The DOI matches its Crossref record; 10 of the 10 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
People Are Not Becoming 'AIholic': Questioning the 'ChatGPT Addiction' Construct
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“At the same time, scholars caution against labeling frequent technology use as 'addiction,' noting that existing scales draw on substanceabuse models and that high engagement is not harmful unless it causes distress or impairment [38, 145, 150].”
From Understanding Teen Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots Through Self-Reported Reddit Narratives (2026) · cites this paper as [38]
In the citing paper
“Research showed that users often depend on these tools for everyday tasks such as planning, decision support, and managing stress [38].”
From Understanding Teen Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots Through Self-Reported Reddit Narratives (2026) · cites this paper as [38]
In the citing paper
“Yet research on problematic chatbot engagement focuses largely on adults and offers mixed findings about harm [38, 97, 99, 112, 145].”
From Understanding Teen Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots Through Self-Reported Reddit Narratives (2026) · cites this paper as [38]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Andreassen, C. S., Billieux, J., Griffiths, M. D., Kuss, D. J., Demetrovics, Z., Mazzoni, E., & Pallesen, S. (2016) · Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1037/adb0000160 · Cited by 2,095 · cited 1×
“First, Hu et al. (2023) developed the Problematic Use of Conversa-tional Artificial Intelligence scale (PUCAI-6) adapted from an existing problematic social media use measure (Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, Andreassen et al., 2016).”
Self-citationAre we overpathologizing everyday life? A tenable blueprint for behavioral addiction research
Billieux, J., Schimmenti, A., Khazaal, Y., Maurage, P., & Heeren, A. (2015) · Journal of Behavioral Addictions · doi:10.1556/2006.4.2015.009 · Cited by 920
Self-citationHow can we conceptualize behavioural addiction without pathologizing common behaviours?
Kardefelt‐Winther, D., Heeren, A., Schimmenti, A., van Rooij, A., Maurage, P., Carras, M., Edman, J., Blaszczynski, A., Khazaal, Y., & Billieux, J. (2017) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/add.13763 · Cited by 780
Self-citationHu, B., Mao, Y., & Kim, K. J. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.107760 · Cited by 228
Facebook Addiction: Concerns, Criticism, and Recommendations—A Response to Andreassen and Colleagues
Griffiths, M. D. (2012) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/01.07.18.pr0.110.2.518-520 · Cited by 224
Xie, T., & Pentina, I. (2022) · Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences · doi:10.24251/hicss.2022.258 · Cited by 219
Huang, S., Lai, X., Ke, L., Li, Y., Wang, H., Zhao, X., Dai, X., & Wang, Y. (2024) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s440889 · Cited by 196
Billieux, J., King, D. L., Higuchi, S., Achab, S., Bowden-Jones, H., Hao, W., Long, J., Lee, H. K., Potenza, M. N., Saunders, J. B., et al. (2017) · Journal of Behavioral Addictions · doi:10.1556/2006.6.2017.036 · Cited by 190
Self-citationExploring the mechanism of social media addiction: an empirical study from WeChat users
Cao, X., Gong, M., Yu, L., & Dai, B. (2020) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-08-2019-0347 · Cited by 158
The Development and Validation of an Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Dependence Scale
Zhang, X., Yin, M., Zhang, M., Li, Z., & Li, H. (2025) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2024.0240 · Cited by 52
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 22
- Ballou, 2021, The relationship between mental well-being and dysregulated gaming: A specification curve analysis of core and peripheral criteria in five gaming disorder scales, Royal Society Open Science, 8, 10.1098/rsos.201385 · DOI
- Billieux, 2017, Behavioural Addiction Open Definition 2.0—Using the Open Science Framework for collaborative and transparent theoretical development, Addiction, 112, 1723, 10.1111/add.13938 · DOI
- Brand, 2022, Which conditions should be considered as disorders in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) designation of “other specified disorders due to addictive behaviors”?, Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 11, 150
- Castro-Calvo, 2021, Expert appraisal of criteria for assessing gaming disorder: An international Delphi study, Addiction, 116, 2463, 10.1111/add.15411 · DOI · Paper page
- Flayelle, 2022, The advantages and downsides of online focus groups for conducting research on addictive online behaviours, Addiction, 117, 2142, 10.1111/add.15944 · DOI
- Fournier, 2023, Deconstructing the components model of addiction: An illustration through “addictive” use of social media, Addictive Behaviors, 143, 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107694 · DOI · Paper page
- Gruenberg, 1935, Radio and the child, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 177, 123, 10.1177/000271623517700118 · DOI
- Katz, A., Shakir, U., & Chambers, B. (2023). The Utility of Large Language Models and Generative AI for Education Research (Version 1). arXiv. doi: 10.48550/ARXIV.2305.18125. · DOI
- Lin, 2024, ChatGPT Addiction: A Proposed Phenomenon of Dual Parasocial Interaction, Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 153, 10.4103/TPSY.TPSY_28_24 · DOI
- Meerloo, J.A.M. (1954). Television addiction and reactive apathy. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 120(3). 290-291.https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/fulltext/1954/09000/television_addiction_and_reactive_apathy.18.aspx. · DOI
- Orben, 2020, The Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15, 1143, 10.1177/1745691620919372 · DOI · Paper page
- Orrù, 2023, Human-like problem-solving abilities in large language models using ChatGPT, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 6, 10.3389/frai.2023.1199350 · DOI · Paper page
- Satchell, 2021, Development of an Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire (O-FAQ): Are most people really social addicts?, Behavior Research Methods, 53, 1097, 10.3758/s13428-020-01462-9 · DOI
- Starcevic, 2016, Tolerance and withdrawal symptoms may not be helpful to enhance understanding of behavioural addictions, Addiction, 111, 1307, 10.1111/add.13381 · DOI
- Starcevic, 2018, Selfitis, selfie addiction, Twitteritis: Irresistible appeal of medical terminology for problematic behaviours in the digital age, Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 52, 408, 10.1177/0004867418763532 · DOI
- Salah, M., Abdelfattah, F., Alhalbusi, H., & Mukhaini, M.A. (2024). Me and My AI Bot: Exploring the “AIholic” Phenomenon and University Students’ Dependency on Generative AI Chatbots - Is This the New Academic Addiction? [Preprint]. Research Square. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3508563/v2. · DOI
- Xie, 2023, Friend, mentor, lover: Does chatbot engagement lead to psychological dependence?, Journal of Service Management, 34, 806, 10.1108/JOSM-02-2022-0072 · DOI · Paper page
- Yankouskaya, 2024, ChatGPT Addiction: From Support to Dependence in AI Large Language Models, SSRN
- Young, 1998, Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder, CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1, 237, 10.1089/cpb.1998.1.237 · DOI · Paper page
- Yu, 2024, Development and validation the Problematic ChatGPT Use Scale: A preliminary report, Current Psychology, 43, 26080, 10.1007/s12144-024-06259-z · DOI
- Zhang, 2024, Do you have AI dependency? The roles of academic self-efficacy, academic stress, and performance expectations on problematic AI usage behavior, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 21, 34, 10.1186/s41239-024-00467-0 · DOI · Paper page
- Zhou, 2024, Examining generative AI user addiction from a C-A-C perspective, Technology in Society, 78, 10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102653 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Understanding Teen Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots Through Self-Reported Reddit Narratives
Namvarpour, M. (., Brofsky, B., Medina, J. Y., Akter, M., & Razi, A. (2026) · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3790597 · Cited by 24
A scoping review on the mental health harms of LLM-based chatbots
Diel, A., Torous, J., Cuijpers, P., Kleesiek, J., Nensa, F., Weber, N., Faust, F., Lalgi, T. J., Mellis, F. S., Teufel, M., et al. (2026) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-026-03054-x · Cited by 4
Metadata
- Authors
- Ciudad-Fernández, V., von Hammerstein, C., & Billieux, J.
- ORCID
- Billieux, Joël
- Venue
- Addictive Behaviors
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2025-07
- Volume
- 166
- Pages
- 108325
- ISSN
- 0306-4603
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 10
- Language
- en
- Licence
- Funders
- Spain Ministry of Science and Innovation (FPU21/00527)
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
