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Heavy Internet Use Linked To Depression

Posted by timothy on from the uses-mental-bandwidth dept.

An anonymous reader writes "People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to show signs of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday. These 'internet addicts' spent proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites, online gaming sites and online communities, Morrison said. They also had a higher incidence of moderate to severe depression than normal users."

27 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. Such a sad story. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sad, so sad.

    Oh, wait.

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    1. Re:Such a sad story. by Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And what's cause and what's effect?

      What if heavy internet usage is caused by being depressed rather than causing it?

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:Such a sad story. by zach_the_lizard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Judging from my own experiences as someone who has suffered from depression for roughly half of my life (and someone who has attempted to end it), I would have to say that depression is the cause, and heavy internet use is the symptom. It's an escape mechanism. Instead of constantly thinking of death, you can get on the Web and try to distract yourself.

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      SSC
    3. Re:Such a sad story. by digitalgiblet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What if the internet is caused by depression?

    4. Re:Such a sad story. by digitig · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A question asked in the RA. '"Excessive internet use is associated with depression, but what we don't know is which comes first -- are depressed people drawn to the internet or does the internet cause depression?," Morrison said.'

      There's a third possibility which the article fails to consider: rather than one causing the other, perhaps both are caused by something else. For example, the person who has difficulty forming satisfying sexual relationships is perhaps likely to get depressed about that and to spend "proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites". The whole thing gets muddy, because that can then form a feedback loop.

      Obligatory link.

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      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    5. Re:Such a sad story. by EasyTarget · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think there might be more truth to that comment than we imagine..

      --
      "Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
    6. Re:Such a sad story. by derGoldstein · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In a way it may be equated to substance abuse. Technically, one could drown their self in books as a distraction -- the main differences being the amount of moderation, and the lack of the interactive element (though from what I understand from TFA, it's mainly consumption of content they're referring to). People used to place themselves in front of the TV for 8 hours a day, and that was also linked to depression, or at least social dysfunction.

      I think that most people who read Slashdot, and especially anyone who posts, spends a lot of time online, but that's just pointing to "a media" (or is it a "medium" in this context?). What a person does when they're online is far more relevant than just the fact that they're online.

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    7. Re:Such a sad story. by dubbreak · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'd have to agree. I have experienced it and have family and friends as well. I sought distraction in other ways (speeding on motorcycles and drinking) and they were definitely not the cause. When you feel like shit you seek ways to make yourself feel anything else. Numb is a step up from depressed.

      I found anti-depressants (SSRIs, MAO inhibitors.. any kind I tried) numbing. Yes it made daily life more livable but I was stuck on 98%. I just wasn't quite there on the drugs. Life was better with drugs than without them at the time, but not quite as good as life prior w/o the drugs. Once I got off the anti-depressants I finally was able to have days where I felt 100%. I no longer feel slightly withdrawn from life (despite the fact I'm a software dev). Of course getting off antidepressants can be a bitch (withdrawal symptoms can be pretty bad).

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      "If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
    8. Re:Such a sad story. by Myria · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I have severe depression, and have suicidal thoughts pretty much every day. I use the Web and WoW to escape from my persistent gender dysphoria. In chat rooms and online games, I can be a girl, but not in real life.

      --
      "Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
    9. Re:Such a sad story. by zach_the_lizard · · Score: 4, Interesting

      (though from what I understand from TFA, it's mainly consumption of content they're referring to).

      That is the exact reason that I use the Web so often: content of any kind. I read a lot of things, and follow a few topics just out of the need to not ruminate on things. Message boards, chatrooms, etc. all help me communicate at some level after a period of very intense depression (such as now, where I just had to drop a semester), where the anxiety is killer.

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      SSC
    10. Re:Such a sad story. by Zerth · · Score: 4, Funny

      Thanks god books aren't injectable. I wouldn't have any usable veins left.

    11. Re:Such a sad story. by derGoldstein · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I was like you long ago, but then I stopped giving a fuck about what others thought of me. Made life 100% better.

      I mostly agree, with the exception of cases where you care about the person's opinion, and for the right reasons. I don't give a damn what my neighbor thinks because that's just geographical coincidence, but if I choose to become someone's friend, I would at least "give some damn", otherwise why do I choose to consider this person my friend? Family is more complicated, of course, and everyone has to make their own choices there. But apart from those cases, the only thing that should concern you is functionality: don't get on your boss' nerves because he'll fire you, and don't piss off a heavy-weight boxer that's standing right in front of you, because, well, darwinism.

      After I fixed that problem, I turned to the internet again because of new problems - one of them is that all of my friends got married and had kids, or they work exhausting hours. Do I envy them? Hell no, because I can go pub-crawling or kayaking while they're stuck indoors wasting all of their money and hard work on nagging, domineering wives and screaming, crapping, defiant kids. When they do have free time to visit we're always stuck at their house playing xBox with 5 year-olds or kicked out to the cold-ass garage before their wife makes me leave at 10pm on a Saturday. They're fucking miserable. Do not take your freedom for granted. Do not envy happy-looking couples, you don't see all of the fighting and control struggles behind the scenes.

      That's a matter of perspective and opinion. It's not really related to this topic. It's a valid opinion, in the sense that you're free to do with your life as you will, but I wouldn't say that it's the correct "advice" for everyone. I know several people who were just aimlessly wandering through life until they met the right person, not only to spend their life with, but also to motivate them. If that's not the case for you then that's fine, but I don't think that people keep getting married and having children just to keep the human species from extinction.

      The other problem is having non-nerd friends. Everybody I know in real life is not very articulate and conversation is about typical, non-controversial things. Time spent on each topic is kept to a minimum. Trying to start a deep conversation about politics or technology rights just causes them to scratch their heads and rub their eyes in irritation.

      You're the one who decides who you spend time with. You say that it's a "problem", but if it were really troubling you, then according to what you say in this post, you'd have no problem telling them flat out that they're boring you and you're not interested in seeing them again.

      But things are different on the internet. What's so cool about the internet? Not having to give a fuck about what people think! Nigger, for example. There will always be at least 1 niche that will welcome your weirdness with open arms so that you don't have to deal with all of those hypocrites, phonies, and rubes we encounter in real life. Create a strong persona on the internet and become that persona. Let its toughness change your behavior in real life. Then, when you no longer give a fuck about what others think, they'll try harder to get your attention and win your approval. Pussy will throw itself at you left and right.

      Yes and no. Your post is a very good example. By being so aggressive, some people will simply skip over what you've said and dismiss you as a "brute" or a troll, not even considering your argument. The ad-hominem effect kicks in (you'll be dismissed because of who you are, or how you behave, rather than what you say), and you've just lost a lot of people's attention, not all of whom you'd normally choose to filter out. If I know that I'm in an environment that doesn't mind cursing, then I'll cuss like a sailor, but I'd still respect someone

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  2. The next line states... by loftwyr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But it is not clear whether the internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.

    So, what we have here is an article with no actual basis for conclusions. Nothing to see here, move along

    1. Re:The next line states... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      All they are saying is that they noted Correlation, not implying causation.

    2. Re:The next line states... by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Informative

      But it is not clear whether the internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.

      Exactly. And an earlier study showed a correlation between television watching and depression. Worth repeating: correlation is not always causation.

      In this case, I could easily see the correlation as: depressed people are too depressed to do anything requiring activity, so they tend to sit around and watch television or surf the web.

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      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    3. Re:The next line states... by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The study is a failure if it finds both ends of the argument plausible and no concrete evidence for either.

      No, it is not a failure. It succeeds in saying, "we observed this phenomenon, it's significant, and it might be worth studying further." Science succeeds when it places observations before conclusions; it fails when it does the opposite, as people like you seem to want it to do. Establishing that something exists in the first place is the prerequisite for everything that follows.

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      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    4. Re:The next line states... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just to let you know, Natural News is one of those whacked out anti-science sites. You know, pro-homeopathy, pro-naturopathy, anti-vaccine, anti-evidence based medicine. The same people who thing correlation really does equal causation (for example, the guys who run that site claim vaccines cause autism). I mean, I'm sure it was just the first link that came up when you searched, but in the future you might want to go with the second link there, because that site is deep in the stupid.

    5. Re:The next line states... by zacronos · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The word "cause" would assert causation. When the summary says:

      People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to show signs of depression

      it suggests causation, because that does not sound the same as:

      People showing signs of depression are more likely to spend a lot of time surfing the internet

      One might agree that those sentences are formally equivalent (in an idealized version of english), but the way most people speak, those sentences suggest different causations.

      More accurately, I would say that both versions of that sentence assert correlation, and the fact that most readers infer causation from any asserted correlation is almost unavoidable. I agree that most readers will infer different causations from those two statements, but that doesn't mean either statement actively suggests causation. I would say that it merely means that both statements fail to explicitly deny the causations that most people who aren't scientifically trained will tend to infer from them.

      This is probably just a semantic argument. If you can think of a way to assert correlation such that causation is not a natural inference for most people, and without sounding awkward or explicitly denying the causation you expect people to infer, I would sincerely love to hear it. My point is that I don't think the summary is written poorly (it doesn't suggest causation more than it can help) -- I don't expect every writer describing a correlation to have to go out of their way to point out that a causation cannot be (correctly) inferred from the described correlation. Maybe in your opinion (and GGP's opinion) writers should do that, in which case I'm just not holding them to such a high standard as you.

  3. Is this an on-line community? by karstdiver · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I really feel depressed...

  4. There could be a link to sleep patterns by HikingStick · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It will be interesting to see if the study examined sleep patterns of those who use the Internet to a far greater degree than others. Lack of sleep over an extended period of time has been linked to depression in many studies. Thus, the Internet surfing behaviors could be causing the subjects to get less sleep, thereby increasing the likelihood that they experience depression. The validity of the claim will come down to how well the study authors controlled for other variables, the overal validity of their methods, and whether or not other groups can replicate the results.

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    I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
  5. Awareness of the world by ddrueding80 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about: Awareness of the world makes people more depressed.

  6. Content-free news by KnownIssues · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm missing the part where this study has produced anything of value.

    "What is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive use of the internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies."

    You could just as easily say with just as much truth, "What is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive *anything* could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies." But of course, that wouldn't produce anywhere near as much alarm and fear of the Internet.

  7. Once you've seen a guy fucked to death by a horse by SlappyBastard · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's kinda hard not to be depressed . . . thank you, Internet.

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    I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
  8. Obvious by Pictish+Prince · · Score: 4, Funny

    Better informed implies more depressed. End of story.

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    Only his tendency toward a dazed stupor prevented him from screaming aloud.
  9. Proof by moteyalpha · · Score: 5, Funny

    Heavy Internet usage.

  10. Correlation is not causation by unity100 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    were they getting depressed because of surfing, or were they escaping to surfing because of depression.

    i, for one, know from myself that, at points in my life in which i was severely stressed, depressed or in a waiting period for some event (military service etc), was using computer games heavily as an escape and sedative. that way i was able to relieve some of the stress or depression i had. if you are busy with something, you dont get focused on your depression that much.

    i dont think surfing is much different. if those people werent doing that heavy internet usage, they would probably be starting using mild drugs. internet is much better.

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  11. New term just in time for the DSM-V: by bledri · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot Affective Disorder

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