Internet addiction: prevalence, effects, and interventions

Internet started way back 3 to 4 decades, but it really took the world by storm through the 90's and till now it has become one of the main assets of modern day computer user. More people get the information through Internet, especially those who use it than by any other means. The world has become a cyber village where simply anyone from anywhere can communicate with other person living absolutely thousands of miles away either through voice communication, chat, email. People can buy online from the different portals, web sites through their cards because of Internet. All in all, Internet has for sure changed the lives of millions if not billions. Life without it would be chaotic for those who use it and take if for granted.

Even though life without would be unthinkable without the Internet, there are some ingredients because of which it has stigmatized itself. Most of the time, you will find people wasting there time on the Internet, just for the sake of killing time or having fun. For example, chatting is an activity on the net; once you get hooked to it then the chances are that you will spend hours on it and this will become a daily routine.

Internet Addiction

Internet addiction (also known as 'pathological Internet

use')1 is a disorder that affects millions of Internet users throughout the world. Often, people joke about being addicted to the Net, but most people don't realize that there are people out there who are essentially slaves to their computers. Often times they miss work or school, spend hours and hours online, carry on extramarital cyber sex affairs, and participate in various online activities that end

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up affecting their own offline worlds. Make no mistake about it, Internet addiction is real, and chances are good that someone you know has it.

What is Internet Addiction?

In the mid- 1990's people became fascinated with the Internet (What is Internet Addiction? Davis A.

Richard) 2. All of the sudden, information was available on any topic imaginable. It was as if someone collected all of the world's knowledge, put it together on an easy-to-use interface, and handed it to anyone who wanted it. With so much information at our fingertips, it is no astonishing phenomenon that some users couldn't seem to get enough.

For hours on end, these people would sit at their computers and breathe in the entire universe of knowledge. This behavior has even been called Information Masturbation.

As the content increased and the number of things one could actually do increased dramatically, people began to display symptoms of is now called "Internet addiction." The term was actually coined by Psychiatrist

Ivan Goldberg in 1996 as a joke on an e-mail listserv. He adapted the criteria for alcohol dependence to fit behaviors associated with the Internet. Some psychologists recognized that there were patients that actually displayed these symptoms, and began to study the condition in terms of a real psychiatric disorder. Over the next five years, the number of Internet users grew exponentially, and so did the number of people who had symptoms of Internet addiction.

While there is still controversy about whether Internet

addiction is real or not, experts have successfully argued

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that since the behavior exists, it must be recognized and treated accordingly.

What are the symptoms of Internet addiction?

Internet addiction (What is Internet Addiction?

Davis A. Richard) 2, also known as pathological Internet use, is a psychiatric condition that involves both pathological behaviors and maladaptive cognitions. The symptomatic behaviors include: academic/work or interpersonal problems, neglecting friends, family, and job or personal responsibilities, withdrawal when away from the Internet, irritability when attempting to stop using the Internet, staying online more than originally intended, lying or concealing how much time you spend online, drastic lifestyle changes in order to spend more time online, a general decrease in physical activity, disregard for one's health as a result of Internet activity, and sleep deprivation or a change in sleep patterns in order to spend time on the net.

Cognitions are essentially (What is Internet

Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 thought patterns. In Internet

addiction, people not only behave differently than what

society would consider 'normal,' they also think differently from the average individual. They have obsessive thoughts about the Internet, diminished impulse control, and feel as though the Internet is their only friend. There is the feeling that the Internet is the only place where they feel good about themselves and the world around them. Other symptoms include thinking about the Internet while offline, anticipating future time online, and spending large of Internet Addiction 4

amounts of money on Internet time and other such expenses. The person spends less time doing otherwise pleasurable activities than before the condition began.

What used to be fun is no longer enjoyable. A further complication arises when the person eventually isolates himself or herself from friends, in favor of friends online.

Finally, people with Internet addiction have a sense of guilt about their online use. They often lie to their friends about how much time they spend online, and consider their

Internet use a secret to others. While they understand that what they are doing is not entirely socially acceptable, they cannot stop. This results in a diminished self-worth and further symptoms of Internet addiction.

Specific thoughts associated with Internet addiction

(What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 are subconscious and automatic. People with Internet

addiction don't even realize that they are thinking this way.

These thoughts are played over and over again in the person's mind until it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Typical thoughts about the self include, "I am only good on the Internet," "I am worthless offline, but online I

am someone," "I have power and control online, but offline

I have little effect on other people," and "I am a failure when I am offline."

Typical thoughts about the world (What is Internet

Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 involve generalizing specific events to global trends. In other words, the individual might think, "The Internet is the only place I am respected," "Nobody loves me offline," "the Internet is my only friend," or "People treat me badly offline."

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What are people addicted to?

There are several technologies and applications (What is Internet

Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 that people have become addicted to on the Internet.

Online Sex:

Perhaps the most frequently reported addiction is to (What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 online sexual materials. Pornography is pervasive on the Internet, and readily available for anyone at any time.

Moreover, access to this material is made completely anonymously and without the threat of social retribution.

So, some Internet addicts collect and trade pornographic images and movies online. There have been reports of users collecting hundreds of thousands of pornographic pictures online. Often, they will not even look at the pictures.

Instead, the thrill is in the act of collecting and trading these images, and the massive amounts of collected materials only serve as either a vehicle to attain more or a record of the taboo behavior.

Other Internet addiction related to pornography

(What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 involves the 'chat' technology. This is where two or more individuals can text chat over the Internet in real time. In a typical online sexual encounter, two Internet users will meet in a public chat room. After brief discourse, the individuals may decide to go into a private chat situation, whereby only they can read each other's messages. In the private chat, the two begin to role play a sexual encounter.

The sexual text chat is accompanied by masturbation by both parties from their respective homes. Such behavior is

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often called "cyber sex." What is especially enticing, and therefore addictive, about cyber sex is that it is completely anonymous, and the parties may assume any role character they choose. Although one might be a middle-aged father of three, he might pretend to be a twenty-year-old muscled bodybuilder. Such fantasy role playing is admittedly safe and anonymous, and allows individuals to be in control of their sexual satisfaction while interacting with in real time with others. For many Internet addicts, this is an especially enticing scenario.

Online sex has contributed to relationship problems

(What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 of thousands of marriages and families. Individuals whose partners are addicted to online sexual activity are often called, "cyber widows," because they are victims of partners who have left them for Internet romances and such. This is becoming a particularly troublesome phenomenon, and many such cases wind up in marriage counseling or divorce.

Online sex (What is Internet Addiction? Davis

A. Richard) 2 has been accompanied by various elicit and illegal activities. The two most serious involve children. Firstly, Internet addicts (and others) have been known to exchange child pornography images and movies over the Internet. This behavior, which is criminal under international laws, has been increasingly troublesome among Internet addictions. Due to the availability of such materials, some individuals download them without recognizing the danger in such action. Several accounts of becoming 'accidentally' involved in child pornography have

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been reported. Perhaps more dangerous is the actual acting out of pedophiliac fantasies via the Internet. Several known cases of pedophiliacs meeting children in online chat rooms and luring them into real life sexual encounters have been reported. While such behavior is independent of Internet addiction (i.e. Internet addiction does not increase the probability of pedophilia), some pedophiliacs have displayed signs of this condition, and thus pedophilia does increase the likelihood of Internet addiction.

Online Games:

There are several anecdotal reports of addiction to (What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 online gaming. Multi-user games in particular are most frequently cited as being the source of Internet addiction.

To explain a typical online gaming situation, consider a virtual game of chess. Players meet in a central website, where they are usually listed according to previous experience (i.e. rank) or some other measure of playing ability. Two players decide to match up, and they move to a private, virtual chess board. The players then interact

real-time as they play out the chess match. Such behavior is common in Internet addiction for several reason. Firstly, it is anonymous and easily accessible. Secondly, it is free.

Thirdly, these games reward players for staying on and playing longer. As such, addictive behavior is actually reinforced (by awarding higher rankings, points, etc.).

Finally, people now always have someone to a play a game with them. How important is that? It is crucial in that it becomes an endless supply of opponents who the Internet addict never gets tired with. Moreover, this becomes the Internet Addiction 8

ideal way to procrastinate or waste time and avoiding life problems. Particular games have been highly susceptible to Internet addictions, including Role Playing Games such as

Sony's "Everquest," and card playing games, such as

Yahoo! "Games."

Online Casinos:

Cases of Internet addiction involving online casinos

(What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 have also appeared in the media and psychological literature. Online casinos offer virtual gambling over the Internet. A user can play Blackjack, Craps, Slot Machines, Roulette, and other casino games over the Internet. In a typical online casino, a player may come to the casino website, enter a credit card number, and select which game he or she would like to play. After that, the individual may wager real money (up to the amount available on the credit card) just like in a real casino. These online casinos have been popular on the Internet, and are especially dangerous for the Internet addict.

Online Stock Trading:

The incredible rise in the U.S. stock market in the (What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 1990's, coupled with the availability and access to stock information and online stock trading, has resulted in addiction to trading such stocks over the Internet. In what

is known as "day trading," individuals trade stocks several times a day. Such feverish trading results in severe

emotional stress and economic risk taking, as one's financial position vacillates tremendously during the course of each day. Day traders spend hours and hours reading

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information about hot companies, trading information with others, using online technical data, and making actual trades. This behavior is clearly indicative of Internet addiction. With the recent decline in the U.S. stock markets, some of these day traders have admitted to losing millions of dollars.

Online Auctions:

A popular application on the Internet is the online

(What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2 auction.

In particular the website eBay offers the widest variety of products, and maintains the largest number of regular users.

Millions of items are sold on eBay each week. It is much like the biggest, best online yard sale in the world. Why is this so popular? Online auctions allow people from rural areas around the world to sell their personal items at whatever cost they choose. The thrill of a 'sell' or 'buy' is much the same as an online stock trade. North Americans in particular are consumed with finding bargains, and online auctions allow people to trade their goods easily and without great expense.

In all (What is Internet Addiction? Davis A. Richard) 2, there are several other online activities that are indicative of Internet addiction. While applications may come and go in popularity, the biding property remains the vehicle with which these applications are accessed.

Internet Addiction covers a broad variety of behaviors, activities and impulse-

control problems. In order to understand Internet addiction, its causes, we must categorize this addiction into the following five specific types of Internet addiction:

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1) PC Addiction:

Many computer games have been inbuilt in the 80s, computer games such as solitaire and minesweeper were programmed into computers and many researches have found that because of these obsessive computer games playing is making the organization suffer in terms of quality, productivity because employees waste the precious time playing rather than working. Although there's no Internet involved here, but it an addiction which is on the same lines as the ones followed by the other kinds of Internet addiction.

2) Cyber sexual Addiction:

People who are usually involved in cyber sexual addiction are engaged in viewing, downloading, and trading online pornography or taking part in adult fantasy role-play chat rooms.

3) Cyber-Relational Addiction:

The masses suffering from chat room mania become too obsessive in developing relationships online and may even engage themselves in virtual adultery. The obsession goes so far that the online friends become more important to the individual often at the expense of real life relationships with family and friends, wherein the chances are that this will cause marital discord and family instability.

4) Net Gaming:

Net gaming involves a wide category of activities including gaming, obsessive online gambling, shopping, or stock trading activities. Especially, individuals will

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participate in virtual casinos, interactive games, e-auction houses, or e-brokerage houses only to waste tons of money and even at the cost of their beloved, meaningful relationships & the waste of time at the dispense of other job-related chores.

4) Information Overload:

The wealth of information available on the net has propagated a very unique and new kind of compulsive behavior amongst the surfers, web users regarding extreme web surfing and database searches. People spend more time now than ever before searching, collecting and organizing tons of information from the Internet. Obsessive compulsive behaviors and attitudes & reduced productivity in work are typically associated with this information overload.

Internet Addiction Disorder

The World Wide Web is an enormous entity in terms of the unimaginable amounts of information available on absolutely any topic and it is a major part of our daily life activities. Pupils and teachers use it for research purposes. Doctors use it to learn more about unfamiliar diseases and the latest medical developments. Ordinary folks use it for emailing friends, family members or possibly to shop and to do their mandatory banking, billing chores online without even going to the banks and shops in physical terms. Masses all over the world use it to connect with people of other nations and cultures. Because of Internet we have entered into a new domain of untenable information where you are never sure what you will come across with next. From one web site you can jump start to another and keep embarking new places and you can learn

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so many things in such a short span of time that before you know it, you become addicted to it. Even then you are okay but some people tend to take it one step further when they forget about every other thing such as relationships, their daily chores and going to work, they consider all these things standing in between their love for the Internet. People addictive to internet commune more easily with their computers rather than their family members and consequently they diverge from intimate tendency that one carries for his/her family members or friends which leads to tension, fights and disharmony in the family.