Perez Hilton Can Cause PIU

PerezHilton.com

The advent of the internet has brought about both positive and negative social consequences since its manifestation. A negative consequence of the internet that has recently arisen is that of internet addiction. As Wallace states in The Psychology of the Internet, “in the mid-1990s, the notion that people could become addicted to the internet was often greeted with howling laughter” (1999, p. 178). Now however, internet addiction is not a joke. In his article “Preference for Online Social Interaction”, Scott Caplan uses the term PIU to describe problematic internet use, “to characterize those maladaptive cognitions and behaviors involving internet use that result in negative consequences” (Caplan, 2003). I believe the online activity of reading gossip blogs (such as PerezHilton.com) facilitates PIU.
As mentioned in lecture, there are many qualities of the internet that can lead to an addiction. PerezHilton.com exhibits several of these factors. One of the most important factors that this gossip blog has is affordability. In the past, people obtained their celebrity news and gossip from magazines and newspapers, both of which must be bought. However, access to online gossip blogs is free. Another factor apparent in gossip blogs is that you can visit PerezHilton.com anonymously. You don’t have to subscribe to it and no one knows you read it unless you make your presence known. This leads to the factor of interactivity. If you choose, you can post comments on blog posts and thus make your online presence known by interacting with the blog site. Yet another factor PerezHilton.com exhibits is browsability because you can search for news about a specific celebrity.
These factors also relate to Caplans internet affordances of anonymity and less social risk. People will not feel guilty reading gossip blogs because of these factors. PerezHilton.com can also offer a few of Caplan’s variables used to predict problematic internet use. PerezHilton can alter the mood of a reader by making them feel better about himself/herself when they read it and thus putter the reader in a better mood.
It is reasonable to ask the question as to whether it is qualities of gossip blogs that can have an additive power, or qualities of the individual reader that would cause this online space to become addictive. I would estimate that it is a mixture of both the aspects of gossip blogs and specific characteristics of an individual that can lead people to become addicted to them. It is likely that people who seek out gossip blogs to read place a large emphasis on being “in the know”. They probably have a high need for social acceptance and might believe that by being on top of celebrity new might help them to gain approval of their peers. Yet, there are also several intrinsic characteristics of gossip blogs that may lead people to become addicted to them including, their timely updates, easy accessibility, affordability, and anonymity.
Caplan hypothesizes three main points in his study: that individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions of their social competence, they prefer CMC because it is less threatening, and this in turn leads to excessive and compulsive interactions which worsens problems they already have. Although I do believe reading gossip blogs can lead to problematic internet use, I do not think that gossip blogs have the power to cause as extreme negative consequences as Caplan predicts.