Marie DANET
University of Lille, France
Title: Attachment and addiction: what about digital technology ?
Biography
Biography: Marie DANET
Abstract
Digital technology is widespread in our daily life. We mainly use it to communicate. The way we interact is deeply influenced by attachment representations. Digital technology offers a new mode of interactions which is suited for socially anxious people, and particularly for people with insecure attachment. Indeed, anonymity and asynchrony offered by online interactions allows socially anxious people to be more comfortable and more confident in expressing themselves compared with face-to-face interactions. The feeling of safety, through interactions, provided by the Internet may incite insecure people to overuse digital technology. Several studies underline that insecure attachment, in particular preoccupied attachment, is linked with problematic Internet Use (PIU). Among the factors underpinning those links, the search for a more secure communication and the ease of self-disclosure seem to play an important role. This could be explained by the negative model of self and poorer social skills, characteristic of attachment insecurity. PIU and use of digital technology will be discussed in the light of attachment theory. The way therapeutic interventions of addiction to digital technology could be improved will also be discussed, relying on the motivations related to attachment.