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Student perceptions of digital addiction: A Q-methodology study

First published: 10 May 2019 | Last updated: 20 May 2019

Background: Accessing the digital world and usage of digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers are ever increasing in today’s highly technological world and their addictive use is becoming ever more present. There is a paucity of research investigating how people view digital addiction. Do people perceive digital addiction as just a part of the modern world we live in and not a problem, or is digital addiction seen as a serious issue that needs fixing. This research aimed to investigate student perceptions of digital addiction. Specifically to:

– Develop a Q-set that represents the concourse of ‘what is thought and said’ about digital addiction.

– Identify the variety of subjective viewpoints held by students.

Method: Q-methodology was chosen due to it being designed to identify the range of subjective viewpoints on a socially debated topic. In developing the Q-statements for the current project a wide variety of sources were consulted (e.g. newspapers, academic articles, blogs, YouTube). Thirty-three students from the University of Leeds participated (mean 21.85 years of age; n=23 female, n=10 male; n=4 PhD, n=6 Postgraduate, n=23 Undergraduate). The average modified Internet Addiction Test score was 34.24 (n=16 mild, n=14 normal, n=3 moderate, n=0 severe). Data was collected during August 2016.

Results: The project is currently ongoing. The poster will present the process of developing the Q-set (a final of 52 statements were included in the sorting task). Preliminary findings of the Q-sorts suggest that there is heterogeneity across the sample; students differ in how they rate individual statements. The poster will reflect on the distinct viewpoints identified and similarities/differences in the characteristics of participants who are exemplars of the distinct viewpoints.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that prevention and/or early-intervention messages designed to reduce problematic use of digital devices would benefit from being targeted according to distinct viewpoints. Future research should focus on investigating the prevalence of the distinct viewpoints in the student population.

Co-Authors

Mr Luke Turner, Dr Bridgette M Bewick, Dr Louise Bryant, Prof Barbara Summers University of Leeds

Conflicts of interest:

Funding Sources: University of Leeds Q-step Summer Internship Programme This project was funded under the University of Leeds Q-step Summer Internship Scheme. The project was run by Professor Barbara Summers and Dr Bridgette Bewick. Luke Turner developed the Q-set and was responsible for collecting all data. Luke Turner and Dr Louise Bryant conducted the data analysis.

The authors have no conflict of interests to declare.

Report Author

Dr Bridgette Bewick

Associate Professor, University of Leeds


Dr Bridgette Bewick, Associate Professor at University of Leeds, has a track record of high quality publications that have aided our understanding of the drinking behaviour of young people and of web-based interventions. She seeks to understand how personalised feedback interventions can help intervene early with individuals who are drinking problematically. Bridgette’s work has increased our understanding of drinking behaviour and she has led the development of an effective behaviour change electronic screening and brief intervention tool (www.unitcheck.co.uk). The development and evaluation of Unitcheck means universities now have a resource that enables their students to receive feedback that is associated with reductions in alcohol use. More recently Bridgette has used her expertise in generating effective personalised feedback, in collaboration with the Leeds Addiction Unit, to develop an online intervention for client-centred screening and self-referral by problem drinkers recently admitted to hospital (www. ChangeDrinking.com); the website structure and content are modelled on motivational dialogue. Bridgette’s substantial contribution to research and practice in the addictions field was recognised in 2012 by her being awarded the ‘SSA Fred Yates Prize Researcher of the Year’. Bridgette is a world expert on the use of the Social Norms Approach and has a particular interest in the ability for engagement with personalised feedback to be encouraged by embedding the social norms approach in prevention and early intervention message development and implementation strategy. Bridgette continues to develop ways for e-health solutions to support dissemination of tools that enable individuals to consider their own drinking behaviour and think through their potential to change.

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