Computer Addiction and Cyber Crime
This research explores the relationship between computer addiction and cyber crime. There is evidence of computer addiction in medical settings, scholarly journals and legal proceedings. Reviewing the history of computer addiction has shown that computer addiction can be related to cyber crime. This paper will define computer addiction, show how various cyber crimes, especially those against businesses and organizations, can be motivated by computer addiction and propose further research on how managers can deal with cyber crime in a business, by recognizing addictive behaviors and computer addiction in their employees.
HISTORY OF COMPUTER ADDICTION
Computer addiction is an idea that has been in existence for years. Since the 1970s, avid computer programmers and hackers have been called “addicts” by both psychologists and the general public (Reed, 2002, p. 135). In 1976, Weizenbaum wrote about computer programmers who could sit and work at their computer terminals for twenty or thirty hours at a time. This behavior however, was viewed at the time as useful to technology and society.
Computers, once seen as huge government machines that only very knowledgeable people could use, transformed into user-friendly tools that could be used by the everyday person. It became more common to see computers in homes and businesses during the 1980s. This change meant more people were using computers, and more people were becoming addicted to computer use. The idea of computer addiction became more pervasive in the 80’s, and because of the social atmosphere of the time, there was widespread use of drug and addiction metaphors describing obsessive use of computers (Reed, 2002, p. 137). In fact, the PC is sometimes referred to as the “LSD of the 1980s” (Elmer-DeWitt, 1993, p. 63).
Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics
The Shotton studies on computer dependency in 1989 did nothing to discourage the idea of computer addiction. Shotton (1989) wrote that “in all
HISTORY OF COMPUTER ADDICTION
Computer addiction is an idea that has been in existence for years. Since the 1970s, avid computer programmers and hackers have been called “addicts” by both psychologists and the general public (Reed, 2002, p. 135). In 1976, Weizenbaum wrote about computer programmers who could sit and work at their computer terminals for twenty or thirty hours at a time. This behavior however, was viewed at the time as useful to technology and society.
Computers, once seen as huge government machines that only very knowledgeable people could use, transformed into user-friendly tools that could be used by the everyday person. It became more common to see computers in homes and businesses during the 1980s. This change meant more people were using computers, and more people were becoming addicted to computer use. The idea of computer addiction became more pervasive in the 80’s, and because of the social atmosphere of the time, there was widespread use of drug and addiction metaphors describing obsessive use of computers (Reed, 2002, p. 137). In fact, the PC is sometimes referred to as the “LSD of the 1980s” (Elmer-DeWitt, 1993, p. 63).
Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics
The Shotton studies on computer dependency in 1989 did nothing to discourage the idea of computer addiction. Shotton (1989) wrote that “in all
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