The Educators Are Addicted: Why Preservice Teachers' Internet Addiction Threatens the Classroom

We trust preservice teachers to guide the next generation's digital habits, but our data shows they are struggling with severe internet addiction themselves. Here is how we can predict and intervene before compromised educators enter the classroom.

Published in General & Internal Medicine, Behavioural Sciences & Psychology, and Education

Sep 24, 2026

İsmail Şan and Hanife Gülhan Orhan Karsak

2 contributors

The Educators Are Addicted: Why Preservice Teachers' Internet Addiction Threatens the Classroom

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We are about to hand over the digital-age classroom to a generation of preservice teachers who are themselves grappling with severe internet addiction. Our latest publication in Psychiatric Quarterly exposes this critical vulnerability.

How can future educators manage students' screen time and digital literacy when they cannot manage their own?

Our research does more than just point fingers; it builds a vital predictive model. By identifying the key predictors of internet addiction among preservice teachers, we provide a concrete, evidence-based framework for early intervention. If we do not fix this at the university level, the cognitive and behavioral deficits of our teachers will cascade down to millions of students.

We need to stop pretending that being a "digital native" equates to having healthy digital habits. Read the full paper to explore the predictive models and understand why early, targeted intervention is our only viable strategy.