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Could You Be Addicted to the Internet?
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."
How many people spend all their spare time glued to TV? Internet and even MMORG addicts lead comparatively more productive lives by staying in touch with friends, creating new content and reading/watching stuff way more meaningful than TV programming. Unless one actually gets out of all manmade stuff and takes a walk in the woods, is living in virtual reality really any worse than how most people spend time?
I have three possible counter arguments.
1. Let's say you're addicted to a certain facet of the internet, such as porn, MMORPG, ebay, whatever. If you're an alcohol addict but you primarily spend all of your money on Bacardi Rum, does that make you a Bacardi addict?
2. I think the root of the issue is that people are addicted to the interconnectedness, the constant flow of information, the need to be 'in' on something because you feel like you'd be missing out, whether it's a WoW raid or usenet discussion, it's all a symptom of the 'inter'-net.
3. Also, internet addiction can be measured in time better than money... and time equals money. If you're addicted to the internet, and you're constantly using it at work, you are essentially jeopardizing your source of income... which may as well equal careless purchasing without thought of reprecussion.
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
Consider the more detailed paper, with s/Internet/foo/ applied:
To be diagnosed as having foo Addiction Disorder, a person must meet certain
criteria as prescribed by the American Psychiatric Association. Three or more of these
criteria must be present at any time during a twelve month period:
2. Two or more withdrawal symptoms developing within days to one month after
reduction of foo or cessation of foo (i.e., quitting cold turkey) , and these
must cause distress or impair social, personal or occupational functioning. These include:
psychomotor agitation, i.e. trembling, tremors; anxiety; obsessive thinking about what is
happening with respect to foo; fantasies or dreams about foo; voluntary or involuntary
imitation of the movements characteristic of foo.
(the mere act of thinking about foo while not engaged in foo presumably qualifies as "fantasies")
3. Use of the Internet is engaged in to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.
(if thinking about foo qualifies as withdrawal, then engaging in foo qualifies as relief of withdrawal)
5. A significant amount of time is spent in activities related to foo.
By this standard of addiction, any activity which one both considers ("fantasies") and practices, and which occupies a significant amount of time (even if it's simply liesure time), qualifies as an addiction.
Seems like a pretty broken definition to me.
Jacques Cousteau, Steve Irwin (RIP), etc.
Somebody's watching it. Otherwise, they're wasting the cable!!!
Man, you really need that seminar!
Im not a doctor, but i am an addict. Many years back i used to think "Once i quit Morphine/Oxy/$foo_opiate, i will be fine". I have "quit" many times now, and im once again "quiting". This is the difference between my addiction, and someone whos "addicted" to the internet. once you become addited to something like herion/alcohol/cocaine, you are addicted to it FOR LIFE. I realize now that there is no such thing as "breaking the habit | or quiting", only resisting the habit. When i "quit", i am, and always will be craving my fix.
i dislike people downplaying true addiction and comparing it to someone who NEEDS to see their myspace account. until people start breaking into someone elses house and killing the residents to use their computer to check their myspace account - im not going to listen to this BS about addiction. these people are not "addicted to the internet", if they dont get online they will not die - someone additced to alcohol isnt that lucky
What other addictions should be in the DSM-IV, if the requirement for inclusion is "financial or social harm"? Book reading addiction (I would be reading books if the Internet didnt exist)? Bad joke addiction? Bad hygiene addiction? Extreme sport addiction? Marriage addiction (which harms you financially AND socially)? Public service addiction? Scientific research addiction? Religious teaching addiction (though some financial profit)? Geek hobbies addiction? Military enlistment addiction? The standard for something being called an addiction should not be "causes financial or social harm". It should be "causes physical withdrawal symptoms because the addicts body adapts to requiring the activity to function at a normal level". I have taken (legal) drugs that cause withdrawal symptoms, yet aren't medically classed as addictive because your body doesn't adapt to needing them.
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CINC, 4th Penguin Legion