Internet Addiction: When the Computer Becomes a Problem
by Youmasu J. Siewe, Ph.D, MPH.
The following article was published in the Stillwater News Press on April 24, 2002.
Your child, student,
spouse, friend, or coworker may not be using or addicted to cocaine,
heroin, alcohol, prescribed or illegal narcotics, tobacco, coffee, sex,
television watching or gambling (just to name a few), but could have a new
mental health problem called “internet addiction”. Thousand of
individuals including children, spouses, and students spend hundreds of
hours on the computer not learning, shopping/selling, sending/receiving
valuable information or contributing to the cyber-pool of knowledge, but
have become addicted to the internet. The internet addict is one who
spends several hours each day surfing the net, playing games or
communicating with “invisible friends” in chat rooms, to a point where
this behavior hurts school or job performance, and also interferes with
family as well as social life, including having a care-free attitude
towards people. Despite awareness of the consequences of internet
addiction, the addict is likely to deny having a problem, and continue to
use the computer with more frequency and intensity, thus making his/her
problem get even worse.
How is internet addiction determined? Watch for the following behaviors to
tell if an individual has become addicted to the internet: (1) constantly
anticipates the next online session, (2) spends more time on the internet,
(3) decides to spend a brief period on the internet only to discover later
that several hours have already been spent, (3) checks email constantly,
(4) develops cravings for internet use, and experiences withdrawal
symptoms when away from the computer, (5) skip class, work, or late for
early morning appointments because of late night hours spent on the
computer, (6) prefer to talk to people online than face-to-face, (7)
sleeps for fewer hours each night because of time on the internet; (8)
engages on online services everyday without skipping, (9) loses track of
time after connecting online, (10) infrequent contact with people (11)
spends less time on meals at home, (12) eats in front of the computer
monitor (13) sneak online when parents, spouse of family members are not
at home, (14) gets a feeling of excitement “high” once on line.
Are the characteristics
of internet addiction different from other forms of addiction? No!
Internet addiction shares same general characteristic with other forms of
addiction, which include: (1) Reinforcement; the addictive behavior
produces pleasurable physical and psychological states of mind that leads
to; (2) Compulsion or craving: The individual feels a strong compelling
need or urge to engage in the behavior, and thereafter plans for the next
opportunity to perform the behavior, which leads to (3) Withdrawal
symptoms: the individual feels very uncomfortable, obnoxious or irritable
if not engaged in the behavior after sometime, leading to (4) Loss of
control: the individual loses control over the behavior, and becomes
unable to block the desire to engage in the behavior, and likely to deny
that the behavior is a problem, which leads to (5) Escalation or
tolerance: More and more of the behavior is required to produce the
desired effect previously felt on a smaller dose/amount of time engaged in
the behavior, leading to: (6) Negative consequences: this is when the
behavior has serious negative consequences such as problems with school,
job performance, difficulties with relationship, health or legal problems.
Is there is solution to internet addiction? Yes, but the first step must
involve awareness and acceptance of the problem and a willingness to
commit to change.
Youmasu J. Siewe, Ph.D., MPH, is the State Specialist for Public Health
Education, Oklahoma
Cooperative Extension Service at OSU in Stillwater. For Questions, call
(405) 744 6825. For online access to Extension/Community Health Column,
please check “articles” on the web at:
http://www.fcs.okstate.edu/health/.