Technology and addictions

New technologies currently play a major role in addictive behaviors. Our ongoing and previous projects have analyzed the role of the internet and online communities in excessive gambling, digital gaming, compulsive internet use, drinking, and drug use. Investigations further extend to drug dealing on social media and the TOR network, and the use of drugs as technologies of the self. 

Technology and addictions research stream brings together latest research from various research projects.

Key Research Projects:

1. Future of Gambling (The Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, 2025–2027, PI: Atte Oksanen, Iina Savolainen)

2. Gambling in the Digital Age (The Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, 2021–2024, PI: Atte Oksanen)

3. Non-medical cannabis use for self-medication (Finnish Cultural Foundation 2023–2025, PI: Aleksi Hupli)

4. Problem Gambling and Social Media (Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, 2017–2020, PI: Atte Oksanen)

5. Drug dealing on social media within the Nordic countries (Scandinavian research council for criminology, 2017–2018, consortium PI: Jakob Demand, PI of Finnish part: Atte Oksanen)

Selected publications

1. Demant, J., Bakken, S., Oksanen, A., & Gunnlaugsson, H. (2019) Drug dealing on Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram: A qualitative analysis of novel drug markets in the Nordic countries. Drug & Alcohol Review, 38(4), 377–385. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.12932
2. Hagfors, H., Vuorinen, I., Savolainen, A., & Oksanen, A. (2023). Gambling Motives, Problem Gambling and Need Frustration. Addictive Behaviors, 144(September), 107733, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107733
3. Hupli, A., Unlu, A., Hagfors, H., & Jylkkä, J. (2025). Predictors of medical and non-medical motives of cannabis use in Finland: a cross-sectional survey study. iScience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112503
4. Hupli A. (2022) Instrumentalising therapeutic and enhancement drugs as pharmacological technologies with politicogenic drug effects. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy. Special Issue, Theoretical approaches to AOD use, edited by Dr. Cameron Duff & Dr. Amy Pennay. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2022.2063108
5. Jouhki, H., Savolainen, I., Hagfors, H., Vuorinen, I., & Oksanen, I. (2024). What are escapists made of, and what does it have to do with excessive gambling and gaming? International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-024-01394-x
6. Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., Savolainen, I. & Oksanen, A. (2020). Young People and Gambling Content in Social Media: An Experimental Insight. Drug & Alcohol Review, 39(2), 152–161. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13010
7. Oksanen, A., Mantere, E., Vuorinen, I., & Savolainen, I. (2022). Gambling and online trading: Emerging risks of real-time stock and cryptocurrency trading platforms. Public Health, 205(April), 72–78, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2022.01.027
8. Savolainen, I., Brailovskaia, J., Sirola, A., Celuch, M., & Oksanen, A. (2025). Just A Few More Minutes: Longitudinal and Cross-National Perspectives on the Role of Online Identity Bubbles in Addictive Internet Use. Computers in Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108555
9. Sirola, A., Kaakinen, M., Savolainen, I., & Oksanen, A. (2019). Loneliness and online gambling-community participation of young social media users. Computers in Human Behavior, 95(June), 136–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.01.023
10. Unlu, A. & Hupli A. (2023) Twitter activity surrounding the Finnish green party’s cannabis legalisation proposal: A mixed-methods analysis. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 40(6), 625-645. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14550725231171022
11. Vuorinen, I., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., & Oksanen, A. (2024). The impacts of stress and loneliness on gambling and gaming problems: A nationwide longitudinal study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640241264661

Doctoral Dissertations

Iina Savolainen (2020), Anu Sirola (2021), Aleksi Hupli (2021)