What Is Internet Addiction Disorder?

Modern conveniences and comforts bring along with them inevitably, attendant problems and troubles. The internet is no exception.

It is now difficult to imagine life without the internet; what was it we did before it was possible to Google just about any requirement that we had?

The internet has put in our hands access to the kind of information and convenience that we did not dream of a just a couple of decades earlier.

However, it has also brought with it addiction, and problems of a myriad nature. The Internet addiction disorder is a problem that is very real and distressingly widespread.

Internet addiction disorder covers a multitude of different terms such as Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use; it is any kind of excessive computer use that interferes with daily life and may originate from any of many different sources.

While its classification as a psychological disorder is not unanimous, and there is much debate and research on the topic, there is certainly enough evidence to consider this a problem even if you call it by another name.

Several compulsions related to computer and internet use can fall within the ambit of this addiction: gambling, compulsive shopping, compulsive gaming, viewing porn and even inappropriate reliance on a virtual community characterized by excessive involvement in social networking and blogging.

According to the Computer Addiction Study Center at Harvard University’s McLean Hospital, it is estimated that between 5% and 10% of Web surfers suffer some form of Web dependency, and this is a very startling figure.

Expert in this field, David Greenfield and author of Virtual Addiction, has opined, “Internet addicts suffer from emotional problems such as depression and anxiety-related disorders and often use the fantasy world of the Internet to psychologically escape unpleasant feelings or stressful situations.”

Statistics show that more than 60% of people seeking treatment for IAD claim involvement with sexual activities online which they consider inappropriate, such as excessive attention to pornography or involvement in explicit sexual conversations online.  More than half are also addicted to alcohol, drugs, tobacco, or sex, according to some studies.

Whatever the academic view of the addiction and its classification, we are perhaps ourselves aware of the very real dangers and addictive nature of the internet.

Have we not caught ourselves spending perhaps too much time surfing and not realizing how much actual time has been spent on the net?  Sure we have!

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