title: Problematic Internet use among information technology workers in South Africa.
abstract: This exploratory study looks at the prevalence and correlates of problematic Internet use (PIU) in South African technology workers (N = 630) and other workers (N = 769). The results indicated that the prevalence of PIU in this sample was higher in the IT group (3.81%) than the non-IT group (1.91%), both considerably lower than in other countries. In both groups, respondents were more likely to have higher PIU scores if they were younger and male, if they spent a large amount of time online, and if they used the interactive functions of the Internet. The best predictors of PIU in both groups were online procrastination, online flow experiences, spending a long period of time online in a single session, and chatting online.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Andrew.Thatcher@wits.ac.za
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thatcher
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wretschko
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology