Page 31 - Thetha Issue 7

WATCH THIS SPACE: PHD RESEARCH

Measuring Internet Addiction

here may not be a lot of research on it yet, but internet
addiction (IA) is real – ask Dr Dean von Schoultz, whose
DTech: Information Technology laid the groundwork to
T address some of its risks in higher education.
“We know very little about
internet addiction but
we do know it is a major
problem and needs to be
addressed,” says Dr Von
Schoultz, who graduated in
April 2023 at Nelson Mandela
University.
“There are very few studies in South
Africa about student internet use but we
do know that internet addiction (IA) can lead to
social anxiety and depression, and that we need
preventative solutions within higher education.”
Enter the Personal Informatics for Academic Internet
Self-Regulatory Efficacy (PAISE) framework, the result of Dr
Von Schoultz’s research.
He is confident the PAISE framework can help students
monitor, assess and adapt their internet usage to avoid high risk addiction
– especially at a time when they should be focused on their academic studies.
It also may offer universities a scalable solution in helping students.
“There is no consensus on internet addiction yet, but it expresses
itself differently across cultures, ranges in severity and often is coupled
with social anxiety, depression, and impulse control
disorders,” he says.
His research largely focuses on the benefits of
cognitive behavioural therapy, specifically self-
observation which, thanks to technology can be
made available through personal informatics
(PI) at scale.
Dr Von Schoultz now lectures at Noroff,
the School of Technology and Digital Media in
Norway. He was supported by Professor Kerry-
Lynn Thomson as his supervisor and Professor
Johan van Niekerk as his co-supervisor.

Prof Kerry-Lynn Thomson
and Dr Dean von Schoultz

2023 | mandela.ac.za | 29