The economic burden of adolescent internet addiction: A Korean health cost case study

ABSTRACT

While internet saturation is the source of a number of benefits, such as productivity increases and general economic growth, it has given rise to concerns over the emergence of a new clinical disorder: internet addiction. Noting the extent of high internet use amongst adolescents in the Republic of Korea, this paper provides some quantification regarding the extent of subsequent health costs upon adolescents in Korea. Using Korea-based health-effects and valuation studies, the authors project, and value in dollar figures, the number of internet addiction related cases of adolescent atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, obesity, depression, and suicides over a projected 15-year period. The results indicate that these health costs may be substantial: over $29 billion for the study period.

KEYWORDS:

• Internet addiction
• Korea
• Health
• Cost of illness
• Adolescent

Notes

¹ Our reading of the literature uncovered a host of terms to identify and characterize a spectrum of internet maladies. Young (1998) initially introduces the idea of internet addiction as a clinical diagnosis, but we have found the terms internet gaming disorder, internet dependency, internet use disorder, problematic internet use, online game addiction, as well as others to identify internet-based disorders. More recently, we have seen references to smartphone addiction as yet another category. We use internet addiction to both establish a threshold level and to examine a particular population profile in our analysis.

² As a new disorder referenced in a variety of ways, there are also a number of different proposed diagnostic criteria. The method used by the Korean government is the Korean Internet Self-assessment Tool, commonly called the KS scale (Heo et al., 2014). Additional details on this assessment tool are in Kim et al. (2008).

³ The WHO (2000) identifies categories for Obesity I and II at these benchmarks. However, WHO Expert Consultation (2004) identifies BMI trigger points for public health action at 23 for overweight and 27.5 for obese. We stick with the two obesity classifications, but note that using 2011 Korean child prevalence rates for overweight and obesity instead would increase our Obesity I numbers by about 72% and Obesity II numbers by about 94%.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert W. Mead

Robert W. Mead is an Associate Professor of Economics at California State University, Fullerton. Previous work has included looking at economic valuation of the health costs of urban air pollution in China.

Edward Nall

Edward Nall is a graduate from the College of Business and Economics at California State University, Fullerton with an undergraduate concentration in accounting.