Heavy Internet Use Linked To Depression 360
An anonymous reader writes "People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to show signs of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday. These 'internet addicts' spent proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites, online gaming sites and online communities, Morrison said. They also had a higher incidence of moderate to severe depression than normal users."
Such a sad story. (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, wait.
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:4, Funny)
Wait... how did we get on to Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Interesting)
And what's cause and what's effect?
What if heavy internet usage is caused by being depressed rather than causing it?
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Interesting)
I think that most people who read Slashdot, and especially anyone who posts, spends a lot of time online, but that's just pointing to "a media" (or is it a "medium" in this context?). What a person does when they're online is far more relevant than just the fact that they're online.
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Interesting)
(though from what I understand from TFA, it's mainly consumption of content they're referring to).
That is the exact reason that I use the Web so often: content of any kind. I read a lot of things, and follow a few topics just out of the need to not ruminate on things. Message boards, chatrooms, etc. all help me communicate at some level after a period of very intense depression (such as now, where I just had to drop a semester), where the anxiety is killer.
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After I fixed that problem, I turned to the internet again because of new problems - one of them is that all of my friends got married and had kids, or they work exhausting hours. Do I envy them? Hell no, because I can go pub-crawling or kayaking while they're stuck indoors wasting all of their money and hard work on nagging, domineering wives and screaming, crapping, defiant kids. When they d
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Insightful)
I was like you long ago, but then I stopped giving a fuck about what others thought of me. Made life 100% better.
I mostly agree, with the exception of cases where you care about the person's opinion, and for the right reasons. I don't give a damn what my neighbor thinks because that's just geographical coincidence, but if I choose to become someone's friend, I would at least "give some damn", otherwise why do I choose to consider this person my friend? Family is more complicated, of course, and everyone has to make their own choices there. But apart from those cases, the only thing that should concern you is functionality: don't get on your boss' nerves because he'll fire you, and don't piss off a heavy-weight boxer that's standing right in front of you, because, well, darwinism.
After I fixed that problem, I turned to the internet again because of new problems - one of them is that all of my friends got married and had kids, or they work exhausting hours. Do I envy them? Hell no, because I can go pub-crawling or kayaking while they're stuck indoors wasting all of their money and hard work on nagging, domineering wives and screaming, crapping, defiant kids. When they do have free time to visit we're always stuck at their house playing xBox with 5 year-olds or kicked out to the cold-ass garage before their wife makes me leave at 10pm on a Saturday. They're fucking miserable. Do not take your freedom for granted. Do not envy happy-looking couples, you don't see all of the fighting and control struggles behind the scenes.
That's a matter of perspective and opinion. It's not really related to this topic. It's a valid opinion, in the sense that you're free to do with your life as you will, but I wouldn't say that it's the correct "advice" for everyone. I know several people who were just aimlessly wandering through life until they met the right person, not only to spend their life with, but also to motivate them. If that's not the case for you then that's fine, but I don't think that people keep getting married and having children just to keep the human species from extinction.
The other problem is having non-nerd friends. Everybody I know in real life is not very articulate and conversation is about typical, non-controversial things. Time spent on each topic is kept to a minimum. Trying to start a deep conversation about politics or technology rights just causes them to scratch their heads and rub their eyes in irritation.
You're the one who decides who you spend time with. You say that it's a "problem", but if it were really troubling you, then according to what you say in this post, you'd have no problem telling them flat out that they're boring you and you're not interested in seeing them again.
But things are different on the internet. What's so cool about the internet? Not having to give a fuck about what people think! Nigger, for example. There will always be at least 1 niche that will welcome your weirdness with open arms so that you don't have to deal with all of those hypocrites, phonies, and rubes we encounter in real life. Create a strong persona on the internet and become that persona. Let its toughness change your behavior in real life. Then, when you no longer give a fuck about what others think, they'll try harder to get your attention and win your approval. Pussy will throw itself at you left and right.
Yes and no. Your post is a very good example. By being so aggressive, some people will simply skip over what you've said and dismiss you as a "brute" or a troll, not even considering your argument. The ad-hominem effect kicks in (you'll be dismissed because of who you are, or how you behave, rather than what you say), and you've just lost a lot of people's attention, not all of whom you'd normally choose to filter out. If I know that I'm in an environment that doesn't mind cursing, then I'll cuss like a sailor, but I'd still respect someone
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks god books aren't injectable. I wouldn't have any usable veins left.
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Interesting)
I found anti-depressants (SSRIs, MAO inhibitors.. any kind I tried) numbing. Yes it made daily life more livable but I was stuck on 98%. I just wasn't quite there on the drugs. Life was better with drugs than without them at the time, but not quite as good as life prior w/o the drugs. Once I got off the anti-depressants I finally was able to have days where I felt 100%. I no longer feel slightly withdrawn from life (despite the fact I'm a software dev). Of course getting off antidepressants can be a bitch (withdrawal symptoms can be pretty bad).
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Interesting)
I have severe depression, and have suicidal thoughts pretty much every day. I use the Web and WoW to escape from my persistent gender dysphoria. In chat rooms and online games, I can be a girl, but not in real life.
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been in your exact same situation only a few months ago. As it happens going on estradiol and testosterone blockers have more or less pushed me from suicidal to feeling better than I even thought was humanly possible (was hard to predict in advance when you have little to compare with). Unfortunately not everybody has the same reaction, but if you're not already on them I can only recommend you give hormones a very serious thought. I know it can be hard to get them many places ( I was forced to self-medicate myself ) and that things are not that easy, but seeing your post more or less described my life 6 months ago I just wanted to let you know that things can get a heck of a lot better.
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Couldn't internet addiction, be part of a feedback cycle keeping you depressed? Less sun, less contact with people firsthand, less social life, and if it's
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Insightful)
What if the internet is caused by depression?
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think there might be more truth to that comment than we imagine..
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Re:Such a sad story. (Score:5, Insightful)
A question asked in the RA. '"Excessive internet use is associated with depression, but what we don't know is which comes first -- are depressed people drawn to the internet or does the internet cause depression?," Morrison said.'
There's a third possibility which the article fails to consider: rather than one causing the other, perhaps both are caused by something else. For example, the person who has difficulty forming satisfying sexual relationships is perhaps likely to get depressed about that and to spend "proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites". The whole thing gets muddy, because that can then form a feedback loop.
Obligatory link [xkcd.com].
Re:Such a sad story. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll say... (Score:3, Funny)
have you SEEN what's on there?
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Porn, untold amounts of porn, and untold amounts of geeks' fantasies never being fulfilled.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
What has been seen cannot be unseen! YEARGH EYE CANCER!
Re:I'll say... (Score:4, Funny)
Do you have a link?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Suppose you have a person who has very few social connections (just the ones they need to survive, like work relationships), and is also relatively isolated from their family (for whatever reason). Is it worse to saturate that person's mind with porn, or to dedicate a lot of time to, let's face it, some cruel, sadistic, and generally hateful communities that exist online?
I'm definitely not trying to legitimize extre
Re:I'll say... (Score:4, Interesting)
I actually just gave 4chan as an example to point out an overall direction -- there are far worse places, where hatred and malice are directed to whichever cause you can think up
That's not unique to the Internet.
One of my flatmates watches three British soaps: EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale. I don't watch them myself, but sometimes I see what's happening if I'm cooking when she's home. Most of the time, it's people shouting at each other, arguing, cheating, backstabbing, and generally spreading hatred around them. It's awful.
The next line states... (Score:5, Insightful)
But it is not clear whether the internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.
So, what we have here is an article with no actual basis for conclusions. Nothing to see here, move along
Re:The next line states... (Score:5, Insightful)
All they are saying is that they noted Correlation, not implying causation.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
All they are saying is that they noted Correlation, not implying causation.
Yet the summary is written as such. Such a shock for a /. editor not to read something before it's put on the front page.
No, it doesn't. The summary says "more likely"; that is, as internet use increases, the probability of depression increases. That is the definition of correlation. Implying causation would be using a word like "cause". (I know, tricky concept) Which the summary doesn't.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
No, it doesn't. The summary says "more likely"; that is, as internet use increases, the probability of depression increases. That is the definition of correlation. Implying causation would be using a word like "cause". (I know, tricky concept) Which the summary doesn't.
The word "cause" would assert causation. When the summary says:
People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to show signs of depression
it suggests causation, because that does not sound the same as:
People showing signs of depression are more likely to spend a lot of time surfing the internet
One might agree that those sentences are formally equivalent (in an idealized version of english), but the way most people speak, those sentences suggest different causations.
Re:The next line states... (Score:5, Insightful)
The word "cause" would assert causation. When the summary says:
People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to show signs of depression
it suggests causation, because that does not sound the same as:
People showing signs of depression are more likely to spend a lot of time surfing the internet
One might agree that those sentences are formally equivalent (in an idealized version of english), but the way most people speak, those sentences suggest different causations.
More accurately, I would say that both versions of that sentence assert correlation, and the fact that most readers infer causation from any asserted correlation is almost unavoidable. I agree that most readers will infer different causations from those two statements, but that doesn't mean either statement actively suggests causation. I would say that it merely means that both statements fail to explicitly deny the causations that most people who aren't scientifically trained will tend to infer from them.
This is probably just a semantic argument. If you can think of a way to assert correlation such that causation is not a natural inference for most people, and without sounding awkward or explicitly denying the causation you expect people to infer, I would sincerely love to hear it. My point is that I don't think the summary is written poorly (it doesn't suggest causation more than it can help) -- I don't expect every writer describing a correlation to have to go out of their way to point out that a causation cannot be (correctly) inferred from the described correlation. Maybe in your opinion (and GGP's opinion) writers should do that, in which case I'm just not holding them to such a high standard as you.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If you can think of a way to assert correlation such that causation is not a natural inference for most people, and without sounding awkward or explicitly denying the causation you expect people to infer, I would sincerely love to hear it.
Researchers have found a correlation between levels of depression and amount of time surfing the Internet. Their studies show that both depression and Internet usage increase and decrease proportionate to each other.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If you really want to be technical
OK, let's be technical. Let:
D be the number of depressed people; A be the number of internet addicted people; DA be the number of depressed and internet addicted people. T be the total number of people.
Then: "internet addicts are more likely than the general population to be depressed" means "the proportion of DA among A is greater than the proportion of D among T", or "DA/A > D/T", which is mathematically equivalent (since all number are positive) to "DA*T > D*A".
"depressed people could be less
Re:The next line states... (Score:4, Informative)
Seconded. Could it be that perhaps people are depressed by not getting the attention they desire and thus go to the internet for it? The study is a failure if it finds both ends of the argument plausible and no concrete evidence for either.
Re:The next line states... (Score:5, Insightful)
The study is a failure if it finds both ends of the argument plausible and no concrete evidence for either.
No, it is not a failure. It succeeds in saying, "we observed this phenomenon, it's significant, and it might be worth studying further." Science succeeds when it places observations before conclusions; it fails when it does the opposite, as people like you seem to want it to do. Establishing that something exists in the first place is the prerequisite for everything that follows.
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Dude, did you even read TFA??? Take these three sentences ....
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Yeah, that was in reference to the "sexually gratifying websites" in the article. Depression is obviously more serious than that.
Re:The next line states... (Score:5, Informative)
But it is not clear whether the internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.
Exactly. And an earlier study showed a correlation between television watching [suite101.com] and depression [naturalnews.com]. Worth repeating: correlation is not always causation.
In this case, I could easily see the correlation as: depressed people are too depressed to do anything requiring activity, so they tend to sit around and watch television or surf the web.
Re:The next line states... (Score:4, Funny)
And an earlier study showed a correlation between television watching [suite101.com] and depression [naturalnews.com]
wait What?
I watch Tv on the internet......
I am so boned..... CRAP!
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
FFS, some people are just depressed with life, they seek entertainment to help distract them from their own state. Whatever distraction that form takes has nothing to do with the depression. I can think of several reasons why I gained weight
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A general dissatisfaction with life seems to be one of the hallmarks of humanity and that is a good thing. We wouldn't be where we are if we were all content just living off the land like the other animals.
True, we would be ... all content! I'm so glad to be dissatisfied with life instead! ;)
Re:The next line states... (Score:4, Insightful)
Just to let you know, Natural News is one of those whacked out anti-science sites. You know, pro-homeopathy, pro-naturopathy, anti-vaccine, anti-evidence based medicine. The same people who thing correlation really does equal causation (for example, the guys who run that site claim vaccines cause autism). I mean, I'm sure it was just the first link that came up when you searched, but in the future you might want to go with the second link there, because that site is deep in the stupid.
Re: (Score:2)
Do what they say, say what they mean
One thing leads to another
You told me something wrong, I know I listened too long
But then one thing leads to another
One thing leads to another
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browsing sexually gratifying websites, online gaming sites and online communities
All of which would likely increase activity of which neuro-transmitter? Did anyone say dopamine? And what else increases dopamine activity? More witches! Err, no. Certain classes of drugs, illicit or otherwise. And depression is provably related to imbalances in norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. I'd love to get a real biologist's take on this research.
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Duh. Depressed people generally want to avoid social interaction, or take it in short bursts at their own pace as it suits them. The Internet is perfect for this. The excessive time spent online is a symptom, not a cause.
Mal-2
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Unfortunately, that article is worthless and I don't know where I can find the actual paper.
While the article describes 1.2% of Britons between 15 and 51 years of age as being "internet addicted, it does NOT tell us how much the likelihood of depression increases among those addicts when compared to non-addicts.
I don't see a discussion of depression rates by age or other socioeconomic factors, either. People under the age of 30 are more likely to have been online their entire adult lives, people from wealt
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Not having a PhD, no data, and not having RTFA, I'd guess that it's the second one.
As someone who suffers from regular bouts of depression (as well as daily depression periods relating to certain bodily functions), I know from first-hand experience that the internet is a great distraction for depression. You momentarily forget your woes when you find a video of a kitten going 'NOM NOM NOM' or play some flash game (or go to sexually gratifying websites.) Online communities are great because they are mostly
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Having a PhD does not help. I went and asked the guy here with 2 of them. (ever seen real genius? remember laslo? we hired him. WE have a no smoking in the building, his office he chain smokes....) 1 in computer science and 1 in archeology.
He had no clue either.
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But it is not clear whether the internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.
So, what we have here is an article with no actual basis for conclusions. Nothing to see here, move along
Of course, these are the fields of psychology and human behavior. Even the best work done by Pavlov or Skinner aren't 100% proven. They are, however, very interesting observations and empirical data that assist us in beginning to understand the human psyche. You're never going to have a completely proven conclusion from studies and surveys like this. And the people working within these fields are therefore subjected to the very opposite of what a mathematician or physicist would get if they made similar
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When I'm suffering, I don't get a lot of sleep, so I spend more time on the internet. It's as simple as that.
And I didn't RTFA because the comments on Slashdot said not to bother.
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But it is not clear whether the Internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.
So, what we have here is an article with no actual basis for conclusions. Nothing to see here, move along
On the contrary, it's a perfect article for the Slashdot crowd since it foments introspection and may provide personal insight.
In other news, living in your parent's basement is linked to depression.
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I've got a conclusion for you:
People who are depressed spend more time on the Internet looking for a life.
Back in the BBS days (and early Internet days) I would spend time in chat sessions and forums looking for parties, activities, new stuff to learn, of course - porn. I met some of my best friends in chat in the early 90's on the Revolution Calling and Anarchy X BBSs in San Diego. I don't remember being depressed at that time, but I was definitely looking for a life.
Anyway, the Internet is probably good
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Who cares which way it works if you want to identify depressed individuals then correlation alone is useful. You know the population of heavy internet and tv users will be a good place to search out depressed individuals. These are characteristics easy to spot and easy to survey. You then spend your time doing more analysis on the people in the group to find the specific target. It is going to be alot more efficient than searching the general population.
Re: (Score:2)
Welcome to modern journalism.
OMG HEADLINE!
Titillating content.
One line note explaining how everything you read was pure speculation on the part of the writer, and that there are no real conclusions to be drawn from the study/events/whatever that the writer tricked you into thinking the article was about.
By modern, you mean the last 100+ years [wikipedia.org], right?
Maybe confusing cause and effect (Score:2, Insightful)
Well... duh? (Score:2)
Shocking news: depressed people try to escape from reality!
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"Everyone I know who's died drinks water or something that has water in it!" someone will say.
Everyone you know who's still alive drinks water or something that has water in it, too. What this study found is nothing like that.
Comorbidity (Score:4, Insightful)
In the long run this will also be likely linked to Aspergers Syndrome and other dissociative / personality disorders that we are diagnosing with much greater frequency today in that it reduces peoples interactions with actual human beings (at least vs our 'un-evolved' predecessors) to the point where children are not growing up with a firm grasp of social cues in relation to body language, tone of voice, etc....
Thank Christ I was raised in a time before 4chan....
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Everyone has a mental illness these days.
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...if you don't have some type of mental illness these days, something is seriously wrong with you. Says so, right on the TV ad!
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Everyone has a mental illness these days.
More accurately, there's a mental illness for everyone.
Personally, I distrust the entire psychiatric profession, and lament that these "professionals" have taken on (usurped?) the traditional roles of grandparent, wise uncle, priest, friend, cool dude down the street who smokes too much pot, etc. Anyone know of any other job where you can ensure meaningful and continued employment by making shit up?
No doubt there's an illness for people like me, too. Or would it be
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No doubt there's an illness for people like me, too
Yeah same here.
I suffer from an illness that makes me want to tell people to take responsibility for themselves and their behavior and not blame it on some 'genetic' condition or whatever.
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In some cases it's not clear that "linked with personality disorders" actually adds any information, because many personality disorders have no etiology or known mechanism and are simply defined clinically as the presence of a certain set of symptoms. So saying that the symptoms are associated with the disorder doesn't tell you anything, because the disorder is defined as having those symptoms. It's like saying being morbidly overweight is linked with clinical obesity.
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In the long run this will also be likely linked to Aspergers Syndrome and other dissociative / personality disorders that we are diagnosing with much greater frequency today in that it reduces peoples interactions with actual human beings (at least vs our 'un-evolved' predecessors) to the point where children are not growing up with a firm grasp of social cues in relation to body language, tone of voice, etc....
What, so suddenly Asperger's isn't an autism spectrum disorder, ie one that's genetically determi
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Yup. I'd say that's true in probably 90% of Asperger's cases. (The obvious tell: ask if it's self-diagnosed or not.)
I work with a woman who is constantly finding new things to be allergic to, similar type of case... it's extremely annoying when having to pick restaurants. The latest one is "gluten-free" foods-- I never heard of gluten 5 years ago, but now it's trendy so she has it.
"What happens if you accidentally eat gluten?" "Oh I feel bad for awhile." Yah right, crazy. That happens when I eat Taco Bell,
Is this an on-line community? (Score:4, Funny)
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*YOU* feel depressed??? I find CowboyNeal sexually gratifying, you insensitive clod!
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Chickens lay eggs (Score:3, Insightful)
It takes a chicken to lay a chicken egg.
So if internet usage is indicative of depression, then it stands to reason that people who are prone to depression (social outcasts for one) would be inordinately engaged in that type of activity. The flow isn't internet leads to depression but rather that depression leads to internet.
All stereotypes have some basis in reality, so if we consider a significant fraction of internet users to be fat, ugly, borderline autistic, Cheetos and Doritos crunching, Mountain Dew swilling, World of Warcraft playing dweebs who used to get beat up in high school [slashdot.org], then we can see how an activity that allows relative anonymity and essentially zero repercussions would attract this type of user. In turn, this type of user would tend towards clinical depression due to their social awkwardness and isolation.
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Hey! I'm a fat, ugly, borderline autistic, Cheetos and Doritos crunching, Mountain Dew swilling dweeb who used to get beat up in high school, you insensitive clod! You crossed the line with World of Warcraft!
I don't know... (Score:2)
Another meaningless survey (Score:3, Informative)
Rather meaningless really. Of the 1319 responses to an online questionaire 1.2% (yes, thats a whole 16 people) were deemed to be "addicts". "Many" of those were deemed to be depressed. Whats that a whole 10 people?
Noone ever answers these things less than 100% honestly, do they?
Smells more like they asked their questions, stated the conclusions they were hoping to prove but failed utterly at having the data to back them up.
There could be a link to sleep patterns (Score:5, Interesting)
it could be worse (Score:2)
"'internet addicts' spent proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites"
Think how depressed they would be if they went to websites that weren't "sexually gratifying"!
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The issue is, those websites are not gratifying. If they were they would go out of business, but in reality business is booming. The benefit is fleeting at best, and porn use generally leads to more porn use. Which is, in and of itself, depressing.
Cause or effect? (Score:4, Interesting)
Didn't RTFA but this is the quick question that comes to mind when I read about all those studies... Also, what happens if you stop depressed people from using the Internet, do they feel better, worse, or the same?
WARNING: This is British sciene reporting (Score:2)
And from TFA:
Reader be ware.
Effect not Cause (Score:2)
People that are happy go out, see friends, and do things.
Hypothesis to investigate ... (Score:2)
People unhappy with their relationship status surf for porn ...
Depression leads to Strong Internet activity? (Score:4, Insightful)
I would have to ask, did the scientists test the subjects prior to this study to find out how many had symptoms of depression, or have people in their family that have symptoms of depression before they ever show strong internet activity?
In our society, with all of the news that is about threats over our heads and the general push to become wealthy, many people are depressed, or show signs of depression. My suspicion is that heavy users of the internet find freedom and more happiness in their internet activity.
Awareness of the world (Score:4, Insightful)
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That's a good one.
Whenever I read the main news headline of the day, I feel like I'm being trolled.
Then I go back for more then next day.
Content-free news (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm missing the part where this study has produced anything of value.
"What is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive use of the internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies."
You could just as easily say with just as much truth, "What is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive *anything* could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies." But of course, that wouldn't produce anywhere near as much alarm and fear of the Internet.
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I'm missing the part where this study has produced anything of value.
"What is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive use of the internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies."
You could just as easily say with just as much truth, "What is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive *anything* could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies." But of course, that wouldn't produce anywhere near as much alarm and fear of the Internet.
So in order to actually study some sort of phenomenon you need to first have reasonable evidence that said phenomenon really exists. That's what correlation studies sometimes try to address. For instance, in this case maybe the researchers have the hypothesis that the internet can contribute to depression. Certainly if there were not even a correlation between internet use and depression you would not suspect the internet had much if anything to do with depression. This is what separates science from ps
Re:Content-free news (Score:4, Insightful)
For instance, in this case maybe the researchers have the hypothesis that the internet can contribute to depression.
Agreed, but in order to test the hypothesis that the Internet can contribute to depression, you would need to compare these results to the percent of people with addiction as a whole and to percentage of generally addicted people who are depressed. I don't see any of that detail here. If I told you that 1.2% of people who used the Internet were convicted murderers, but failed to mention that 2% of the general population are convicted murderers, would I be right in claiming to have established a correlation between the Internet and murder? The study points out that 1.2% is greater than the .6% of gambling in the UK, but that's not a 1-to-1 comparision, since the study including porn, all forms of gaming, and chat.
I haven't seen the actual study, so I should refrain from jumping to conlusions about the quality of the study. My issue is more with the way scientific studies are presented by the news and the way the media forces scientists to produce little sound-bite-nuggets to be taken out of context.
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If I told you that 1.2% of people who used the Internet were convicted murderers, but failed to mention that 2% of the general population are convicted murderers, would I be right in claiming to have established a correlation between the Internet and murder?
I can't answer that, but I can say that I'm now very scared by the idea that 1 in every 50 people I meet is a convicted murderer.
work (Score:2, Interesting)
Binky (Score:2)
Once you've seen a guy fucked to death by a horse (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe they have vitamin D deficiency (Score:2)
Or some other ailment caused by not getting enough sunlight and fresh air.
I doubt they are playing wow or surfing porn in a nice sun-lit park.
No kidding. (Score:2)
Have you seen what those idiots post on web communities? You'd be depressed about the state of humanity too.
And no matter how much time I spend correcting these idiots, they keep posting more stupidity. As a result, **of course** I spend a lot of time online.
Obvious (Score:4, Funny)
Proof (Score:5, Funny)
Unavoidable (Score:3, Funny)
I've wasted my life.
Correlation is not causation (Score:5, Insightful)
were they getting depressed because of surfing, or were they escaping to surfing because of depression.
i, for one, know from myself that, at points in my life in which i was severely stressed, depressed or in a waiting period for some event (military service etc), was using computer games heavily as an escape and sedative. that way i was able to relieve some of the stress or depression i had. if you are busy with something, you dont get focused on your depression that much.
i dont think surfing is much different. if those people werent doing that heavy internet usage, they would probably be starting using mild drugs. internet is much better.
Internet = high stimulation (Score:2, Interesting)
how about: excessive engagement in high stimulating activities such as the Internet, TV and online videogames, that ultimately depletes neurochemicals and at the same time causes a depression when experiencing less stimulating/normal activities? sometimes there really is too much of a good thing.
New term just in time for the DSM-V: (Score:5, Funny)
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If the depression rates are as high as they say they are (8%, as of a 2004 study), they can find a correlation between depression and virtually any activity involving enough people.
Please explain why this is so, and specifically, why a high depression rate by itself makes it more likely that you will find a correlation with some randomly chosen activity. Show your work.
Go ahead. I dare you.