Utilization of a Counselling Service for Excessive Media Use

Purpose: The project "re:set! - Counselling for excessive media use" was carried out in Lower Saxony (Germany [Niedersachsen]) between 2017 and 2020. The present article is concerned with the utilization of this specific counselling service, the sociodemographic characteristics, the preferred internet applications of those using the service, and the prevalence of internet use disorders (IUD) in this sample. Methods: The utilization of this counselling service and sociodemographic variables of the clients were examined using a questionnaire developed for this project. The short version of the "Assessment for Internet and Computer Game Addiction Scale" was administered to all clients to assess the symptoms of IUD. Results: Counselling was provided to 1053 mainly male (90.2 %) individuals, whose average age was 21.65 years. Onlinegames were used most frequently (49.3 %). Online-games/-pornography were more likely to be used by males, whereas females tended to prefer shopping websites and social networks. A large proportion (64.6 %) of service users in the present sample were at risk of IUD. Conclusion: Centers for addiction counselling and prevention can serve as first contact point for individuals with excessive media use or IUD and their relatives.