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A taxonomy of technology design features that promote potentially addictive online behaviours

Nature Reviews Psychology volume 2, pages 136–150 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Gaming disorder was officially recognized as a disorder of addictive behaviour in the International Classification of Diseases 11th revision in 2019. Since then, other types of potentially problematic online behaviour have been discussed as possible candidates for inclusion in the psychiatric nosography of addictive disorders. Understanding these problematic online behaviours requires further study of the specific psychological mechanisms involved in their formation and maintenance. An important but underdeveloped line of research has examined the ways in which technology design features might influence users’ capacity to exert control over how they engage with and use websites and applications, thereby amplifying uncontrolled, and perhaps addictive, use. In this Review, we critically examine the available research on the relationships between technology design features and the loss of control and harms experienced by those who engage in online video gaming, online gambling, cybersexual activities, online shopping, social networking and on-demand TV streaming. We then propose a theory-driven general taxonomy of the design features of online applications that might promote uncontrolled and problematic online behaviours.

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Fig. 1: Model-free and model-based mechanisms underlying problematic online behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

P.M. is funded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Maèva Flayelle & Joël Billieux

  2. Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP), Psychological Sciences Research Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

    Damien Brevers & Pierre Maurage

  3. Institute for Health and Behaviour, Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Damien Brevers

  4. College of Education, Psychology, and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Daniel L. King

  5. Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    José C. Perales

  6. Centre for Excessive Gambling, Addiction Medicine, Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Joël Billieux

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M.F., D.B., D.L.K. and J.B. researched data for the article. All authors contributed substantially to discussion of content, wrote the article and reviewed or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Flayelle, M., Brevers, D., King, D.L. et al. A taxonomy of technology design features that promote potentially addictive online behaviours. Nat Rev Psychol 2, 136–150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-023-00153-4

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