Technology addiction is a relatively new mental condition that has not yet been well integrated into mainstream MIS models. This study bridges this gap and incorporates technology addiction into technology use processes in the context of online auctions. It examines how user cognition and ultimately usage intentions toward an information technology are distorted by addiction to the technology. The findings from two empirical studies of 132 and 223 eBay users, using three different operationalizations of addiction, indicate that the level of online auction addiction distorts the way the IT artifact is perceived. Informing a range of cognition-modification processes, addiction to online auctions augments user perceptions of enjoyment, usefulness, and ease of use attributed to the technology, which in turn influence usage intentions. Overall, consistent with behavioral addiction models, the findings indicate that users’ levels of online auction addiction influence their reasoned IT usage decisions by altering users’ belief systems. The formation of maladaptive perceptions is driven by a combination of memory-, learning-, and bias-based cognition modification processes. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Online game addiction has become a common phenomenon that affects many individuals and societies. In this study we rely on the functionalist perspective of human behavior and propose and test a balanced model of the antecedents of online game addiction among adolescents, which simultaneously focuses on motivating, and prevention and harm reduction forces. First, a sample of 163 adolescents was used for validating and refining a survey instrument. Second, survey data collected from 623 adolescents were analyzed with Partial Least Squares techniques. The findings point to several functional needs (e.g., need for relationship and need for escapism) that drive online game playing and addiction, as well as to several prevention and harm reduction factors (e.g., education, attention switching activities) that reduce game playing time and alleviate online game addiction. The effects of motivation and prevention factors on online game addiction are often partially mediated by online game playing. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Problematic use of social networking sites (SNS) and its adverse consequences have become prevalent, yet little is known about the conceptualization and etiology of problematic use of SNS. This study draws on dual-system theory (DST), borrowed from cognitive neuroscience (also known as reflective-impulsive theory of the mind and fast and slow thinking) to investigate what drives this phenomenon. The statistical analyses of time-lagged data collected from 341 Facebook users implicate an imbalance between two systems in the human mind, involving strong cognitive-emotional preoccupation with using the SNS (System 1, impulsive) and weak cognitive-behavioral control over using the SNS (System 2, reflective), as the driver of problematic SNS use behaviors. Problematic use of SNS, in turn, diminishes users’ academic performance. This study contributes to research on the dark side of information systems (IS) use by conceptualizing problematic use and explaining its drivers and consequences. It demonstrates that the dual-system theory is an appropriate theoretical perspective for explaining problematic IS use, superior to planned-behavior–based models. It also explains some of the precursors of the dual system factors and offers practical implications to information technology artifact designers and users.