Internet Addiction

As a matter of course, our societies will continue to evolve an increasingly technology-centric lifestyle, as we find ways to be more productive, connected, faster, better, and stronger. And yes there will always be those who admonish about the dangers of technology. This is but a necessary safeguard to prevent us from being blinded by innovation straight into oblivion, or at the very least into harm.
There have been numerous studies on the ill effects of the things technology has brought us. How cellular phones might cause tumors, for example, how television has lowered our IQs collectively, to name but a few. Recently, with the advent of the internet, our online lifestyles inevitably have come under scrutiny. There is now a new condition aptly called “internet addic-tion”.
In the article “Exploring Internet addiction: Demographic Characteristics and Stereotypes of Heavy Internet Users” (Shell, 2003), the type of addiction was narrowed down to five sub-types:
• Cybersexual addiction
• Cyberrelationship addiction
• Net compulsion
• Information overload
• Interactive gaming compulsion

Cybersexual addiction is the compulsion to go online and seek interaction with another person of a sexual nature, in the form of an exchange of suggestive messages, pictures, or videos. Cyberrelationship addiction is much like cybersexual addiction, but in this case the “addict” is looking for interaction of a much more romantic tone, as opposed to “just sex”. Net compulsion covers online activities such as online gambling, and excessive shopping. Information overload pertains to the general compulsion to be online and surfing, with no particular activity other than to be “surfing”. Interactive gaming compulsion is the desire to be playing games. The study shows that males are more prone to cybersexual addiction, net compulsion and interactive gaming compulsion, while females are more subject to cyberrelationship addiction.
One purported problem in particular, that of interactive gaming compulsion, has sparked the most interest, understandably so in light of numerous news stories about video game violence translating to real-world violence, and the alarming trend of it affecting such low age brackets. In an interview featured on Gamecyte (http://www.gamecyte.com/exclusive-dr-david-walsh-on-video-game-addiction), Dr. David Walsh, founder of the National Institute on Media and Family in the United States, stated that:
“I think what's happening, not just here in the United States but in other coun-tries as well, is that there's some percentage of gamers—and no one quite knows what the percentage is, different surveys have put it at different percentages—but for some percentage of gamers, it seems to become an obsession. Other things in their life get neglected, sometimes even their health gets neglected, their grades start to suffer, rela-tionships start to suffer, and so it starts to bear all the behavioral hallmarks of an addic-tion. And so I think that's why the term has emerged. Of course, the term itself is contro-versial, because there are some, particularly in academia, who say that addiction signifies something that has to do with a chemical change. A dependency to a chemical. But we do have other behaviors that are recognized as addictions, the most common example to bear would be gambling addiction.”
He also goes on to say that games can be more addictive than other media in that they are inter-active. Contrast this to comic books or television, where one would just be a passive participant.
In 2007, the American Medical Association published a report recommending that Inter-net and Video Game Addiction be added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders but a little over a week after the report was published, the committee that authored the report changed their stance, admitting that the issue needed more study. Dr. Stuart Gitlow, of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine said in article on www.Reuters.com titled “Addiction Experts Say Vidoe Games Not Addictive” (Steenhuysen, 2007) that it is premature to add video game addiction as a diagnostic category. He stated "There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it."
If you are curious whether you yourself might be showing signs indicative of internet ad-diction, there is now a test found on http://www.netaddiction.com/resources/internet_addic-tion_test.htm which comes from the Center for Online and Internet Addiction that rates your current online behavior.
Still, there is no clear cut professional stance of any addiction of the electronic kind. So, as always, we for now and the foreseeable future will have to stick to the old adage: Anything taken excess is bad for you.