Excessive Dependence on Mobile Social Apps: A Rational Addiction Perspective

Abstract

Drawing on the rational addiction framework, this study explores the digital vulnerabilities driven by dependence on mobile social apps (e.g., social network sites and social games). Rational addicts anticipate the future consequences of their current behaviors and attempt to maximize utility from their intertemporal consumption choices. Conversely, myopic addicts tend toward immediate gratification and fail to fully recognize the future consequences of their current consumption. In lieu of conducting self-report surveys or aggregate-level demand estimation, this research examines addictive behaviors on the basis of consumption quantity at an individual level. To empirically validate rational addiction in the context of social app consumption, we collect and analyze 13-month, individual-level panel data on the weekly app usage of thousands of smartphone users. Results indicate that the average social app user conducts herself in a forward-looking manner and rationally adjusts consumption over time to derive optimal utility. The subgroup analysis, however, indicates that substantial variations in addictiveness and forward-looking propensities exist across demographically diverse groups. For example, addictive behaviors toward social network sites are more myopic in nature among older, less-educated, high-income groups. Additionally, the type of social app moderates the effects of demographic characteristics on the nature of addictive behaviors. We provide implications that policymakers can use to effectively manage mobile addiction problems, with the recommendations focusing on asymmetric social policies (e.g., information- and capacity-enhancing measures).

Decreasing the problematic use of an information system: An empirical investigation of smartphone game players

“…The rational addiction theory maintains that addicts decide on current usage with future utility in mind. It is a forward‐looking paradigm, which is centred on the dynamics of current use in response to anticipated future consequences (Kwon et al, ). Addiction is thus construed as a utility‐maximizing and rational behaviour (Kwon et al, ; Wang, Lee, & Hua, ).…”

“…It is a forward‐looking paradigm, which is centred on the dynamics of current use in response to anticipated future consequences (Kwon et al, ). Addiction is thus construed as a utility‐maximizing and rational behaviour (Kwon et al, ; Wang, Lee, & Hua, ). The essential aspect of the theory is that addicts weigh the future consequences of their actions.…”

“…In the IS literature, Kwon et al () investigated excessive dependence on mobile social games and indicated that average users of mobile social games exhibit rational addictive behaviours. When excessive users of mobile social games are rational and forward‐looking in regard to future consequences of their current usage, their weekly consumption of social games significantly reduces.…”

“…For example, Candy Crush Saga, a popular smartphone game, has 500 million downloads on devices and 93 million daily players (Chen & Leung, ). These active players typically play the game at least 10 times per day (Kwon, So, Han, & Oh, ). In Western countries, the number of addicted players of Candy Crush Saga has reached 15 million (Chen & Leung, ).…”

Personality Predictors of IT Addiction

“…This novel (and rather unexpected) insight could be explained from "rational addiction" perspective [17], where some addicts "anticipate the future consequences of their current behaviors and attempt to maximize utility from their intertemporal consumption choices" [17, p. 919]. With regard to personality traits, similar situation may apply to agreeable users with high empathy toward their SNS friends.…”