The Dangers of Internet Addiction

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Internet addiction has been a growing problem in recent decades. Researchers have been studying this phenomenon since as early as 1999 by using the Young’s Internet Addiction Test (Griffiths, Kuss, Shorter, van de Mheen, & van Rooij, 2013). This test is a list of twenty questions asking about the taker’s habits and feelings about being online. The test taker ranks their responses to each question on a scale from ‘rarely’ to ‘always’ (The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, 2014) and the test tells you whether you are not addicted, are at risk for addiction, or are already addicted.
According to research, adolescents who suffer from an addiction to the Internet are likely to suffer from symptoms similar to those of other addictions such as “a negative impact on identity formation and change the structure of the developing brain. In addition to this, it may negatively affect cognitive functioning, lead to poor academic performance and engagement in risky activities, poor dietary habits, low quality of interpersonal relations, and self-injurious behavior in adolescents” (Griffiths, Kuss, Shorter, van de Mheen, & van Rooij, 2013). Researchers have found that Internet addiction likes company, that is, this condition often has a high comorbidity rate with other disorders and addictions such as depressive disorders, social phobia, insomnia, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders. Some of the more intense disorders that Internet addiction likes to cohabitate with are schizophrenia and elevated hostility levels (Griffiths, Kuss, Shorter, van de Mheen, & van Rooij, 2013).
Researchers have also found a link between personality traits and Internet addiction prevalence. In one study, participants filled out the Quick Big Five per...

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...y (CBT), a very popular type of therapy which gets at the root of the problem and focuses on changing negative thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors in an individual. I would warn the individual that CBT can take a while to work and that it requires a substantial amount of effort on his or her part as far as changing his or her behavior.

Works Cited

Griffiths, M. D., Kuss, D. J., Shorter, G. W., van de Mheen, D., & van Rooij, A. J. (2013). Internet addiction in adolescents: Prevalence and risk factors. Computers in Human Behavior, 1987-1996.
The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery. (2014, 02 12). Internet Addiction Test. Retrieved from Net Addiction: http://netaddiction.com/internet-addiction-test/
Young, K. (1998). Caught in the Net: How to recognize the signs of Internet addiction--and a winning strategy for recovery. New York City: John Wiley & Sons.

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