Internet Addiction Not Quite An Addiction...
from the keep-trying dept
Over the past few years, the desire by plenty of folks to label just about any new popular technology as "addicting" has been well covered (yes, we're addicted to articles about bogus technology addictions). The latest research, though, at least is willing to admit that there's no actual evidence that people who use the internet a lot suffer from a clinical disorder -- though they recommend more studies should be done (and, of course, the press coverage buries this result towards the end of the article, and has a headline calling people net addicts). What's interesting is that the study doesn't seem to show much harm from excessive internet use. A small percentage say their relationships suffered due to excessive internet usage -- but how do you separate out the cause and effect there? Considering that a group of people in the study said they went online in order to escape depression or bad moods, it seems just as likely that many of the relationships that suffered were suffering already -- and the internet just exacerbated the situation or was used by one party to "escape" the bad situation. While it's also worth noting (as the original article does in its headline) that nearly 9% of people tried to "hide" some of their internet usage from family, friends or employers, it hardly seems like that, alone, is an indication of addiction.
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Denial
Internet, like many other activities, can be addictive for the purpose it offers short satisfaction and helps "mask out" a bigger problem. People get back to the Internet looking to fix their mood with games/chat/information overload.
It's the same type of addiction as gambling.
It's purely psychological, but accidentally all our actions are indeed driven by psychological activity.
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Re: Denial
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Re: Denial
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Old school's comprehension problems.
They see anything that they don't understand as bad and then set out to prove it so. When someone wants to believe something they will find the evidense they need and if they can't find said evidense then they will just use propaganda techniques such as labeling using the internet more than a certain period of time (who in hell can be the one who thinks they know what a "healthy" amount of time is?) are ADDICTS.
They love the term addict because people's minds automatically jump to thoughts of crack heads and the like.
When the older generation is dead and gone, the general public will all know what we have known for years; the internet is just a tool to obtain information, communicate instantly, and get entertainment value.
It's the best invention in human history.
Thanks Al Gore... :S
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Taking a deuce is addictive if your mindset makes it so.
All positive reinforcement is addictive. I'm tired of "studies" attempting to make a case for politicians to take yet another thing away from the people. Freedom of choice is for future convicts and the illusioned.
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reading and listening to music also addictive
Oh, come on! Any activity that one overindulges in can be called addictive.
Let's see where someone compares the amount of time that a person spends on the internet vs. the amount of time chatting with friends or listening to music or other more socially acceptible (for now) activities.
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What the heck is well adjusted?
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New World Disorder
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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
"disregard for health or appearance, sleep deprivation and decreased physical activity and social interaction with others, as well as dry eyes, carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive motion injuries of hands and fingers"
"Repetitive motion injuries of hands and fingers"!!?
LOL! ROFLCOPTER!
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Internet addiction
Please do me a favour. Any activity wich escapes reality by replacing it with 'another' is false. Simple (as if I cut myself - I bleed)
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The internet is for porn.
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addiction
I am addicted to the elevator here at work... I wont go to work (on the 10th floor) without using the elevator. No sir. I will miss work if I don't get to use the elevator...
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Re: addiction
PIMF
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Louis beat me to it
"It said signs include a disregard for health or appearance, sleep deprivation and decreased physical activity and social interaction with others, as well as dry eyes, carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive motion injuries of hands and fingers."
Ok. One at a time:
1) Disregard for health or appearance. Ok, the health one, while vague, may constitute a concern. Kinda. Maybe. But appearance? Is that really a concern? A medical concern? If so, than I know some terminal mf'ers.
2) sleep dep. Yeah, it could be a medical concern, but many of the people I know who are on the computer at 3am instead of sleeping are doing so because they have insomnia, not because they want to lose sleep. Besides, it's like a child threatening to hold their breath to get their way... Eventually nature will take over and they'll pass out. And start breathing (or sleeping, in this case) again. It's nature's way of idiot-proofing you.
3) Decreased physical activity. Gee, ya think?!? Anything you do that is not physical in nature is going to decrease your physical activity. Hell, driving to work in the morning is decreasing your physical activity since you're sitting on your butt for 1/2 hour or so. I guess I shouldn't sit at my breakfast table reading my paper in the morning because I might stop moving. OH CRAP! I DON'T MOVE WHEN I SLEEP!!! Dear Sweet Jeebus NOOOO!!!
4) [decreased] social interaction with others. I have decreased social interaction with others but that's because I hate people. Not because I like the computer more. And besides, regardless of what some may say, online gaming or chatting is social interaction. Just not the traditional going-out-to-seedy-smoky-noisy-bars kind of interaction.
5) dry eyes. Are you serious? MY EYES CAN DRY OUT!??!?!??!?!ONE!!1 OMGWTFBBQ!!!11!!!ONE! Time to buy stock in Clear Eyes and move on.
6) Carpel Tunnel Syndrome / Repetitive Motion Injury. I love how they list CT & RMI as two separate things. CTS/RMI went out with the Ergonomic Craze. Yes, it's something to watch for and it's something to take steps against (like buying those gel pads and sitting up straight). But it's not some silent menace that's claming the wrists of millions of unsung victims here. Every time you buy a computer, it comes with no less than three manuals on how to property sit and align your peripherals to reduce CTS/RMI.
Bottom line... if this is the best you can do for showing the "dangers" of "internet addiction"... I'm going to give my half-assed "ohnoez" and go back to my coffee... to which, yes, I'm "addicted".
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Re: Louis beat me to it
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internet junkies
I am addicted to air and its not hunting a thing.
Not all addictions are bad things.
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Internet has peaked
"Breakthroughs" like file-sharing, music and video downloads, porn and entertainment distribution will continue, I'm sure. But it's usefulness for genuine advances in human development have ended. It's convenient for email and VoIP, but it hasn't stopped wars, it hasn't cured cancer. It's just a fancy $1000 phone and movie player.
Yeah...thanks Al Gore.
Taylor (yeah...that Taylor)
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two cents worth
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...it's kinda weird. I live with a couple who stalk each others pages right in front of each other. Sick really.
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Re:
Yeah, and those same people would be saying the same crap without myspace or the internet. Myspace just makes it easier to identify these idiots so I can ignore them.
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Yes and no
If it's unreliable then you need to get off of wikipedia. Google has a feature for peer reviewed research articles etc. Like any source, books, encylopedia, you have to vet the source. You wouldn't get civil war history out of a book published by the KKK nor would you take medical advice from a 14 year old's myspace article on the benefits of asprin.
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Censorship
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Re: Censorship
Or because Mike knows that it's not applicable to the conversation. Some girl going crazy has nothing to do with the internet or studies of its addiction. It's a girl going crazy.
Mike "suppresses" them because he doesn't need to waste time or space linking to every single thing that everyone might feel is related. That's what Google is for. It's not Mike's job to do your research for you.
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Re: Re: Censorship
So if a heroin addict kills her father because her father made her go cold turkey, it has nothing to do with heroin?
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Re: Re: Re: Censorship
Different situation, as we've been trying to illustrate. When going cold turkey on a drug (the ones that are actually addictive, at least), you experience altered states of mind that can lead you to extreme acts you otherwise wouldn't do.
These altered states are due to the readjustment of the body to chemicals no longer being available, or available at lesser quantities (such as endorphins in a psychological addiction).
This so-called "computer addiction" lacks such an adjustment. You may see people "freaking out" because they can't get online, but that's caused by the stress of not being able to get work done (either real job work, or personal work) and putting things on hold.
There may be people out there with a personality that would leave them vulnerable to a psychological addiction to being online. But those people are addictable to anything and everything they do. The point we're making here is that the internet is not addictive; regardless of the one or two cases we hear about that represent an extreme departure from the norm. And certainly, the internet is not some scourge that needs to be defeated. This is just sensationalist media trying to play on fears.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Censorship
I would definitely say that players who immerse themselves in their games do experience hightened levels of endorphines and other brain chemicals. The game becomes an obsession with the payout being emotional release.
As for people who "freak out" when they can't get on, that is often a stress factor that is due to the design of the game more than the addiction of the player. For example, many MMORPGs place a penalty on players who are inactive. If it's a turn-based game, being away from the game means a loss of turns - which means slower advancement. If it's a strategy game being offline means that someone can attack your character (or empire) and without being online there is no one to prevent additional damage. If you factor in the social aspect of many games, the obsession is to see who can advance the quickest. If it's a party (group) type of game like World of Warcraft, then going offline can have negative reprocussions. First off, your buddies are counting on you to be a productive member. Secondly, if you go offline and the game doesn't relocate your character to a safe area, then it's highly likely that your next online session will be your last with that character.
Another factor is that players who have paid for their gaming experience want to get their money's worth. Much as with any all you-can-eat buffet, if you're not getting your money's worth then you're just not trying hard enough. So if you look at your monthly bill from Everquest and it's $30 then you start doing the math. If your friend, Bill, pays the same rate but his character is 20 levels higher than yours and you've only played 20hrs, while Bill played 80... then it's simple math that Bill is getting more value for his money. If we then factor in what we did with our time while Bill was contently playing, like take the wife out to dinner, go to the movies, rent a DVD, drive around town or go to the mall...you spent a lot of $$ whereas Bill didn't. So, in that mindset, it's not too difficult to see why people might become obsessed.
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better then TV
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Addictive
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All: Hi Justin
Justin: I've been an addict now for about 11 years and I'm only 28 years old. Yes I'm addicited to research studies. These things come out and just tease me... "Video games bad for kids?" or "TV bad for kids?" Oh yeah and this one... "Uncle Mark Foley bad for kids?"
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Addictive?
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Re: Addictive?
Jetakai, You had me up until this point. Come on maybe you can beat me in "Disney Princess", "Polly!: Super Splash Island", "Lizzie McGuire: On the Go.", or maybe "Barbie Groovy Games for the GameBoy Advance Game System"
But lets be honest, I'm going to mop the floor with you when it comes to "Bob the Builder"
Sorry this took so long but I had to look up really bad/sterotipical 'girl and boy' games.
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A related "addiction"
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You're gonna hear trash talk about the internet, just like you hear trash about candidate X, or automated voting schemes.
The real risk is this:
At some point the masses on the internet will realize that a perfect democracy is possible, and the ruling class will no longer be needed. Possible because of the internet.
That is a risk to those currently in power, that want that power to be available to their decendents... Any spin that can slow the progress will keep the status quo longer. Spin, Hype, Paranoia, Lies: Keep the weak, weak, keep the disenfranchised, disenfranchised. Use any means possible.
That said, if your life is less productive because of your internet usage, rather than more, you owe it to yourself to consider the possibilities.
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Re: #27
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Repetitive motion
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Internet "addiciton"
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truth
let me tell u that ALL the ADDICTIONS are the SAME. you might get some unplesant physical side effects when kicking some drugs but the physical effects assuming they don't kill you are pathetic compared to the psychological dependancy (escaping something perhaps?)
there's nothing special about an addiction just cause it has a physical part. the mind is a far stronger force to be reckoned with than the body and the mental component of an addiction is always the stongest component.
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Duh!
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l;kkl;;ll;
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Addiction to the internet
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