Could You Be Addicted to the Internet? 261
Billosaur writes "Over at The Register, Dr Stephen Juan has this interesting article on Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). Apparently this has been around since at least 1995 and there are those lobbying for it to be included in the DSM-IV. While some people use the Internet a lot for work or to keep in touch with family & friends as well as banking and bill-paying, it's interesting to thing that some people actually become addicted. There's still a lot of controversy over the diagnosis, whether this is true addiction or not. There is more detailed information available in this paper from Viriginia Tech."
Re:There must be a new patented drug for it (Score:3, Informative)
That might work for a lot of people who just think they're depressed because it's the new thing on TV. If somebody truly is clinically depressed, they *can't* leave that dark room. It's not for lack of wanting - but the depression just prevents them from doing anything.
No. (Score:4, Informative)
And, perhaps the crux: "(VII) Internet use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical, family, social, occupational, or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by Internet use (e.g., sleep deprivation, marital difficulties, lateness for early morning appointments, neglect of occupational duties, or feelings of abandonment in significant others)"
I'm not saying there aren't people out there with problems, but you don't create a new disorder for every new communication/information tool. Do we have telephone addiction disorder? fax machine addiction disorder? television addiction disorder? Hey, I know, lets make a myspace addiction disorder and a friendster addiction disorder and a slash-- er wait.
sleep dep, maritial difficulties and the like are signs of other disorders, like depression. (or just a general state of distress).
The 'article' linked by the submitter is fluff, there is nothing empirical in it. It is also missing nearly 9 years of critiques of IAD. Why did this submission happen?
Re:Can't ANYTHING be addictive? (Score:3, Informative)
Yes it is completely possible to become addicted to damn near anything even remotely enjoyable. You name it, and if someone can get off on it, then there is somebody hooked on it. You can find many examples of TV addicts, sex addicts, or people hooked by religion in the world at large.
Often people trade one addiction for another when trying to quit - there are plenty of former drug users who "found god", it's quite common for alcoholics to switch to coffee or cigarettes, and I suspect a great many people formerly hooked on the boob tube got sucked into the internet while trying to watch less TV.
Thing is, we generally don't like to acknowledge addiction. There is a reason why you have organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous - there is a deep and inherent stigma attached to dependancy. So by and large, we don't admit to there being TV addicts in the world - for one thing, they're largely invisible since they do not harm other people, and for another we'd have to face up to the fact that one of the many activities that the majority of us engage in (watching TV) has a dark side to it.
Not so with the 'net. There's a Douglas Adams quote to the effect that "Anything that existed when you were born is a natural part of the world. Anything that comes into existance when you're growing up is an exicting new career path. Anything that comes into existance after you're 35 is unnatural, and probably bad for you." (Paraphrased). Hence the glut of fear mongering about internet addiction, game addiction, and the evils of the modern age.
It's not that the internet is any more, or any less, addictive than the millions of other potential things people can get hooked on; it's that the 'net makes a tempting boogeyman for people peddling snake oil, and politicians and lawyers trying to make a career.
Re:Internet? (Score:3, Informative)
It may be worse than you think. According to this article I just read today [latimes.com], the average person watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of TV a day. If watching that much TV qualifies as addictive, then TV would have to qualify as most prevalent addiction out there.