Booklist

In her brief survey of online addiction, author Parks addresses four basic questions: Is online addiction real? Can people get addicted to social networking? How serious of a problem is compulsive online gaming and gambling? Can people recover from online addiction? Obviously, the first question drives the rest, and Parks acknowledges that there is a body of opinion that such addiction is not real, although there is an expanding body of professional opinion that argues that online addiction in its various forms is a viable consideration for evaluation and treatment. Parks addresses each of her four questions in separate sections of her book, which begins with a narrative overview, followed by primary source quotations, facts, statistics, and illustrations. A chronology, source notes, and a bibliography conclude. The format is visually pleasing and highly accessible, and the text, though necessarily brief, is cogent and well written. A useful introduction to a highly dynamic field.