azokat. Ezek mellett az adatokból arra következtethetünk, hogy a stresszlevezetés egyik csatornájaként is funkcionálhat az online jelenlét, mivel eredményeink szerint a megnövekedett mértékû stressz szintén befolyással bírt a problémás mértékû internethasználat kialakulásában." (Prievara Dóra - Pikó Bettina: Céltalanul a világhálón – a problémás internethasználat háttértényezôinek vizsgálata, Psychiat Hung 2016, 31 (2):146-156, p: 154) "By today the Internet has become a new arena of where people can get social support. Using online social communities means a social compensation, when people do not receive the social stimuli what is needed for everyday life from the offline environment, and seek for those online. Moreover, based on the data we can conclude online presence can serve as a channel of stress release, as are data shows that higher level of stress also affects problematic internet use." (Prievara Dóra - Pikó Bettina: Céltalanul a világhálón – a problémás internethasználat háttértényezôinek vizsgálata, Psychiat Hung 2016, 31 (2):146-156, p: 154)