Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul:100:152180.
doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152180. Epub 2020 May 12.

Preventing problematic internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Consensus guidance

Orsolya Király  1 , Marc N Potenza  2 , Dan J Stein  3 , Daniel L King  4 , David C Hodgins  5 , John B Saunders  6 , Mark D Griffiths  7 , Biljana Gjoneska  8 , Joël Billieux  9 , Matthias Brand  10 , Max W Abbott  11 , Samuel R Chamberlain  12 , Ornella Corazza  13 , Julius Burkauskas  14 , Célia M D Sales  15 , Christian Montag  16 , Christine Lochner  17 , Edna Grünblatt  18 , Elisa Wegmann  19 , Giovanni Martinotti  20 , Hae Kook Lee  21 , Hans-Jürgen Rumpf  22 , Jesús Castro-Calvo  23 , Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar  24 , Susumu Higuchi  25 , Jose M Menchon  26 , Joseph Zohar  27 , Luca Pellegrini  28 , Susanne Walitza  29 , Naomi A Fineberg  30 , Zsolt Demetrovics  31
Affiliations

Preventing problematic internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic: Consensus guidance

Orsolya Király et al. Compr Psychiatry. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments have introduced steps such as spatial distancing and "staying at home" to curb its spread and impact. The fear resulting from the disease, the 'lockdown' situation, high levels of uncertainty regarding the future, and financial insecurity raise the level of stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by people all around the world. Psychoactive substances and other reinforcing behaviors (e.g., gambling, video gaming, watching pornography) are often used to reduce stress and anxiety and/or to alleviate depressed mood. The tendency to use such substances and engage in such behaviors in an excessive manner as putative coping strategies in crises like the COVID-19 pandemic is considerable. Moreover, the importance of information and communications technology (ICT) is even higher in the present crisis than usual. ICT has been crucial in keeping parts of the economy going, allowing large groups of people to work and study from home, enhancing social connectedness, providing greatly needed entertainment, etc. Although for the vast majority ICT use is adaptive and should not be pathologized, a subgroup of vulnerable individuals are at risk of developing problematic usage patterns. The present consensus guidance discusses these risks and makes some practical recommendations that may help diminish them.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest MNP, DJS, DLK, DCH, JBS, MDG, JB, MWA, HKL, HJR, ARM, SH, NAF, ZD have been members of a WHO advisory group on the public health consequences of addictive behaviors. In this capacity they have been eligible for travel support from WHO or the host center to attend advisory group meetings but have not been remunerated for their work. MNP has received financial support or compensation for the following: MNP has consulted for and advised RiverMend Health, Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Idorsia, the Addiction Policy Forum and AXA; has received research support from the Mohegan Sun Casino and the National Center for Responsible Gaming; has participated in surveys, mailings or telephone consultations related to addictive disorders or other health topics; has consulted for or advised law offices and gambling entities on issues related to addictive disorders and behaviors; has provided clinical care in the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Problem Gambling Services Program; has performed grant reviews; has edited journals and journal sections; has given academic lectures in grand rounds, CME events and other clinical or scientific venues; and has generated books or book chapters for publishers of mental health texts. DJS has received research grants and/or consultancy honoraria from Lundbeck and Sun. DCH receives partial salary support from the Alberta Gambling Research Institute and volunteers on the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Center for Responsible Gaming. He has received conference travel support from a variety of non-profit associations. MDG's university currently receives research funding from Norsk Tipping (the gambling operator owned by the Norwegian Government). MDG has also received funding for a number of research projects in the area of gambling education for young people, social responsibility in gambling and gambling treatment from Gamble Aware (formerly the Responsible Gambling Trust), a charitable body which funds its research program based on donations from the gambling industry. MDG regularly undertakes consultancy for various gaming companies in the area of social responsibility in gambling. SRC consults for Ieso Digital Health and Promentis; he receives stipends from Elsevier for editorial work. SRC's involvement in this research was funded by a Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellowship (110049/Z/15/Z). JBu has been working as a consultant for Cogstate, Ltd. in the past several years. JMM has received research or networking funding from several spanish official research agencies: CIBERSAM-ISCIII and AGAUR, has received consultation fees from Janssen, research funding from Janssen, AbBiotics and Medtronic, and has accepted travel grants from Servier, in the last 36 months. JZ received grants from Lundbeck, Servier, Brainsway & Pfizer, and also received honoraria or consultation fees from Servier, Pfizer, Abbott, Lilly, Actelion, AstraZeneca, SunPharma, Roche and Brainsway. He also participated at sponsored events supported by Lundbeck, Roche, Lilly, Servier, Pfizer, Abbott, SunPharma and Brainsway. SW received in the last 5 years royalities from Thieme Hogrefe, Kohlhammer, Springer, Beltz. Her work was supported in the last 5 years by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), different EU FP7s, Bfarm, ZInEP, Hartmann Müller-, Olga Mayenfisch-, Gertrud Thalmann-, Vontobel-Fonds. Outside professional activities are declared under www.uzh.ch/prof/ssl-dir/interessenbindungen/client/web/. NAF has been a member of the WHO advisory group on obsessive compulsive disorders. In the past 3 years NAF has held research or networking grants from the ECNP, UK NIHR, EU H2020, MRC, University of Hertfordshire; has accepted travel and/or hospitality expenses from the BAP, ECNP, RCPsych, CINP, International Forum of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, World Psychiatric Association, Indian Association for Biological Psychiatry, Sun; has received payment from Taylor and Francis and Elsevier for editorial duties; has accepted a paid speaking engagement in a webinar sponsored by Abbott. Previously, she has accepted paid speaking engagements in various pharmaceutical industry supported symposia and has accepted grants and funding support for various pharmaceutical industry-sponsored studies in the field of OCD treatment. She leads an NHS treatment service for OCD. She holds Board membership for various registered charities linked to OCD. She gives expert advice on psychopharmacology to the UK MHRA and NICE. ZD's university receives funding from the Szerencsejáték Ltd. to maintain a telephone helpline service for problematic gambling. ZD has also been involved in research on responsible gambling founded by Szerencsejáték Ltd. and the Gambling Supervision Board.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abel T., McQueen D. The COVID-19 pandemic calls for spatial distancing and social closeness: not for social distancing! Int J Public Health. 2020 doi: 10.1007/s00038-020-01366-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahorsu D.K., Lin C.-Y., Imani V., Saffari M., Griffiths M.D., Pakpour A.H. The fear of COVID-19 scale: development and initial validation. Int. J. Mental Health Addiction. 2020 doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brooks S.K., Webster R.K., Smith L.E., Woodland L., Wessely S., Greenberg N., et al. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. The Lancet. 2020;395(10227):912–920. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schimmenti A., Billieux J., Starcevic V. The four horsemen of fear: an integrated model of understanding fear experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clin Neuropsychiatry. 2020;17(2):41–45. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Stress and coping. Retrieved 13 April, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/coping.html

Publication types