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Internet Addiction
Paola Corral
RWS 1301
Abstract
In this essay I am going to talk about Internet addiction (IAD) and how it can affect our society
by some testimonies and researches. Ivan Goldberg originally proposed IAD as a disorder in
a satirical hoax in 1995. Internet Addiction is a physical disorder that can cause physical damage
to the brain and can affect our personal integrity. Internet use is increasing over the time and is
affecting younger people more. Some research investigated the effects that Internet addiction
can cause in long and short terms and how to prevent this disease or how to ask for help.
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Internet addiction is an impulsive control disorder, which is not related to the use of an
intoxicating drug, but is correlated to Pathological Gambling. Some Internet users can develop
an attachment that can be emotional to on-line activities or friendships that the Internet users
create in order to feel satisfaction or feel complete with their lives. There are two types of
internet addiction; the ones who enjoy to meet, socialize, and exchange ideas through the use of
chat rooms, social networking websites or virtual communities. The other type spends endless
hours searching topics of interest or just looking for something that they dont even know.
In the article Ethics of Global Internet, Community and Fame Addiction, by Berger, R.
(2009), he presents that Internet addiction (IAD) can cause physical damage to the brain, just like
drugs. It states that people who consume an excessive amount of alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis
had similar problems in their brain as people who suffer Internet addiction. In China research
came out with a new technique that consists in using a magnetic resonance to investigate effects
on brain structure. Researches scanned seventeen addicted individuals and sixteen non-addicted
individuals to see the difference. Scientist found that the addicted individuals suffered a
disruption to white mater nerve fibers involving emotions, decision-making, and self-control. On
According to Chou, Condron and Belland (2005) he explains how the use of Internet has
extremely increased and affected university students. Some researches like Chou et al (2005)
observed that Internet addiction no only causes mental diseases, but also affects the future of
students, because they spend so many hours that they forget to socialize in real life, have good
grades, and manage their time. Teachers mentioned that fewer and fewer students are willing to
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take early morning classes, and the ones who already registered always come in late. Some
students had very poor grades for the excessive use of Internet.
In the article, Internet Abuse among Teenagers and Its Relations to Internet Usage
teenagers and its relations to some Internet usage patterns and demographic characteristics in a
digitalizing country like Turkey. Researchers studied 1380 high school students, they gave
students a questionnaire about how they feel using Internet. Almost every student had issues with
Internet abuse, but one-fourth experienced problems in their lives like tolerance and anxiety.
They use the Internet to escape from negative feelings. The questionnaire also revealed that
Internet abuse differed a lot based on gender, frequency of Internet use, dominant place
and dominant purpose. Researches also observed that Internet abusers do not differ about
In addition, Huang (2010) examines five indices of stability in Internet addiction. He and
some researchers studied 351 undergraduate students for one year. The first one is structural
stability refers to the density of the same sets of components and the consistency of relationship
among components over time. The second one is mean-level stability refers to the average
change in a group; in this case how many students increased and decreased Internet use. The
third one is differential stability; this concept indicates individual differences in change. The
fourth one is individual-level stability, this concept indicates how students change in a good way
or bad way. The last one is impassive stability; this concept indicates how students change over
time.
The researchers Niculovic, Zivkovic, Manasijevic, Strbac N(2012) explain that internet
addiction is an individuals inability to control their internet use, which in turn leads to feelings
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of distress and functional impairment of daily activities. They described Internet addiction as an
impulsive-control disorder that makes individuals to live a life out of the reality. Researchers
studying the problems have followed various terminologies such as Internet addiction, Internet
addiction disorders, Internet dependence, Problematic Internet use, or pathological Internet use to
some testimonies, which show us how Internet addiction can ruin or lifes in some many ways,
even if youre a child or adult. The author classifies Internet addiction as a mental disorder.
There are some symptoms that individuals have to be very careful identifying them like
unsuccessful attempts to stop or control computer use, dishonesty related to computer use,
problems in significant life areas, spending increasing time online in order to get the same
Other study by Stone,(2009). show us about how a hospital in china named General
Hospital of Beijing Military Regions Addiction Medicine Center (AMC) located in south
Beijing that started a new program to help individuals that had internet addiction problems. It
mentioned an individual that was an excellent student, but he started to play an online game
named world of Warcraft; he spent 10 hours a day playing world Warcraft, so his father took him
to the AMC hospital looking for help. The article says that approximately five million of the
countrys 300 million Internet users are internet addicts (Stone, 2009). China is taking care
about individuals who suffer Internet addiction problems, they rated it as a Genuine Disorder,
but they are taking the problem seriously. CCTV-12, a central government channel, showed
reports on a clinic in Shandong Province in Eastern China that uses electric shocks on
People who suffer from this disease can always ask for help. Therapeutic methods are
also being examined in the treatments for internet addiction, like the use of selective serotonin
Internet use can cause a lot of problems to our society it doesnt matter if you are a child
teenager, or adult. People need to understand and evaluated themselves in order to know if they
have Internet addiction disorders. There are dangerous effects that these disease can make like
the loss of personal relations, poor grades in school, and mental disorders. The worst thing is that
References
Berger, R. (2009). Ethics of Global Internet, Community and Fame Addiction. Journal of
388. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23363971
Gencer, S. L. , Koc, M. (2012). Internet Abuse among Teenagers and Its Relations to Internet
Usage Patterns and Demographics. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, vol15,
25-36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.15.2.25
Huang, C.H. (2010). Internet addiction: stability and change. European Journal of Psychology of
reference#references_tab_contents
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49. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23672844