Internet Addicts As Ill As Alcoholics? 260
suntac writes to mention an article on New Scientist, reporting on a Stanford study of internet addiction. The study finds that the U.S. is 'rife' with internet addicts, who may be as addicted as alcoholics to their sweet sweet net connection. From the article: "Nearly 14% of respondents said they found it difficult to stay away from the internet for several days and 12% admitted that they often remain online longer than expected. More than 8% of those surveyed said they hid internet use from family, friends and employers, and the same percentage confessed to going online to flee from real-world problems. Approximately 6% also said their personal relationships had suffered as a result of excessive internet usage. 'Potential markers of problematic internet use are present in a sizeable portion of the population,' the researchers note." While obviously allowing relationships to suffer so you can surf eBay is a problem, where is the line between relying on the internet for news and information and addiction?
addicted? (Score:5, Funny)
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Where's the line? (Score:4, Funny)
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This is Slashdot. We're so far beyond the line we couldn't find the line even with very long baseline interferometry.
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Re:Where's the line? (Score:4, Funny)
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The meta-article: (Score:5, Insightful)
The study, carried out by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, US, indicates that more than one in eight US shrinks show signs of "problematic blame shifting".
The Stanford researchers interviewed X shrinks in a nationwide survey. Because excuse addiction is not a clinically defined medical condition, the questions used were based on analysis of other blame-oriented disorders.
Most disturbing, according to the study's lead author Elmo Thorkmorton, is the discovery that some shrinks hide their blame-gaming, or go online to cure foul moods - behaviour that mirrors the way alcoholics behave.
"In a sense, they're using the blame to self-medicate," Thorkmorton says. "And, obviously, something is wrong when people go out of their way to hide their blamesmanship."
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Shouldn't they interview out of the Latin world for a more varied view ?
only 6% ? (Score:3, Interesting)
internet addict, or workaholic? (Score:5, Interesting)
So if internet-related tasks are part of your job, what's the difference between being an "internet addict" and a workaholic?
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What if you work at a brewery? If you drink constantly and can't stop are you an alcoholic or a workaholic?
I think I know the answer.
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May I suggest a better example: game testers / reviewers? Addicted to gaming, or just another job?
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It's just as easy for other internet workers. Clue: commenting on slashdot is rarely part of one's job, unless you are a paid astroturfer or viral marketer or something. Most people know when they are doing something for their job, and when they are just goofing off. It's not th
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Internet addict: You spend four hours on Slashdot and then wonder how you can possibly get caught up at work. Unless of course you get paid to post on Slashdot, in which case all I have to say is, "you lucky bastard!"
Errr, I think I better go now.
ebay addiction (Score:2)
For some people, internet addiction is an improvement.
Re:only 6% ? let me just ask my friends (Score:5, Funny)
I tried to ask all my friends, but when I emailed them and posted it on my web journal, they all said I'm not addicted to it.
What gets me is that out of 20 friends, only one of them didn't reply within 30 seconds to my email
Never seen before, apparently (Score:5, Funny)
My grandfather attributes his 60 year long marriage to spending all evening when he got home from work (and in his retirement, all day) hiding behind a newspaper smoking a pipe.
At least these days your wife can IM you to grab your attention when it's time for dinner.... oh, hang on, it's time for dinner. Catch you all later!
Re:Never seen before, apparently (Score:5, Funny)
Gramps neglected to tell you that wasn't tobacco in that pipe...
Re:Never seen before, apparently (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that (Score:2)
III? (Score:5, Funny)
Methinks I need a new font.
Re:III? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:III? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh teh Noes! (Score:5, Funny)
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That's what Slashdot is for.
No such thing as... (Score:4, Interesting)
NEWSFLASH TO STORY SUBMITTERS AND EDITORS:
There is no such thing as addicted to the internet, or a video game, or anything except for a chemically addictive substance. There are only addicts. These people have an addictive personality and will be addicted to anything to pass the time. There are no addictions, just addicts. Unless it has something to do with a chemically addictive substance, please stop posting these inane flame bait articles.
I have an idea for a Slashdot post: Slashdot Submitters & Editors Addicted to Posting Pseudo Addiction Stories
If you're not willing to suck ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Anything can be "found" to be "addicting" if you phrase the questions correctly. But instead of "avoiding" other situations or spending time on your "addiction", they need to focus on the actions that an addict will be willing to perform to feed their addiction.
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Having said that, that doesn't mean that these things aren't any less chem
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addiction [uh-dik-shuhn] -noun
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
There doesn't have to be a chemical or drug involved. It can be a psychological addiction or a habit. It's still an addiction. It doesn't have to be a substance, it can be an activity.
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In the case of this study, and in the WoW addiction story the other day, it was only a small population of the people who are addicted. If more people are not addicted than are addicted, then the activity is not addicting, the people are just addicts.
If you take 100 people and give them herion every day for a week, 100 people will be addicted. If you take 100 people and make them smoke a pack a day for a week, they will be addicted. Chemically addicted.
This
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That doesn't make any sense. Not all people get addicted to alcohol, but it is entirely possible to become an alcoholic. And that doesn't mean the person was an addict before they started consuming alcohol.
If you take 100 people and give them herion every day
Criteria? (Score:2, Informative)
That would mean that I might be addicted to showers, sleep, and my morning commute (when I have to drive). Not to mention that finding it difficult to avoid the internet for more than a few days is kind of silly when so many of us have to use it at work. Not that I don't think it's possible to be addicted to the internet- but some of what they're apparently basing it on seems kind of silly.
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Addictive personality (Score:2, Interesting)
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Or maybe she's just a beotch who doesn't understand being l33t, hax0ring and quality pr0n.
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Food Addiction (Score:5, Insightful)
worse problems (Score:5, Funny)
Over 80% of survey respondents also reported a psychological and almost physical need to 'do' more of the substance when under stress. Nearly all respondents expressed great anger at and rejected any suggestion that they consider quitting or cutting back on their use, and some threatened to become physically violent if any attempt was made to reduce their access.
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Television Addicts (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh wait, right here [sciam.com].
Could it be that people are addicted to inactivity itself? I dunno, just a thought. Are there book addicts? If so, is it regarded as a problem?
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Re:Television Addicts (Score:4, Informative)
Addiction has two aspects. One is biochemical changes in the brain which make certain types of choice difficult or impossible for the affected person to make. The other is the social or personal consequences of the person's choice being physiologically limited in that way. Generally, if someone has their choice limited in a way that is not personally or socially relevant (coffee, anyone?) it isn't treated as an addiction, even though the biochemical changes associated with addiction may be present [Note to pendants: yeah, coffee is probably not addictive in the biochemical sense. But I'm sure if you're smart enough to know that you're smart enough to get my point.]
It's best to think of addiction as a perfectly ordinary physiological limitation, just like being crippled. A person may have a crippled finger (minor and not significantly affecting most day-to-day tasks, like a book addiction) but it is so mild that we would be unlikely to think of them as "crippled". Whereas if they had crippled legs we probably would. Of course, like any other physiological limitation addiction may be overcome by clever work-arounds, excercises of one kind or another, and various therapies. Some people may be able to do all of this recovery work on their own, just like any other physiological limitation.
People who believe that "choice" is some magical power unrelated to the physiology of the brain may want to claim that addiction is a causeless moral failing rather than a disease, and is best dealt with by punishing addicts until they impose their mystical "will-power" on the chemisty of their brain. I bet beating cripples would get some of them to walk, too (see the details of "treatment" of the shell-shocked in WWI for particularly horrific examples of this kind of thinking.)
Zonk is an addict ;) (Score:3)
Zonk, we care, you can get better!
Internet == TV? (Score:2)
I wonder why the same behaviors are rarely, if ever, studied for television viewing?
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addicted to the internet or to making money? (Score:2)
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None of that exists with television, where you simply sit down and turn it on. Heck, even watching a TV show on DVD is better than watching broadcast TV, as you choose to put it in and how long you wish you watch. Similarly, many other addiction
What's wrong non-essential Internet use? (Score:5, Insightful)
My goal is to spend as much time as possible doing non-essential things. It's called relaxing, and is a fine alternative to working.
Moo (Score:5, Insightful)
Alcohol has a similar case. Some people are addicted, in that a lack of alcohol, and the body wants more and more of it. Other people simple enjoy the stupor and dullness to the pains of life. While both cases may have a physical addiction, addressing these cases are different. The first is more physical, the second psycological.
Internet addiction can also be broken up similarly. Some addiction are activities that the Internet allow for. Buying things, purient interests, gambling, or rather, actions that can be done in the real world--and indeed are--but the Internet makes it easier. These people are not addicted to the Internet. They are addicted to activities, and the Internet just made it easier, convenient, or maybe just plain possible.
However, there is a second form of Internet addiction. That is gaming (as in WoW), socializing, garnering information, blogging, etc.. The main point here is not always the activities, rather it is created a second world, perhaps even a form of Avoidance Behavior. (This can be broken down further as to whether Internet usage is the cause or the affect.)
Even then, Extraverts who spend their time on the Internet probably have a problem. Introvets, not as much. They like being alone, and grow by being alone. Excessive Internet usage may be one-sidedness, not an addiction.
Overall, usage of the Internet is not an indicator of addiction. Personality and intent are. And even then, i would wonder what the real dangers were.
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To compare so-called "internet addicts" to this is quite a disgrace to those suffering from real problems. I'm sure next they're going to start calling internet addiction a disease.
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Or, what if (Score:2)
Everyone is addicted to somthing (Score:3, Insightful)
You can easily get addicted to anything that you enjoy, from Pot to Sex it is all addicting. There is no real story here.
Just don't let your addictions rule your life and you will be fine
Misleading as usual (Score:2, Insightful)
In the 80s, when 900 numbers were at their peak, and you regulary heard and saw reports of people being addicted to paying for phone sex, they never called it "telephone addiction".
I find it really hard to believe that "More than 8% of those surveyed said they hid internet use from family, friends and employers" actually applies to using the internet, but is much more likely that they are hiding what
No fine line (Score:2)
There isn't a fine line - there's a 10 foot high wall, clearly marked with Day-Glo orange stripes and strobe lights.
The Line (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a different scenario. Over 90% of the adult population is addicted to work. Why? They do it every day. They have to do it every day. If they don't do it every day, it becomes a problem. Questions are asked, finances are in jeopardy, relationships are endangered.
Kinda fucked up, isn't it? Why isn't work an "addiction"? It keeps the bank account in the black and the population as a whole in a constrained environment with significantly limited freedoms (by narrowly defining what you can do and requiring you to invest most of your time and energy in it). But you just watch people come unglued if they unplug from work. Yep.
There's your line.
better line (Score:2)
before there was money, there was hunting and gathering. people did that for 16 hours a day. was it an addiction? well yeah: it was food. but if you stop eating food, you die
so is food an addiction?
well you can stop playing WOW and live. even if you stop with heroin your life will become a living hell of withdrawl, but you'll still be alive
but if you stop acquireing food, you die
likewise in a capitalist society, if you stop working you cease to
Cirrhosis (Score:2)
Vice != Addiction (Score:5, Informative)
You might feel uncomfortable when you try to change a bad habit. You might even fail to change it, deciding instead it's easier to indulge your vice than to change.
An addiction is a totally different animal. When you kick heroin or cocaine or alcohol you become physically sick. Not just emotionally uncomfortable, but physically ill: sweats, vomiting, dizziness, blood pressure fluctuations, etc, etc. When you are addicted you are physically compelled to seek out your chemical. Every waking moment is dedicated to procuring your next fix. You look for it like you look for your next breath. It's hard to convey, but try to imagine giving up breathing.
All your willpower to quit and all your effort to clean up can be at your disposal, you tell yourself, "No, not ever again," even as you reach for the needle. You weep as you consciously choose a chemical over family, job, home, self-respect, everything.
Yeah, if I try to give up coffee I might be uncomfortable for a few days. If I stop playing video games I might miss it for a while. But I won't throw up and have cold sweats for three days. Video games and internet and such can't be addictions, not without some serious pre-existing personality disorder.
Based on this study ... other addictions (Score:5, Interesting)
Based on this same logic, we'd almost all be addicted to: driving, eating, refrigerators, using the toilet, showering, sleeping, and drinking. Sounds like we have a national epidemic brewing. If we can't figure out a way to get the 95% of the people who can't use the toilet for more than a few days outside doing something more productive, we may fall behind the rest of the industrialized world in technological and sociological accomplishments.
OK, on a more serious note, I think the article fails to drill down to the heart of the addiction - porn and games. The 6% of respondants who said the internet ruins their relationships are likely staring at photoshop enhanced boobies or playing WOW for 16 hours a day
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Stats (Score:2)
That internet is an evil place!
Ten bucks says these people that are hiding the internet use from friends, family, and co-workers are also porn addicts. It isnt the internet it is the person feeding an addiction aside from the internet, if the net wasnt there they would just find different avenues.
The people who have a hard time being away from the internet for more than a few days arent surfing, they are proba
In Other News (Score:2)
Seriously though, the internet is something it is mostly self destructive, not like alcoholism, and once you are able to step away, you are fine. I have had my periods of time where I spent 16 hours a day on the computer, but then I went outside and all was well. Many of these people are socially inept people who have a social life online - so what, better than the alternative of TV or becoming some weird freak who
Wow! (Score:2)
On the other hand. (Score:2)
This real world situation hardly fits into the scenario they were trying to paint with this "study".
Internet Addicts As Ill As Alcoholics? (Score:2)
The demon coffee (Score:2)
--Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, 1905, "The Young Man and the World"
The rule is very simple. Any pleasurable things I don't do are dange
It's not the internet, it's lumines (Score:2)
I can't say I have an addiction to the 'Net, but I'll admit a kind of strange addiction to Lumines(PSP). Once I get a game going, if you don't have anything to do with colored blocks falling to a musical rhythm, then I won't pay attention to you. My wife claims to have flashed her boobs at me while I was playing, and I didn't notice. :-)
I guess we are addicted to all sorts of things (Score:2, Interesting)
Checking Mail
Paying Bills
Doing their jobs
Keeping up with their Childrens school work
Watching the News and/or Weather reports
Shopping
Just add the word online to the above and suddeny they become an addication.
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Silly people. (Score:2)
Great (Score:2)
We can't win! (Score:2)
No idea (Score:2)
Where can I find copies of the first two games?
Just Imagine (Score:5, Funny)
What's this about again? (Score:2)
This isn't a symptom. (Score:2)
When you consider the effect of buggy browsers, combined with confusing, poorly-designed web sites, this is just the normal situation for all of us. It's not a symptom of any problem in the user at all.
Addiction (Score:2)
Nearly 89% of respondents said they found it difficult to stay away from electricity for several days and 75% admitted that they often use more electricity than expected. More than 98% of those surveyed said they hid electricity use from family, friends and employers, and the same percentage confessed to using electricity to flee from real-world problems. Approximately 86% also said their personal relationships had suffered as a
Summary Restated Without the FUD (Score:2)
I'm worried (Score:2)
I mean - internet addiction can have pretty bad consequences.
I'm sure I heard last night on the news about how a internetting driver killed a pedestrian. And the one who beat his wife whilst internetting. And the women who slept with an fat ugly pig of a man because she was internetting.
Actually - the last one may be true.
I'll admit it quite openly (Score:4, Interesting)
There are reasons why my life is so net-centric, though:-
I realise that in light of that, simply advocating moving online in a wholesale sense might sound like the proverbial ostrich maneuvre...but if I knew of something I actually *could* do to change the political situation, I'd possibly do it...there just doesn't seem to be anything that can be done. I actually feel as though the only thing I really can do about the offline situation is to keep my head down as much as possible...and the net means I can at least construct some semblance of a life for myself while I'm doing that.
like, we're sociologically sick! (Score:2)
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"Comparable" my ass (Score:4, Insightful)
Substitute the Internet for alcohol? Probably.
Internet as damaging as alcohol? Are the effin nuts?
There's addiction, and then there's addiction. The medical establishment trying to make all addictions equally bad is a ploy to scare up more patients.
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Jaysyn
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(As I reconsider my practice of checking email on my Treo at highway speeds...)
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*hic cup*
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What's wrong with your font that you can't see the difference between "I" and "l"? Just as bad is the one that makes "1" and "l" the same. Isn't a font's primary purpose to describe recognizable glyphs?
Re:And for those of you who have multiple 'problem (Score:2)
Just make sure you don't put the bottles back in the fridge after you refill them.
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You are extending the definition of "addiction" far beyond it's intended meaning. "We, as a society" are not addicted to Foreign Oil or the Internet.
We have an Infrastructure built around the Internet and Foreign Oil which has been built up through significant investment over a long period of time
That's like saying that we have an "addiction" to the grocery store. People aren't addicted to grocery stores, we've simply been trained and adapted to living in a world where you get food from the
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Exactly when does an "addiction" become just a new way of life?
Televisions used to be the whizbang new tech that everyone wanted to have. Eventually enough people had one that the word "addiction" started being used. Today, every home has three, and nobody calls the TV addictive anymore...certainly not comparing watching TV to alcoholism. It has just become a way of life for normal people.
The same can be said for telephones,