Dear Colleagues,

The use of the Internet in our daily life has become a fundamental tool for our day-to-day functioning which is present in all realms of our reality (educational, social, relational, economic, health, play, etc.). This has contributed to a change in our social behavior, especially in Millennials and in the Generation Z. Its use has provided comfort, speed, and immediacy when performing our day-to-day tasks, but also brings a series of risks that can generate clinical and social problems of great importance. These Internet-related issues may have a general approach (problematic Internet use) or can be addressed from the areas of the specific problems related to its use, such as the Internet gaming disorder, nomophobia, the fear of missing out, online gambling disorder, online pornography consumption, etc. Also of interest are those incipient realities that are emerging about problems related to the use of the Internet and technology such as the "ringxiety" or other uses of the smartphone among peers such as "ghosting", among other possible phenomena that currently require further research.

This Special Issue is dedicated to the scientific research of works that pay special attention to determining the internalizing and externalizing variables associated with general and specific problematic Internet use. Particular attention will be paid to prevention and/or intervention programs concerning these realities or to studies that have a global perspective of the risks and that analyze several of them concurrently. Prevalence works on these issues are also welcome, especially in understudied samples, either clinical samples or works in which transcultural analyses are carried out. 

This monograph intends to grant a special role to multidisciplinary work from a biopsychosocial perspective of the causes and consequences of general and specific problematic Internet use at all evolutionary stages (from children to the elderly). Therefore, both qualitative and quantitative studies (cross-sectional, longitudinal, systematic reviews, or meta-analyses) will be welcome. All disciplines are of interest, but especially Psychology, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Public Health, and Epidemiology.

Dr. Joaquín Manuel González Cabrera
Dr. Esperanza Vergara-Moragues
Dr. Juan Manuel Machimbarrena
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• problematic Internet use
• nomophobia
• fear of missing out
• online gambling
• Internet risks
• Internet gaming disorder
• online pornography consumption
• addictive behaviors