Media consumption and addiction

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Online behaviour and Internet addiction

For students, the Internet is a core element of life and learning. From applying for admission to one’s desired degree programme to selecting courses for next semester or registering for University Sports courses – everything is done online nowadays. Once their day at university is over, students use messaging services to meet up with friends, find the fastest route to a café with their smartphone, and post a photo of their dinner to friends and family via social networks.
Smartphones and computers have made our lives easier in many areas. But sometimes it’s difficult to switch off – in the truest sense of the word. When more and more of our lives take place online, e.g. in social networks, online games or video platforms, and our time offline gets shorter and shorter, it might be a good idea to evaluate one’s media consumption. 
If you’re concerned that you, or a friend, is spending too much time online, you can find initial information and contacts in the following links. Naturally, the Psychological Counselling Office at the Student Advice and Counselling Centre (ZSB) can also provide assistance.

  • The First Aid Internet Addiction Office [de] at the University Hospital Tübingen offers extensive information on online addiction. In addition to general information about the problem, a blog offers some initial steps on how to consume media in a self-aware manner. The site includes other possibilities, such as counselling and psychotherapy, and offers a test to assess your own online behaviour.
  • The LWL online outpatient service [de] for diagnosing and counselling Internet addicts (OASIS) not only offers a self-test, but also the possibility to sign up for online counselling. Participation in the programme is free of charge.
  • The Media Addiction Care website operated by the Hamburg University Hospital (UKE) offers a wide range of information on the topic of online addiction to those afflicted and their family members. The brochures on gaming and social media addiction [de] contain helpful facts regarding one’s personal media consumption and detailed information on computer addiction.
  • The most important facts concerning online addiction [de] are concisely compiled on the WDR-Quarks website.
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How to build a healthy relationship with your smartphone

Smartphones have become a fixture in today’s professional world and especially private life. In 2019 there were almost 58 million smartphone users in Germany. At the same time, around 99% of those between the ages 20 and 39 are smartphone or mobile phone users (source: Statista).
In addition to using them for communicating, intelligent mobile phones are used as web browsers, sources of information, for listening to music, taking and editing photos and videos, as navigation devices and game consoles, or simply as an alarm clock. Specialised apps can now manage a growing number of everyday organisational tasks on their own. A study by the University of Bonn in 2015 showed that users activated their phones 53 times a day, interrupting whatever they were doing every 18 minutes on average. This in turn can result in stress and otherwise affect one’s health negatively (source: University of Bonn)
To counteract these negative impacts and allow one’s body, mind and soul to take a digital time-out, a Digital Detox can be a way to prevent permanent online presence and reduce smartphone usage. Digital Detox offers tips and steps to building a healthy relationship with your smartphone.