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HOOKED ON THE WEB
While Internet addiction is not yet recognized by psychiatrists, cyberspace compulsives obviously need a large dose of reality
Vicki Haddock, Insight Staff Writer

Sunday, December 10, 2006


A young mother logs 12 hours a day on her laptop, perusing chat rooms and dating sites while neglecting her children until she loses custody of them. Teenagers turn down invitations to real social events in order to pull Red Bull-fueled all-nighters playing fantasy warcraft games online. An IBM employee -- reportedly fired for spending work hours visiting a sexually explicit chat room -- sues the company for failing to provide counseling for his "Internet addiction."

But is the Internet really addictive? Do some people come to regard the frenetic clicking as seductive hits on the cyberspace crack pipe?

Or is this mere psychobabble, evidence of our tendency to label any outside-the-norm behaviors as a pathology, and our willingness to proclaim addiction to almost anything: chocolate, or foreign oil, or shoe shopping.

Full article

IMHO, mere physcobabble!!


Linda

No, I disagree. I was addicted to the internet for about 3 years. I am winding down now, it's losing it's grip on me, I hope. I sat here for some 20 hours a day for about 2 years. I was having more fun than I ever had in real life. I know, not a good commentary of my life, but it's true.

The internet provides people what they couldn't get in real life. A chance to see things they have never seen and meet people they Never would have met otherwise.

All this without the problems associated with how they look. I always got unwanted attention from people because of the way I look and missed out on much of life because of it.

The way I look isn't a true reflection of who I am inside. People tend to "Label" very quickly based on one's physical attributes.

On the internet we get to express our inner self, that's all we have unless your into exibitionism, which I'm definately NOT. I am able to escape that here.

When males ask me to post a picture of myself I always say no. There are millions of girls and women who do that and get into trouble that way. I won't do it.

To say internet addiction is just PsychoBabble is wrong. Unless you have it or have gone through it then you just don't know about it. It IS real.

To people who are shut-ins or house-bound or afraid to go out it's a needed relief from endless loneliness. I have had so much fun on-line, as I said, more fun than I have ever had in real life. It is said or has been said that the majority of people only use 10% of their brainpower. I think the internet is allowing us to start using MORE of our brains. Visual, audio, language, TYPING Yes, all these things are being exercised. I don't see anything wrong with it if you have nothing else to do. BUT if you neglect things in your Real Life to be on computer, like a spouse or significant other, children, friends, well they all suffer a loss when you would rather be on-line than spend time with them. Time you Used to spend with them is greatly diminished.

With me, I live alone and have no bf, only my pets. I didn't socialize at all. I guess you might consider me to be agoraphobic so this has been a way for me to connect with SOMETHING instead of just staying alone and being depressed.

I do feel like everything that is going to happen in my life has already happened and I am just in Limbo now.

*raises hand*

Hi. My name is Ceci and I'm addicted to the Internet. I'm on it at work and at home.

When I go a day with it, I start to get edgy. When I'm out of town on business I go looking for cyber cafes, sometimes in not-so-nice places.

I've been known to pay huge amounts for access at an airport.

Is there a 12 step program?

*grin*

Do YOU Ceci see an opportunity here? I certainly do. Want to start something?? I am familiar with the Steps.

Let's see now if I can remember them...................

Admit that you are Powerless over the Internet.

Hope like Hell that some Power Greater than myself can restore me to sanity.

Care to add some Ceci??

O.K. Ceci. Here's a Cheat Sheet. Don't tell anyone, I won't.