Rising internet addiction 'on par with drug use'

[Thom Little]

Mental health professionals in the United States have highlighted the emergence of a new psychiatric problem on a par with alcoholism, drug abuse or obsessive gambling: internet addiction disorder.

It occurs when an American office worker who should be focussing on the tasks at hand is spending hours playing fantasy football on the computer instead. Or when an executive is so attached to his handheld device that he checks it last thing at night and then consults it the moment he opens his eyes in the morning.

Some people spend so much time online that they stop going out, their marriages break up and they are overwhelmed by depression and suicidal feelings.

According to estimates in The New York Times yesterday, as many as 10 per cent of the 189 million internet users in the US could be addicted.



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article330672.ece

[Canuckistanian]

1. Bah! I can quit any time I want

Just as soon as I finish downloading the Encyclopedia Britannica and the 3rd season of Bewitched. Now if only I could get that third machine working properly I can surf while playing games onli.... Gotta go

[RebelOne]

2. I am addicted. I can't be without my Internet.

But I don't have any husband or children to worry about, so I can satisfy my addiction without any guilt. But my doggies are not happy that they do not get all the attention they crave.

[DELUSIONAL]

4. My cat can turn off my computer --

he's done it often enough that I rather believe that he knows exactly what he's doing.

[Dances with Cats]

17. Mine dances, haha..

:-)

[OzarkDem]

3. Article cites no research

Its hard to know what quality of research is being done, who is doing it, etc.

The last time I heard this meme in the news media was when Fitzgerald was preparing to announce Skipper's indictment. Just more of Rove's crapola.

[Fleshdancer]

5. why the internet and not television?

how many hours do people waste on watching the dumb box? I think people are starting to become addicted with the word "addiction". It's abused all the time now.

[mongo]

9. The word certainly is abused

and it is an insult to anyone who has stuggled and overcame a real addiction.

[Boojatta]

18. We Need A News Organization That Publishes Only On The Internet

Then it can publish a story saying that addiction to TV, radio, and newspapers is at a dangerous and unprecedented level.

[newyawker99]

22. Hi Boojatta!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[leftofthedial]

6. I'm not addicted

I'm not

I don't have a problem

Sure I spend most of my time online and my marriage failed and I'm depressed and suicidal, but it's not an addiction.

Really.

It isn't.

[suziedemocrat]

7. Ummmm - it's not as bad as drugs.

My oldest brother has a drug problem and he can spend over $1000 on drugs in a matter of days. He doesn't have a home or pay child support for his two children. When he binges he doesn't go to work or call in, he just disappears. He usually gets away with it for a few months and then he gets fired. He could charm the pants off anyone, so he keeps getting new jobs. He keeps his hair short and talks like a "good conservative" so of course no one could imagine he has a drug problem. My other brother is a musician with longish (5 inches) curly hair and he gets treated like shit - looks scary and like a druggie - yet he doesn't even drink.

Moral - look and act like a Republican and you can get away with anything. But -- I digress .... what was this about???

[Stephanie]

8. yes, the internet is evil

free access to information for all is EVIL

[Missy Vixen]

10. There's an article about this in the New York Times today

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/01/fashion/thursdaystyles/01addict.html?ei=5090&en=1a8916920717f083&ex=1291093200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Let's just say that one of the "experts" quoted in the article lives in our hometown. :eyes:

Julie

[bananas]

12. "Dr. Cash" - is that a real name?

[Deja Q]

11. It's far better than television... and forums make it interactive.

[InkAddict]

13. Twelve Steps

We first admitted we were (NOT) powerless over our problemS — that our ives had become unmanageable until THE CONVENIENCES OFFERRED BY THE INTERNET came to mean learning, doing business, recreating, keeping in closer contact with family/friends, having sex, etc...)

Came to believe that the POWER OF THE INTERNET was greater than ourselves and could restore order and bring us back to sanity.

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives TO OUR ISP as we understood his Privacy Policies.

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and our Favorite Places.

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs because ANONYMOUS CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL.

Became entirely ready to SEARCH FOR MEANING without ceasing TO FIND OUT HOW to remove our defects of character.

Humbly asked for ANTI-VIRUS and SPYWARE to remove our COOKIES, the better to cache and blog.

Made a list of all persons we had harmed in our ADDRESS BOOK, and became willing to make E-MAIL our philosophies to each of them daily.

Made BILL PAYMENTS a way to beat out snail mail, get a clear picture of our budgets, do what if scenarios and GRAB NEW IDENTITIES wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Continued to take personal inventory OF OUR POSSESSIONS that would be saleable on e-bay and when we were wrong TO FLAME OTHERS promptly admit it.

SOUGHT OUT UNDERSTANDING through READING OUR HOLY BOOKS OF CHOICE ON-LINE AND joinng diverse FORUMS to improve our conscious contact with the Power of Our Addiction, THE BINARY SYSTEM, HEXADECIMALS, AND IP PROTOCOLS as we understood THEM, praying only for the knowledge TO USE PHOTOSHOP better and the power to GET OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PICKED UP BY THE NETWORKS.

Seek a global awakening to the evils that created GLOBAL WARMING, ELECTION FRAUD, RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE, SLAVERY, AND SEXUAL PERVERSITIES and to the BEAUTY OF DIVERSE PEOPLE, LANGUAGE, GEOGRAPHY, WEATHER AND TRAFFIC PATTERNS and as the result of these steps, we try to carry the message to others with the same problem, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

DUer's HAVE MORE FUN!!!!

[Dances with Cats]

14. A whole heluva lot cheaper!

And less dangerous!

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. "Hello, my name is Proud2blib. I am addicted to the internet"

psst - here's where you guys all say "Hello Proud"

:rofl:

[electron_blue]

16. Gads, they've found me out.

And, really - only 10% of all internet users? I would have thought it was higher.

Erm, I'm signing off and going to do something *different* now.

[Neil Lisst]

19. That explains the mouse hanging out of my arm.

yikes

[Dances with Cats]

20. I'm gonna smansh up my mouse

and snort it, hehe...

[Rex]

21. Mental health experts should really focus on things like war

and mass murder, and why is it okay for societies to tell the populace it is bad to kill, but okay in the case of war. Maybe mental health experts can start focusing on the completely insane Boosh and Cheney and Rummy and and and...besides, I only spend 23 hours a day online so back off!

The internet can be fatal? Ya maybe in AOL chatrooms! I think war does a far better job at causing mental trauma. Mental health experts just seem to be addicted to other peoples problems.

[Jackpine Radical]

25. Some do focus on those things. Not me, of course.

I'm too busy surfing DU.

[Mutley]

23. In other words...

"Stop consulting your only source for REAL information!"

[Swamp Rat]

24. Good point

[Mutley]

26. Nice pic.

:rofl: