A better understanding of the addiction process and its mechanisms for the development and maintenance of new disorders is essential when discussing these disorders and their clinical and societal relevance. Theoretical models as background for this approach are helpful in order to provide the first starting point and framework for research, and not to operate atheoretically or only exploratory. Models from substance use disorder and specific addictive behavior as mentioned above identified predisposing factors such as personality traits and psychopathology and also affective and cognitive components such as cue reactivity, craving, attentional bias, inhibitory control, executive functions, and decision-making as main factors of the development and maintenance of an addictive behavior [e.g.,
28].
For gaming disorder, the empirical evidence of cognitive constructs seems to be stable, since the importance of cue reactivity and craving, as well as impairments in executive functions and specific inhibitory control and decision-making behavior are well demonstrated [e.g.,
62]. The current findings include studies on a behavioral as well as on a neurophysiological level [e.g.,
63,
64] and compare problematic and pathological users with healthy controls. However, it is remarkable that studies investigating the interaction of the different factors are widely lacking. For example, Yao et al. [
65•] examined specific inhibitory control using a gaming-related Go/NoGo task, decision-making under risk and under ambiguity, and its relationship in gaming disorder. The results outline impairments in inhibitory control and decision-making under risk in individuals with gaming disorder as well as a close relationship between both constructs. Possible interaction effects as predictors of tendencies of a gaming disorder are missing. The study by Gilbertson et al. [
41] illustrates the relevance of stress response on decision-making performance and its relation to gaming disorder. However, more studies investigating those interactions in gaming disorder are needed. This is also the case for social networks use disorder; Wegmann et al. [
32] showed interaction effects of attentional impulsivity, (specific) inhibitory control, and executive functions as predictors of a problematic use of social networks. Again, more studies investigating those interactions in gaming disorder and social networks use disorder are needed. Impairments in general as well as specific inhibitory control are also demonstrated in behavioral and neuroimaging data. The empirical evidence for the involvement of further executive functions is lacking, and for decision-making behavior, it is mixed. However, the first cautious conclusion is allowed that apparently similar cognitive correlates have already been investigated in problematic social networks use. When taking the years of publication into account, it seems to be a development of more experimental, neuropsychological research addressing cognitive correlates of social networks use disorder. Considering the importance of cognitive correlates as well affective responses in the theoretical models, it also means that (1) for a better understanding of mechanisms in problematic social networks use, more research on neuropsychological mechanisms as well as their interactions is needed, (2) for a better understanding of the interplay of different cognitive correlates and further affective responses, gaming-disorder research should focus on the interplay of these components and should include predisposing factors as well, and (3) for a better comparison of both disorders, more research combining both types is essential. For example, the study by Dieter et al. [
56•] compared individuals with gaming disorder, individuals with social networks use disorder, and healthy controls regarding emotional competence, social anxiety, and impulsivity using behavioral and brain imaging data. The results showed that individuals with gaming disorder and social networks use disorder showed higher impulsivity and reduced emotional competences compared with healthy controls. The direct comparison offers the opportunity to define convergent as well as divergent mechanisms [for further comparisons see also
66,
67]. If these approaches should be pursued in the future, corresponding conditions have to be created. For example, standardized diagnostic instruments and neuropsychological assessments for both gaming disorder and social networks use disorder are needed. With the inclusion of gaming disorder in the DSM-5, Griffiths et al. [
68] already proposed a need for a unified approach to assess gaming disorder. The systematic review by King et al. [
69] evaluated current assessment tools and the authors emphasize the need for a standard tool to identify maladaptive gaming behavior and gaming disorder, respectively. It should be discussed if those instruments could be modified for social networks use disorder or if specific tools are needed.
The striving for increased comparability and the identification of convergent mechanisms also leads to the research questions of what are unique features and divergent mechanisms of these disorders; what is the specific? It also results in the research questions, for example, (1) what role does attention processing play in the functional use of social networks when considering the constant availability of the smartphone and the associated impairments of attention [see
48,
70]? What does it mean for the examination of attention and other executive functions in social networks use disorder compared with gaming disorder? (2) How significant are the (functional) impairments of executive functions, inhibitory control, and decision-making behavior in gaming disorder compared with social networks use disorder? These questions could be extended endlessly, whereby theoretical assumptions and the relevance of psychological distress, needs, motives, and expectancies, personality traits, and the experience of gratification and compensation should be integrated as well. This also results in the consideration that besides theoretical models, which are relevant for addictive behaviors in general such as the I-PACE model by Brand et al. [
28], usage-specific theoretical assumptions such as the uses and gratification approach or the idea of fear-driven and reward-seeking behavior [
16] could be important for a better understanding for specific characteristics of each disorders as well.