Online Drinking: An Exploratory Study of Alcohol Use and Intoxication during Internet Activity

Skyping, gaming, friending, tweeting--our society has embraced the internet as an alternate, and sometimes preferable, social universe. This is particularly true for young people. According to the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project (2010), 95% of 18 to 29 year-olds use the internet, more than any other age group. Among internet users, teens and young adults are more likely than older adults to use the internet for entertainment purposes, such as gaming, watching videos, and downloading music; and for social purposes, such as using social networking sites, blogs, and instant messaging (Pew Research Center, 2009). While internet use has many beneficial aspects, it can also be misused and overused, with internet scams and cyber bullying as examples of the former and internet addiction an example of the latter. Indeed, internet addiction is under review for inclusion in the DSM-V and has been conceptualized as an impulse control disorder (similar to compulsive gambling) involving symptoms such as preoccupation with going online, spending increasing amounts of time online, having difficulty cutting back on internet use, and continuing online activity in the face of negative consequences (Young, 1996). Despite the conceptualization of excessive internet use as an addiction, and the increasingly commonplace use of the internet as a vehicle for socializing and recreating, the relationship between internet activity (and addiction) and substance use has garnered little research attention. In one of the few studies in this area, Ko et al. (2008) examined the co-occurrence of problematic alcohol use and internet addiction among high school students in Taiwan and found a significant positive correlation between the two. Further, they found that those with both problematic behaviors were more often males with co-occurring problems in the areas of family conflict, family alcohol use, and deviant behaviors among friends (Ko et al., 2008). Yen, Ko, Yen, Chen, and Chen (2009) also investigated the relationship between problematic alcohol use and internet addiction, but among college students in Taiwan. They also found a significant positive correlation between the two problem areas, and additionally found both to be positively correlated with depression. In the only published investigation of internet and alcohol use using an American sample, Epstein (2011) sought to examine the association between occurrence of drinking (lifetime and past month) and computer use (both time spent on the computer, and self-reported frequency of engaging in various online activities) in a sample of 13-17 year-olds. Participants who reported using alcohol in the past month reported significantly more time spent on the internet engaging in nonacademic tasks than participants who denied using alcohol in the past month. Moreover, participants reporting alcohol use at some point in their lifetime reported significantly greater frequency of internet use for social networking and for downloading and listening to music (past month use was also associated with greater frequency of the latter) than participants who denied ever having used alcohol (Epstein, 2011). These studies suggest a relationship between drinking and internet use, and (in the case of the studies conducted in Taiwan) an association between problematic alcohol use and internet use. However, it is unclear if the correlation between problematic alcohol use and internet addiction would generalize to an American population. While the Epstein study opens the door to investigating this connection in an American population, the investigation focused on occurrence, duration, or frequency of use and did not include measures of problematic use (of either drinking or internet use). In addition, there remains no empirical information about whether alcohol use is combined with online activity and, if this is the case, what typifies online drinking. An article on the Japan Trends website focuses on the rising popularity of online drinking among young people through "net nomikai" in which individuals socialize through webcams while drinking (Andrews, 2010). …