Addiction is a symptom of social problems
Since May 1, cell phones have been banned from all Austrian classrooms up to year eight. “In earlier research, I noticed the discrepancy between the prominent media presence of smartphone addiction and the views of young people, who often had completely different priorities,” says Suzana Jovicic from the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. According to this researcher, young people have more capabilities to deal with the digital world than adults assume. At the same time, online spaces are as complex as places in the real world. Jovicic offers a comparison: “Per se, malls or shopping centers are neither good nor bad; it always depends on the context.”
There is another thing Jovicic noticed: although there are ongoing studies on how much time young people spend online, there are hardly any surveys on how many hours they spend on school activities and homework. One of the few Austrian studies in the past 20 years reported that pupils in secondary education spent up to 55 hours per week on schoolwork. Hence, Jovicic wonders: “Why do we make such a big deal about online leisure time, but don't ask about the pressure to perform or the concerns the coming generations have about the future?” Many pupils report that they can only relax on weekends. For this reason they don't go out during the week, but at least want to stay in touch with their friends online.
About the project
Little research has been done on smartphone and internet addiction to date. This project focuses on how young people experience and conceptualize smartphone addiction themselves, particularly with regard to feelings of guilt and self- control, taking social and cultural differences into account. The study involves extensive fieldwork in an Austrian clinic specialized in addiction.
More information
Ethnographic method give those affected a voice
Her unanswered questions induced Jovicic to launch the FWF-funded ESPRIT project “Negotiating Smartphone Addiction” that took her to the clinical field. Jovicic’s research is marked by an ethnographic and participatory approach, spending a lot of time with people to understand their living conditions and perspectives. She challenges the assumptions that society holds about the use of digital media: “The discourse is preponderantly moralizing in tone. And the definition of problematic smartphone use is determined rather arbitrarily from the top down,” Jovicic notes. She believes it is important to give people who experience smartphone and internet addiction a voice. This is time-consuming and requires a lot of time for data analysis but has the advantage that it enables the researcher to get to the root of addiction disorders.
From Jovicic's point of view, there is a need to catch up in terms of research and diagnostics. To date, only computer game addiction is internationally recognized as a psychiatric disorder, but not addiction to smartphone or internet; in addition, there are overlaps between the online and offline worlds in the case of porn addiction, shopping addiction, and gambling addiction.
Trust is a prime value
For four months, Suzana Jovicic conducted daily research at an Austrian clinic specializing in gaming and internet addiction. She participated in group therapy sessions and conducted interviews with clinical staff and patients, most of whom were young men in their twenties or thirties. In ethnographic research, building trust is crucial, especially in the setting of an addiction clinic with vulnerable people who have often been long-suffering. As a good share of them has gone through treatment repeatedly, there is also a great deal of hopelessness. “In order to dig deeper, to get people to talk about intimate matters, you need a basis of trust,” says Jovicic. “Whenever someone agrees to engage in such conversations and says, 'I'm telling my story for research because it's important and I want to make a contribution,' those are special moments for me.”
A focus on social problems
In the third year of the research project, which is set to run until May 2026, Jovicic will continue her visits to the clinic as needed and evaluate the extensive data collected. She has already obtained important insights that confirm earlier research projects she undertook: “From a social science perspective, addiction is also a symptom of social problems and not merely an individual problem.” The therapists are well aware of this. Patients often tell them that the object of their addiction is not the problem, but rather the solution to their problems.
In the project, many people reported family problems, bullying and loneliness, chronic illnesses or neurodiverse conditions such as autism and ADHD as triggers for intensive media consumption. Problems such as not knowing what career to pursue and frustration over that are particularly pronounced among young people, as they are often told that they just need to find their inner calling and then they can achieve anything.
Pressure to perform and social inequality
US scholar Lauren Berlant described this as “cruel optimism,” and Jovicic found that this concept is reinforced by structures in this country: “In Austria, the type of school one attends determines at a very early age which career paths are even an option, so social mobility is limited. In addition, young people are under a lot of pressure to perform at school and at home, so it may be more bearable to spend their time in a different world where they can forget their problems and even experience success.”
Such inequalities can be exacerbated for financial reasons if parents have to work long hours and have little time for their children. Often, there is an issue of not being able to afford leisure activities, as participation in sports clubs costs money, while the internet is more easily accessible. Youngsters with a migrant background in particular feel that they are not always welcome in public spaces. In contrast, the online world is not discriminatory because it wants clicks from everyone, regardless of culture or skin color.
Cell phone ban does not solve the underlying problems
For Jovicic, the recently enacted cell phone ban is a telling example of policy strategies: “Bans are easier and quicker to enforce. At the same time, however, too little is being invested in basic digital literacy. Programs exist, but are not equipped with enough resources, including psychological support for students and teachers.” Jovicic thinks that we should tackle the bigger social issues, such as inequality in the school system, loneliness, and bullying, which also exist in the offline world. A prerequisite for this are more financial resources for support and service centers. According to Jovicic, easy-access services outside the clinical context are desirable, where people with mental health problems or signs of addictive behavior can speak about their problems. A stay in a clinic can not only be stigmatizing, but may also be fraught with professional or financial hurdles.
Jovicic also finds it remarkable that smartphone addiction is very present in the media and public perception, whereas alcohol is not, although in Austrian clinical practice 70 percent of the people affected are addicted to alcohol. Small bottles of alcohol at supermarket checkouts are very problematic for the target audience, for instance. Therefore, one should give more attention not only to internet addiction and its variants, but to the entire broad spectrum of addiction. More investment in support services means less investment in healthcare and fewer social conflicts in the long term.
About the researcher
Suzana Jovicic studied psychological and psychiatric anthropology at Brunel University in London and received her doctorate in digital anthropology from the University of Vienna. She currently works as a research associate at the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna, where she conducts research into the use of digital media with a focus on smartphones. She is the principal investigator of the FWF project “Negotiating Smartphone Addiction,” which has been awarded EUR 319,000 in funding and co-founder of DEI – Digital Ethnography Initiative.
Publications
Ethnographies of Digital Addiction, Harm, and Repair. An Anthropological Perspective. (forthcoming)
The Unbearable Lightness of Scrolling: Viennese Youth and the Guilty Pleasure of Wasting Time, in: Berghahn Books (in Druck)
Scrolling and the In-Between Spaces of Boredom: Marginalized Youths on the Periphery of Vienna, in: Ethos 2021
