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Paper Type

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Abstract

IT addiction becomes a modern disease when using information technology (IT), such as social media services, multiplayer online games, or online entertainment. It can harm IT addicts’ private and work lives, e.g., by damaging their personal relationships and careers. Practical indications suggest that even though IT addicts often attempt to overcome their pathological IT use behavior, most of them fail to discontinue it. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, we examine the discontinuation approaches that IT addicts pursue to discontinue pathological IT use behavior and reveal related discontinuation obstacles that let their discontinuation of pathological IT use behavior fail. Our results reveal the discontinuation approaches distraction, extrinsic restriction, intrinsic restriction, and social support and the discontinuation obstacles IT-based coping, habit, IT characteristics, lack of alternatives, and social influence. We contribute to research on IT addiction by explaining why and how the discontinuation of pathological IT use behavior may fail.

Paper Number

1298

Author Connect URL

https://authorconnect.aisnet.org/conferences/AMCIS2024/papers/1298

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Aug 16th, 12:00 AM

The Road to Failure: Why IT Addicts Fail to Discontinue Pathological IT Use Behavior

IT addiction becomes a modern disease when using information technology (IT), such as social media services, multiplayer online games, or online entertainment. It can harm IT addicts’ private and work lives, e.g., by damaging their personal relationships and careers. Practical indications suggest that even though IT addicts often attempt to overcome their pathological IT use behavior, most of them fail to discontinue it. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, we examine the discontinuation approaches that IT addicts pursue to discontinue pathological IT use behavior and reveal related discontinuation obstacles that let their discontinuation of pathological IT use behavior fail. Our results reveal the discontinuation approaches distraction, extrinsic restriction, intrinsic restriction, and social support and the discontinuation obstacles IT-based coping, habit, IT characteristics, lack of alternatives, and social influence. We contribute to research on IT addiction by explaining why and how the discontinuation of pathological IT use behavior may fail.

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