Non-Substance-Related Disorders: Gambling disorder and internet addiction

Behavioral addictions are highly prevalent and have a major individual and societal impact. Moreover, given the availability and increase of potentially addictive activities in our societal development (e.g. internet, gaming, online pornography) an increase in these types of behavioral disorders is very likely. Gambling Disorders are best studied among the non-chemical addictions. However, effective treatment interventions need to be further developed, in particular for Internet Addiction. Most of the available evidence supports behavioral interventions as first line treatment. Specifically for Gambling Disorder, pharmacotherapy can be an useful augmentation.. Psychiatric comorbidities are frequent in patients with behavioral addictions and negatively affect the course of non-substance-related disorders. Concurrent treatment of these comorbid disorders is advised, although there is a clear need of conducting studies evaluating the effectiveness of integrated treatment approaches.

Evolutions of an Online Generation: Education, Industry and IMC

This paper traces the evolutions of a new generation of students who are predominantly the ‘online generation’; explores the emerging impact of this generation on industry; identifies the changing role of education from traditional classroom to an online environment; and explores the contribution related to integrated marketing communications (IMC). Educational requirements from a business perspective must incorporate global business demands; virtual learning environments progress the online generation towards a post-modern learning state. The central proposition of this paper is that the emergence of IMC in evolving industry practices is influenced by student generations who are producing a new paradigm of alignment between education and industry. This is purely a conceptual exploration using limited examples to provide some context and illustrate the questions raised for consideration.

M-technology, Consumption and Gambling: A Conceptualisation of Consumer Vulnerability in an M-gambling Marketplace

Technology imbued m-marketing systems influence the consumptive lives of citizens, by facilitating anytime, anywhere business-to-consumer interactions. Business pundits’ enthusiasm towards mobile services (m-services) has been driven by the promise of a marketspace context involving seamless, business-to-consumer interactions that can be simultaneously impulse-driven, highly entertaining and omnipresent. Arguably, gambling too is impulse-driven, exciting and easily accessible. An important question that needs to be addressed is: how the convergence of mobile technology and gambling will impact the millennial consumer. The authors address this question by examining the contextually bounded interactions between internal and external factors that make mobile phone users potentially vulnerable during m-gambling interactions. By examining key themes that describe the convergence of m-technology and gambling, we clarify the experiential nature of m-gambling and its relationship to consumer vulnerability.