The Relationship Between Adolescents’ Social Experience In Online Games And Online Game Addiction

According to the “Research Report on the Internet Usage of Minors in China in 2019” released by the China Internet Network Information Center(2020),the number of underage Internet users in our country in 2019 was175 million.The survey also pointed out that the main online entertainment activities for minors are listening to music and playing games.The phenomenon of teenagers using online games has become more and more common,and the problem of teenagers’ addiction to online games has become a mental health problem that the world is concerned about.Adolescence is a period of rapid development of social needs.Social in online games has the characteristics of anonymity and low physical perception,so it can bring people a sense of security in the social process,and can also make people have more social experiences.When young people cannot meet their social needs in reality,they often turn to online games for care and support.Therefore,this study adopts the methods of questionnaire survey and case analysis to study the influence of adolescents’ interpersonal communication activities in online games and the social experience brought by activities on their addictive behaviors.The first part mainly measures adolescents in the form of questionnaires,with the purpose of obtaining the relationship between adolescents’ online game social experience and game addiction and the role of game immersion between the two.The second part is mainly to conduct semi-structured interviews with teenagers aged 12-19,and analyze the interview data using grounded theory methods.The purpose is to further reveal the specific performance of adolescents’ social experience in games and the process that affects their addiction to games.Research two is based on research one,combined with the survey results of research one,selects research samples and compiles the outline of the interview.The first research focuses on probing the relationship between the social experience of online games,game immersion and game addiction,and The second study focuses on probing the specific performance and influence process of social experience.This paper uses the "Online Game Addiction Scale","Adolescents Online Game Social Experience Questionnaire" and "Online Game Immersion Questionnaire" to measure 353 adolescents in Chengdu,Sichuan Provence and Yuncheng,Shanxi Province.The results of the questionnaire survey showed that:(1)The detection rate of game addiction among adolescents is 5.1%,which is at a normal level.The degree of addiction in men is higher than that in women(t=5.13,p<0.01).In addition,whether you are an only child and where you live will have an impact on teenagers’ addictive behaviors.(2)The social experience of online games is positively correlated with game immersion(r=0.57,p<0.01)and game addiction(r=0.24,p<0.01);There is a positive correlation between game immersion and game addiction(r=0.42,p<0.01).(3)The mediation effect test results show that the mediation path of online game social experience → game immersion→ game addiction is significant(β=0.30,p<0.05).After adding game immersion,the direct predictive effect of online game social experience on game addiction is no longer significant(β=0.06,p>0.05).Game immersion plays a completely intermediary role between the social experience of online games and game addiction.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 teenagers.The core questions of the interview were the interpersonal communication of the teenagers in the game and the use of the game.The interview content was transcribed into text and analyzed with grounded theory methods,and the following conclusions were drawn: the interpersonal communication activities of adolescents run through the entire game process of adolescents,Their interpersonal communication in reality and interpersonal communication in online games show a dynamic process of mutual migration and transformation.Adolescents’ interpersonal communication activities in games also have a dynamic influence on their addictive behaviors:Out of dissatisfaction and curiosity about real interpersonal communication,teenagers began to get involved in games.When the communication in the game is facilitative,and the object of communication promotion is only the communication object in the game,the interpersonal communication in the online game provides a social experience,enhances the immersion of the game,and makes the teenagers more fixed in the game,which may contribute to the online game addiction.When the interpersonal communication in the game is promoted,but the object of promoting communication is also the object of real social communication,young people will reduce or even stop using the game,and transfer the interpersonal experience obtained by online game communication to offline.When the communication in the game is negative communication,teenagers also tend to reduce or even stop using the game,and return to offline interpersonal communication to seek interpersonal experience.Based on the above research results,combined with previous research and discussion,this paper concludes that adolescents’ game addiction behaviors are closely related to their interpersonal communication activities.Therefore,helping young people to establish good interpersonal relationships in reality and meeting their needs for interpersonal experience in offline communication can effectively prevent young people from seeking social experience in games and immersing themselves in games that lead to game addiction.