Addiction is a disease that has plagued the United States and the entire world for a very long time. People are addicted to many different drugs like heroin, alcohol, and many other addictive substances. There are also multiple addictions other than of substances. Things such as sex, gambling, and even shopping. It is easy to see how these addictions can be harmful. However, people rarely think about other things that do not seem as harmful. Other things such as the internet. The internet can be an extremely helpful tool and one of the last things that comes to mind when thinking of addiction. What is internet addiction? More importantly, why do people become addicted to it? Many people would never even think of the internet becoming an addiction …show more content…
There is no one size fits all test. Generally, there are four different characteristics examined to determine addiction in most tests. The first is excessive internet use. Every place varies on what is excessive so it is impossible to use a particular number. What people might consider a normal, or average, amount of time used per day in one location might be double the amount of time normally used per day in another location. The second characteristic is withdrawal. The person might show signs of withdrawal when not using, or has gone a prolonged period without using the internet. The third characteristic of internet addiction is the need for more. They person will need a better computer and more time to use it. They cannot be content. The fourth characteristic will be how it effects the person’s everyday life. There will be negative effects on the person. Effects such as becoming less social, a drop in performance at work or school, or even relationship issues. Internet addiction varies based on several different things such as what country they live in, what region of the country they live in, and other factors such as age. This makes it difficult to measure internet addiction, and even harder to compare it to different regions (Weinstein & Lejoyeux, …show more content…
People use the internet to cope with stress, but instead they becoming addicted. The study used 164 independent studies from 31 different nations, each independent study with an average of 544 participants each, having 89,281 subjects total. The study found that internet addiction was more common in countries with a lower life satisfaction, higher population, higher traffic commute time, and lower gross domestic product. The correlation between low life satisfaction and internet addiction was -.194. Living in a region with a high population and internet addiction had a correlation of .196. Having a high traffic commute time also had a positive correlation of .325 with internet addiction. Finally, low gross domestic product and internet addiction had a correlation of -.215. These findings support the hypothesis of correlation between low quality of life and internet addiction. This data suggests that those who use the internet to cope have a higher rate of internet addiction (Cheng & Li, 2014).
Data from the meta-analysis also shows how prevalent internet addiction actually is. The overall total of subjects found to be addicted to the internet was 6%, about 5,357 people. Most people might not believe this to be a big deal. The article mentions how gambling addiction is one of the most common addictions, which is 0.2% - 2.1% of the population. This is a large number of people. The population for internet addiction
Addiction may be defined as the chronic use of drugs alongside the problems resulting from their use. Despite the person being aware of the consequences of using the drug, he continues to use it. If not attended to, addiction may cause serious social problems and even death (Hanson et al. 36). In order to address drug addiction, it is vital to understand addiction itself and where it stems from.
There are many different definitions in which people provide regarding addiction. May (1988) describes that addiction “is a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person’s will and desire” (p. 14). Individuals who suffer from addiction provide their time and energy toward other things that are not healthy and safe. The book
The website, NetAddiction.com, has self-assessment tests that tell you if you are addicted or not. Here is a list of some of the questions the website would ask you: Do you neglect housework to spend more time online? Are you frequently checking your e-mail? Do you often lose sleep because you log in late at night? If technology is interfering with your daily life, it is an addiction and taking a toll on you. A clinical psychologist, Ms. Dowling calls that “Internet Dependence.” Some experts ideas for solving this problem would be setting limits of how many time you can check your email, social media, etc. An experiment with 200 people was done at the college of University or Maryland. They asked them to not use their technology all day, to see what the results of the people thought. Their experiment showed that quitting cold turkey is very difficult, but it makes them connect with people more. Technology is decreasing our time to have real conversations with people and enjoying and seeing stuff that we usually
Some participants say they use the internet the entire time they are awake. Tolerance is the increasing amount of a substance over time in order to achieve the desired effect meaning that subtle use was not enough. Craving is another symptom seen but not assessed in the DSM-5. Participants report craving internet use especially when the see that internet access is available to them. Loss of interest in other hobbies or activities was another sign seen in activities such as reduced either academic or project work, reduced socialization with friends and family, and reduced exercise because of the use of internet. The use of the internet in order to escape or relieve a negative mood was also observed among the participants, internet use is used as a distraction. The last symptom observed by the study was the “lying about the use”, individuals would lie to their family, friends, and therapist in order to conceal the extent of their involvement with the
In their article, Janarthanan Balakrishnan, and Mark D. Griffiths discuss that “internet viewers online addictions are primarily about addictions on the Internet rather than addiction to the Internet, and that most of those with online problematic behavior are addicted to the online content rather than
Main Point: What defines an addiction? According to Psychology Today, “Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance…. or engages in an activity….that can be pleasurable but the continued use/act of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work, relationships, or health.” This can range anywhere from drug use to eating disorders, to gambling, to even texting in today’s generation. Shocking to say the least, especially when most people do not even know they are addicted or are an addict until they realize this definition.
Addiction is a very strong word that brings along many negative connotations. When we think of an addiction we imagine someone who depends on a certain substance, most likely alcohol to have their needs met. Addiction is defined by the Webster dictionary as, "a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal." Even though our society sees addiction and only applies the word to drug addicts and alcoholics, there is a much wider range of subjects that fall under the umbrella of what an addiction truly is. An addiction is a dependency on any kind of materialistic object that you use on a day to day basis that brings
Addiction is defined simply as a strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as drugs) or do something like gambling (Addiction, 2016). Addiction can be crippling and can control all aspects of your life to the point of not being able to function as a productive member of society. Addicts can have a life long struggle, even once sober, or clean, from the addiction.
Addiction is a chronic brain disease characterized by compulsive drug and substance use. Despite its harmful consequences to the human body, addicts continue to seek for more drugs to keep their systems active. Millions of people abuse drugs and substances in the world today. As a result of substance abuse, addicts can easily lose control of their actions. Addiction is a long-lasting brain illness that disrupts the normal body functioning. It holds the brain hostage.
It is debatable whether the compulsive use of the Internet should be considered an addiction or not. According to Kershaw, “the Internet offers an omnipresent offer of escape from reality, affordability, accessibility and opportunity for anonymity that can also lure otherwise healthy people into an addiction.” The Internet has a wide variety of information and activities available to anyone on a computer. Because the Internet is easily accessible everywhere, it is simple for anyone to spend countless hours on the computer and eventually develop an addiction.
One argument is that the internet is not the addiction, but is a medium to the addiction. The other argument is that the internet itself is the addictive substance. The argument that has the most support and is more believable in the research that it does is that the internet itself is the addiction. This makes sense for multiple reasons. One of the reasons is that some of the addictions on the internet are not possible to be addicted to without the internet. Another reason is that people also need information, and people can get addicted to the internet because they want the information. These are only some of the reasons why the internet should be considered an addictive substance. It is also important to know the difference between being addicted to the internet and being addicted to something on the internet. According to an article written in 2012 titled Internet addiction: how to fight it, it is two different ideas to be addicted to the internet and to be addicted to things such as online gambling and online sex. These differences are another part of why internet addiction is a real thing and not just a
Internet is a big problem in our society today. Many people use internet without knowing it, even I use internet without knowing that I am using too much I consider myself as an addict because I check my Facebook at least 3 times a day and text every time while I eat too. In high school, I used to use my phone in the class because it was allowed in class and teacher didn’t mind but in college I have to tell myself to not use phone in class since it is very important to achieve my goals and get a degree.
Addiction can kill, manipulate, and even take control over not only someone physically, but also mentally. Addiction can happen to anyone by engaging in something that gives them pleasure or relief. Getting regular treatment for help, as most people know, can stop addiction. Over forty-five percent of people have dealt with addiction at a point in their life, but out of that percentage, only ten percent got treatment to get better. Addiction is compulsive and can happen to anyone, just “bad” people.
This online article was useful for my research because it showed how over use of technology impact on people. This article also gives background information on internet addiction and internet dependence. The source is one of the best sources used in my research due to the fact that it had some of the basic information about the harmful effect of becoming so much dependent on technology.
There are five types of internet addiction. The first is Net-Gaming. People with this addiction participate in online games, Multi User Dungeon Games (MUDs), will visit virtual casinos, and my become obsessed with e-auctions and online trading and shopping. Another type of internet addiction is Cyber-Relational Addiction. People with this tend to make chat room relationships more important than their relationships with family or friends. They may even try to meet someone personally after meeting him or her online. The third type of internet addiction is Information Overload. People become obsessed with tracking down certain information and organizing it.