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Internet Addiction Spawns US Treatment Programs (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the digital-drug dept.

SpzToid shares a report from Reuters: When Danny Reagan was 13, he began exhibiting signs of what doctors usually associate with drug addiction. He became agitated, secretive and withdrew from friends. He had quit baseball and Boy Scouts, and he stopped doing homework and showering. But he was not using drugs. He was hooked on YouTube and video games, to the point where he could do nothing else. As doctors would confirm, he was addicted to his electronics. "After I got my console, I kind of fell in love with it," Danny, now 16 and a junior in a Cincinnati high school, said. "I liked being able to kind of shut everything out and just relax." Danny was different from typical plugged-in American teenagers. Psychiatrists say internet addiction, characterized by a loss of control over internet use and disregard for the consequences of it, affects up to 8 percent of Americans and is becoming more common around the world.

"We're all mildly addicted. I think that's obvious to see in our behavior," said psychiatrist Kimberly Young, who has led the field of research since founding the Center for Internet Addiction in 1995. "It becomes a public health concern obviously as health is influenced by the behavior." At first, Danny's parents took him to doctors and made him sign contracts pledging to limit his internet use. The "Reboot" program at the Lindner Center for Hope offers inpatient treatment for 11 to 17-year-olds who, like Danny, have addictions including online gaming, gambling, social media, pornography and sexting, often to escape from symptoms of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. âoeRebootâ patients spend 28 days at a suburban facility equipped with 16 bedrooms, classrooms, a gym and a dining hall. They undergo diagnostic tests, psychotherapy, and learn to moderate their internet use.

30 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Jerome K. Jerome has an answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    From "Three Men in a Boat":

    In the present instance, going back to the liver-pill circular, I had the symptoms, beyond all mistake, the chief among them being “a general disinclination to work of any kind.”

    What I suffer in that way no tongue can tell. From my earliest infancy I have been a martyr to it. As a boy, the disease hardly ever left me for a day. They did not know, then, that it was my liver. Medical science was in a far less advanced state than now, and they used to put it down to laziness.

    “Why, you skulking little devil, you,” they would say, “get up and do something for your living, can’t you?” — not knowing, of course, that I was ill.

    And they didn’t give me pills; they gave me clumps on the side of the head. And, strange as it may appear, those clumps on the head often cured me — for the time being.

  2. Want computer help? Ask a 2-year-old. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2

    Last week I was in a library. A woman walked in with 2 daughters. She told me later their ages. They were standing in front of the self-checkout computer. The 2 1/2-year-old pushed the 6-year-old out of the way so she could stand on a stool and do the self-checkout.

    I asked if the 2-year-old had her own tablet computer. The mother said no, but the 2-year-old often played with the 6-year-old's tablet.

    Obviously, the 2-year-old doesn't go to work, doesn't cook, and doesn't clean the house. So she has a lot of time to teach herself the user interface of the tablet.

  3. I'd just like to interject for a moment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
    Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
    There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system.
    Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

  4. 5% of the Japanese population is like this. by thesjaakspoiler · · Score: 2

    Living off their parents salary/pension, contributing nothing to society except consuming tons of manga from illegal manga sites and playing online games all day. Once in a while they go out, either buying more manga at Akihabara or stabbing a bunch of innocent people. And we, the working people, are indirectly paying for their 'lifestyle' as taxes only seem to go up. They should reintroduce workcamps to make these people contribute something to this society.

  5. No such thing as 'internet addiction' disease. by swell · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What you are seeing is a symptom, not a disease. Many people withdraw from the world at varying times to varying degrees. When it becomes obsessive, we suspect a problem.

    In another time and place this problem could exhibit symptoms of 'TV addiction', 'romance novel addiction' or 'ham radio addiction'. Don't confuse symptoms with causes. Don't insist on easy answers to incredibly complex problems.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
    1. Re:No such thing as 'internet addiction' disease. by nukenerd · · Score: 1

      OK, so what is the disease?

    2. Re:No such thing as 'internet addiction' disease. by war4peace · · Score: 1

      I'd venture to say society is the disease.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    3. Re:No such thing as 'internet addiction' disease. by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Society. Get rid of it and you'll see people get better.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:No such thing as 'internet addiction' disease. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      After reading the article, I was forced to ask myself, "Where were the child's parents and what were they doing?"

      For example:

      When Danny Reagan was 13, he began exhibiting signs of what doctors usually associate with drug addiction. He became agitated, secretive and withdrew from friends. He had quit baseball and Boy Scouts, and he stopped doing homework and showering.

      But he was not using drugs. He was hooked on YouTube and video games, to the point where he could do nothing else. As doctors would confirm, he was addicted to his electronics.

      “After I got my console, I kind of fell in love with it,” Danny, now 16 and a junior in a Cincinnati high school, said. “I liked being able to kind of shut everything out and just relax.”

      I will confess, from first-hand experience, the first few points, such as becoming secretive and withdrawn, could easily have been interpreted as depression or social anxiety.

      When I was a teenager, if I did something as drastic as wanting to quit a sport or Boy Scouts (which requires a long-term investment in time, money, and effort), a red flag would go up and my parents would want to know why and would not accept just a simple cop-out answer. If I even thought about not doing homework or bathing, there would be an intervention-level event. And before anyone chimes in, I was a teenager in the 90's, had access to a TV, a PC, a SNES, and a Sega Genesis. I played a lot of video games, too. However, my time with those things was regulated by my parents, I had friends I hung out with outside the house, and extra-curricular activities...like Boy Scouts.

      Again, where were the parents, and what were they doing? Since this started when he was 13, they probably paid for the computer, the Internet (YouTube), the TV, the console(s), and probably the mobile device(s). They had the power over the electronics, but they abdicated that power and let the electronics have power over their child.

      I believe strongly that most things which provide a pleasant sensory stimulus can become an addiction, if permitted to do so. I also believe strongly that some people have higher resistance to such things (some can drink/smoke/play games occasionally with no physiological problem while another person drinks/smokes/plays a couple and becomes addicted). Also, once something becomes an addiction, I believe strongly that compassionate, yet firm corrective action must occur.

      However, I'm confident this child's problem did not happen overnight, and he manifested warning signs in his behavior. Those warning signs were tolerated or ignored. That's the root cause. The addiction is the symptom.

      I was taught that being a parent is a big responsibility. As a parent, I realize that what I was taught was an understatement. It is HARD. It is often thankless, both by society and by my family. But anyone who becomes a parent must accept that responsibility, or this kind of thing will happen to their child, too. That goes for electronics, alcohol, drugs, or whatever else.

  6. The first stone flying by Seewhatidonehere · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You only have the right to say this if you have consciously mever ever picked up a phone or a tablet or used a computer to watch some mindless but rather entertaining fail videos on YouTube for the fifth time, or to binge watch a 12 part series on Netflix with a bottle of prosecco or whatever other legal drug you chose... Kids copy their parents, or siblings, or friends or whoever really. Fact is we all spend a lot of time with our face in the screen. On demand entertainment and the huge variety that ensures everyone will find something to stare at constantly have evolved to match our desire to be able to switch out from reality. Instead of inciting this constant hatred for people we never met, never known, lets for once look into ourselves and realize that by showing compassion and understanding will we only be able to change this world for the better, so our kids wont have the need to want to switch off from the life the previous generations left for us here.

    1. Re: The first stone flying by coolsnowmen · · Score: 2

      Just remember, you choose to do this

      Well, that is the entire debate right there. That there is increasing amount of evidence that some people have trouble choosing not to even when they should. This is what is means for an action to be addictive; that in the face of unhealthy consequences, some peopleâ(TM)s brains wont let them do it in moderation.

  7. How come there isn't treatment for... by vell0cet · · Score: 1

    I play a lot of games, I'm on the internet a lot. I also read books, go to the gym and other "productive" things. But the one crippling addiction that I have is television. I've spent entire days in front of the TV. With Netflix and the ability to binge entire seasons, this has only gotten worse. The second that they have treatment for TV addiction, I'm signing up.

    1. Re:How come there isn't treatment for... by johnsie · · Score: 1

      You do know how to work a button?

  8. Re: Haha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Well Government money. These treatment places are about going through the check boxes to cash in on subsidies, grants and insurance.

    I hope they at least have WiFi.

  9. Re:"Internet Addiction is a real disease!" by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 1

    Certainly if I can get you to believe this disease is real and that I can cure it, you will pay me everything!

  10. Re:MILITARY SCHOOL by novakyu · · Score: 1

    Became president?

  11. Re:Haha by mnemotronic · · Score: 1

    Many illnesses start off being "unrecognized". We study mental illness, cancer, alzheimers and other maladies to expand our knowledge and learn how to identify and treat them.

    Supernatural theories attribute mental illness to possession by evil or demonic spirits, displeasure of gods, eclipses, planetary gravitation, curses, and sin. Engravings from 1525 showing trephination. It was believed that drilling holes in the skull could cure mental disorders.

    https://nobaproject.com/module...

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  12. Re:5% of the Japanese population is like this. by sheramil · · Score: 1

    And we, the working people, are indirectly paying for their 'lifestyle' as taxes only seem to go up.

    Okay, I'll bite. How much of the taxes you pay, as an American, go to supporting Japanese Hikikkomori?

  13. Re: 5% of the Japanese population is like this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes, the pitiful few who can actually be helped - they know in their guts they have a problem; and while they're ill enough to be unable to do anything about it, they desperately hope for someone who will force the issue.

    Pity they're so few in number - the blissfully ignorant seekers of gibs will ensure no remedy ever occurs.

  14. Re: Haha by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Government money is your money. If more people realized that, we might get a better deal for OUR money.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  15. Allow me to sum it up by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    I don't know why my kid likes this because I don't understand it, so it must be addiction because I can't enjoy it.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  16. Crap Parenting by johnsie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why is the parent letting the kid get away with this kind of behaviour?

    1. Re:Crap Parenting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My parents acted like this. They weren't willing to put in the time and they were awful to be around. So I avoided them and withdrew online and they threw me in a nuthouse. My dad did "stop" me, he took my electronics and computers for awhile, our relationship was destroyed well before that though. As a matter of fact I'd started treating other people the way he treated me and people were getting very concerned. Fast forward 20 years. I was fine as soon as I got away from both of them. I eventually started counseling for the trauma of growing up with those guys and I see a normal GP for a very low dose of adderall. I took no money or help from my parents because I want them to have zero claim to my happiness or hooks they can use to emotionally manipulate me.
      One of my parents shot themselves in the face and the other is pretty much treated like a giant child and I think I know what kind of nursing home she might like one day.

      So go ahead and solve your kids internet addiction this way.

  17. Hold on.... by Whooty+McWhooface · · Score: 1

    A 13-year old with poor hygiene?  This has to be a new symptom.

    1. Re:Hold on.... by cordovaCon83 · · Score: 1

      Where are my mod points when I need them? Your sarcasm is duly noted, and humor well-conveyed. Gold star for you.

  18. Re:Who is Sick and Who is Well?!? by sad_ · · Score: 1

    it's not about prefering games/internet/... all the time that's the problem.
    the issue is when it turns into a compulsion where you can't do anything else and it fully consumes you; ignoring your own health and well being (and possibly others).

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
  19. More profit for healthcare industry by DaMattster · · Score: 1

    It's nothing but another means to make more money for big, for-profit healthcare. There is no internet addiction.

    1. Re:More profit for healthcare industry by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      It's nothing but another means to make more money for big, for-profit healthcare. There is no internet addiction.

      Well there is - but Darwin takes care of that. They either sit in front of the computer and never breed, or stare at their smartphone and walk into traffic. I've saved 2 women from getting hit when they were so engrossed in social media that they walked right into busy traffic. I think I might be an enabler.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  20. Re:5% of the Japanese population is like this. by Zehsi · · Score: 1

    ok, now let's take look at american WOW addicts lol...

  21. Re:You're all addicted by lucasnate1 · · Score: 1

    Orthodox jews have a rule that says they must not use electrical devices on Saturday except to save a life. I had a friend who adopted a version of this rule where he avoids using communication devices (he still used the internet for browsing websites, this was before the social network age). In the past I thought they were all dumb. Lately I'm beginning to think they had a point.

    --
    Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction