Internet Addiction: Valid or Artificially Stimulated?

Internet Addiction:
Valid or Artificially Stimulated?

Addiction can be classified as a habit, compulsion, obsession, craving, need, dependence or infatuation with something. Internet reliance can be attributed to aspects such as compulsive online gambling and online trade/auction, online friendships, cyber porn addiction and adult chat rooms, chronic web surfing, and/or fanatical computer gaming[1] but does an addiction to the internet really exist?
In a survey conducted by Kimberly Young, criteria as such was used as a method of determining if an individual is an addict:
1. Feeling preoccupied with the Internet (for example, thinking about previous online activity or anticipating the next online session).
2. Feeling a need to use the Internet with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction.
3. Making repeated unsuccessful attempts to control, cut back, or stop Internet use.
4. Feeling restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop Internet usage.
5. Remaining online longer than intended.
6. Jeopardizing the loss of a significant personal relationship, job, educational, or career opportunity.
7. Lying to family members, friends, or a therapist to conceal the extent of their involvement with the Internet.
8. Using the Internet as a means for escaping from problems. [2]
This gives an indication of what classifies an internet addict as an addict but is this a true measure of addiction or merely a set of qualities that people possess that can be applied to any number of past-times? I believe that aspects of the internet have a mind altering effect on individuals and can lead to addictions of aspects of internet but not to internet in general and through research I will attempt to prove that an addiction can occur to the feelings that are generated by attributes of the internet, specifically chat rooms.
Chat rooms provide the population of the world with opportunities to broaden their senses to a national or global scale. Addiction to chat rooms can be stimulated and encouraged by online friendships or relationships fuelled through chatting, by assisting the user to meet unfulfilled emotional and psychological needs, engaging in intimate, less-threatening relationships than those in a real life situation, and giving the individual a freedom to create and impersonate a persona that the individual believes is ideal[3].
In a study by Alvin Cooper, it was discovered that the activities performed whilst online were different in relation to the gender of the browser. Women are more likely to engage in flirtatious situations and involve themselves in cyber-sex and sexual chat rooms while men are attracted to pornographic websites[4]. This is justified by the theory that "men prefer visual stimuli and more focused sexual experiences, while women are more interested in relationships and interactions"[5]. Copper’s study indicate what appeals to the user and what attracts the consumer to repeat and act upon his or her habitual instincts, thus, creating an addiction to the content of the internet.
“A new study drawing on available literature argues that roughly 5 to 10 per cent of Internet users demonstrate problematic compulsions when it comes to Internet use”[6] demonstrates the lack of severity that the internet is taking on the world wide population. Every individual has individual reasons to feel a desire to use the internet, and each individual’s case has a dissimilar severity in relation to internet urges and usage to every other user. On the contrary, with such a small statistic and such a huge hype surrounding it, internet addiction may still just be a figment of imagination; a way of explaining the unmotivated lifestyle, the sexual lifestyle, an outlet for gambling, something to blame failed relationships and occupational attempts on.
It could be reasoned that the internet is a means to experience the real world. Gamblers, sex addicts and co-dependency extremists can live the lifestyle they already do, or wish to do, through the internet, so couldn’t it be argued that people are addicted to the real world, or is it just the experiences they have in their life time. In the real world, there is no actual means of diagnosing internet addiction. Outlines and suggestive criteria have been written and are used to “diagnose” those who are addicted but if these are just guidelines and not analytic evidence then all research and diagnosed addicts may have be falsified for the justification of deficiency in the physical world. The criteria that has been formulated by Kimberly Young is derived from Pathological Gambling diagnosis techniques and questions as pathological gambling is seen to be the closest impulse-control disorder without intoxication[7] but threat of losing financial security through safe internet usage is less probably than with gambling on such things as horses or card games. Hence, why would gambling be used as a guideline when the risks involved are of a completely different severity to those of chatting or pornographic intensions unless there are no grounds to classify any amount of internet usage as an addiction?
The greatest things that the internet has to offer are anonymity, companionship, a constant source of extensive knowledge and the technique to share such knowledge. The internet may not have been created for the purposes it’s used for in our time but evolution is not merely confined to that of the physical realm. Addiction to the effects and certain aspects of the internet may be justifiable one day but I am yet to be persuaded through my research that the internet is harmful in a psychological respect, unless misuse is evident. The internet has no lasting physical repercussions and people will one day find some other technology to blame their failures on.
Bibliography:
· Electronic Journal of Sociology - An Exploratory Analyses Of The Social Nature Of Internet Addiction; written by Al Bellamy and Cheryl Hanewicz, 2001 - http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.003/ia.html
· Young, Kimberly. (1998) Caught in the Net. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
· Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery - http://www.addictionrecov.org/intwhat.htm (accessed 25/5/2008)
· “Is Internet addiction real?” – Tori DeAngelis; Monitor on Psychology – Volume 31, No. 4, April 2000 – http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr00/addiction.html (accessed on 25/5/08)
· Alvin Cooper - “Is Internet addiction real?” – Tori DeAngelis; Monitor on Psychology – Volume 31, No. 4, April 2000 – http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr00/addiction.html (accessed on 25/5/08)
· “Study illuminates perils of Internet addiction” – Scott Deveau; Posted at 8:43 PM on 09/05/06; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20060509.winternet0509%2FBNStory%2FScience%2Fhome&ord=134350661&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true (Accessed on 30/5/08)
· “Internet Addiction: Personality Traits Associated with Its Development” – by Kimberly Young and Robert C. Rogers; http://www.netaddiction.com/articles/personality_correlates.pdf (accessed on 25/5/08)
[1] Electronic Journal of Sociology - An Exploratory Analyses Of The Social Nature Of Internet Addiction; written by Al Bellamy and Cheryl Hanewicz, 2001 - http://www.sociology.org/content/vol005.003/ia.html
[2] Young, Kimberly. (1998) Caught in the Net. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
[3] Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery - http://www.addictionrecov.org/intwhat.htm (accessed 25/5/2008)
[4] “Is Internet addiction real?” – Tori DeAngelis; Monitor on Psychology – Volume 31, No. 4, April 2000 – http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr00/addiction.html
[5] Alvin Cooper - “Is Internet addiction real?” – Tori DeAngelis; Monitor on Psychology – Volume 31, No. 4, April 2000 – http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr00/addiction.html
[6] “Study illuminates perils of Internet addiction” – Scott Deveau; Posted at 8:43 PM on 09/05/06; Accessed on 30/5/08 - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20060509.winternet0509%2FBNStory%2FScience%2Fhome&ord=134350661&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true
[7] “Internet Addiction: Personality Traits Associated with Its Development” – by Kimberly Young and Robert C. Rogers; http://www.netaddiction.com/articles/personality_correlates.pdf