Association between internet addiction and mindfulness

Introduction Studies have shown that mindfulness is negatively associated with Internet addiction. However, how mindfulness reduces Internet addiction remains unclear. We examined the relationship between individual mindfulness facets and Internet addiction. Methods We used the Japanese version of the Internet Addiction Test and the Japanese version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and investigated the association between Internet addiction tendency and mindfulness traits in undergraduate and graduate students (N = 134). Results Correlation analyses indicated that the total FFMQ score and the non-judging and acting with awareness facets were negatively associated with Internet addiction tendency. Furthermore, we conducted a multiple regression analysis with all five mindfulness facets as independent variables, in which only acting with awareness was identified as a significant negative predictor of Internet addiction tendency. Conclusion These results suggest that more effective interventions for Internet addiction may be achieved by focusing training on non-judging and acting with awareness.