THE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE AND THE EXPERIENCE OF INTERNET USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS: ADOPTING AN USER PERSPECTIVE

The wide availability of Internet – including the transition from mobile phone to “smartphone” – raises preoccupation about the possible compromission of wellbeing. Labelled “digital natives”, adolescents and young adults rely on Internet to carry out various daily activities: from seeking information to socializing; from study to looking for fun spaces and games. The benefits that Internet brings to most of its users are clear. However, its “problematic” use can lead to psychological distress and other unwanted consequences. In turn, these problems translate into demands for Public Health and society. The research for effective interventions needs of a rigorous conceptualization of “problematic behaviour” and its peculiar characteristics. Problematic Internet use is often understood as a “behavioural addiction”. However, the conceptualization remains controversial and various terms have been adopted. This work adopts a psychodynamic and semiotic frame which recognizes the meaning as a regulator of behaviours and, thus, as an important unit of analysis of the Problematic Internet Use, both in the diagnostic and intervention phases. At the same time, this work recognizes how the meaning is socially nourished, so attention has to be given to the interpersonal environment of the users that not only decides whether a problem exists, but also allows it, through and by means of its reactions, to be maintained; a perspective nearer to compensatory explanation models of the Problematic Internet Use rather than to “addiction” models. On a methodological plan, the attention to the meaning favoured the choice to adopt qualitative and narrative instruments to detect the interpretative criteria through which the users represent their online involvement. Three studies are presented which explored a) the “implicit theories” adopted by adolescents to explain when Internet use is “problematic”; b) the different ways through which problematic and no problematic users talk about their being online and c) the meaning of the Internet use in the special, extraordinary scenario of the pandemic outbreak. Throughout the studies an user perspective is adopted, guided by the main question: what does “problematic” mean for Internet users?