Abstract

This study aims to discuss the possibility of adolescent webtoon addiction by paying attention to the phenomenon of excessive use of webtoon by young people. To this end, we have added the basis by presenting the results of the survey on the use of webtoon along with the overview of existing studies. Young people, who account for 49% of webtoon users, have psychological vulnerability such as psychological stress, low self-control, and impulsiveness. This is a factor that makes young people addict to webtoons like other media. The motivations for using webtoons such as information and social interaction motivation, pleasure/convenience motivation, and motivation to escape/relieve tension are also the basis for adolescents to be addicted to webtoons. To explain this, the dissatisfaction of the basic psychological needs and motivational imbalance of the youth was made as a theoretical background. Considering that webtoon addiction will be conceptualized as a subfactor of behavioral addiction, we have presented the future direction of webtoon addiction research by examining the conceptualization process of existing behavioral addiction. In addition, through the survey on the use of webtoons, the difference between the youth of the risk group of the webtoon addiction and the youth of the general user group was analyzed using cross analysis. As a result, there were significant differences in gender, duration of webtoon use, daily average webtoon usage time, whether to pay for webtoons, satisfaction with using webtoons, experience of advice about addiction from people around them, and conflict experience in relationships through using webtoons. Finally, based on the results of this study, we discussed the significance of the study and the direction of future research.