Internet Addiction May Become Official "Disorder"

[brendano257]

I do believe it's actually a symptom, not the problem itself. Something else goes wrong, and the internet is your back up plan, it gets you away from "real life" and takes away worries like self image and such. This isn't the problem, it's a perfectly safe tool for people to use, its only a problem when it becomes your way out of everything else.

 

[Guest]

isn't "real life" anything you are currently doing in your life? i don;t get why people say being on the internet all the time means you have "no real life". that just means your "real life" is the internet. last time i checked there was no "fake life" one can choose to live. your either alive or dead, what you do while alive is your "real life"

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

Give me a F*$%ing break!
Seriously!

 

[jomofro39]

Oooo, Tom's hardware, you are an enabler here... tsk tsk. You are paying for my prescription!

 

[brendano257]

[citation][nom]c0le85[/nom]isn't "real life" anything you are currently doing in your life? i don;t get why people say being on the internet all the time means you have "no real life". that just means your "real life" is the internet. last time i checked there was no "fake life" one can choose to live. your either alive or dead, what you do while alive is your "real life"[/citation]

It's figuratively saying that your "life" consists of participating in a virtual world, you don't socially interact with people face to face or your lack the social skills to communicate in that way. Sadly too many people live virtually now, when real, TRUE interactions with people are what they need the most.

I think that people need other people, simply put. After all there are 6.7 Billion of us, there must be some reason for that eh? Now when your life consists of reading tech articles, or playing games all day, something needs to change. Real interactions with people, not flaming forum posts or l33t speak in a game, might do you a lot of good.

 

[Gin Fushicho]

*sighs* I guess it should be in the book. =(

 

[w4ffles]

They might as well consider being a couch potato a disorder while their at it.

 

[TheDuke]

is there TV addiction and book addiction

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]jomofro39[/nom]Oooo, Tom's hardware, you are an enabler here... tsk tsk. You are paying for my prescription![/citation]
Yes, mine too.
A case of pizza pops and red bull, stat!

This is legit though.
MMORPG's are bad, mkay. Just like cocaine, some people can control it, some can't. Sadly, I couldn't. 16 hours a day 7 days a week anyone?
Thought I believe I am addicted, I believe it brings no harm to me. (Well, since I decided to never play a MMORPG again that is)

 

[kingnoobe]

It's not legit anamaniac. Cocaine and thus type of drugs have a real physical addiction. And it's good to see some therapists don't agree with this, and actually want to get to the real issue that's causing you to make the internet your life.

 

[babybeluga]

Who's going to be the first to be sued?

 

[jisamaniac]

[citation][nom]supertrek32[/nom]Labeling something a disorder so we can distribute medication instead of actually addressing the problem - that's how we Americans roll, baby![/citation]


Meds FTW!!!

 

[zak_mckraken]

I spend a lot of time on the internet, so maybe I am addicted. On the other hand, I also spend a lot of tiem breathing. Maybe I'm also addicted to oxygen?

 

[ubercake]

Hey, I mean if Tiger can have a believable addiction to sex, why can't geeks have a valid addiction to their PCs?

 

[Vampyrbyte]

For me personally, being online, which for me usually involves playing WoW, trolling 4chan or leveling ANOTHER alt is simply the lowest common demoninator in my life. Its more of a "Oh i have nothing else to do, ill go on my computer" kind of thing going on.
Am i addicted to gaming/being online? Yeah probably. Does it get in the way of the rest of my life? Only College 😛.
No really, there is nothing medically that can be done, its no diffrent to watching housewife telly day after day, its just time wasting at its best.

 

[necronic]

The DSM has always been a bit of a joke. There are tons of ridiculous disorders in there. I'm actually a bit surprised this one wasn't already there.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder: Likes to argue a lot

Caffeine Induced Sleep Disorder: Coffee keeps you awake

Mathematics Disorder: Math is hard

Partner Relational Problem: Argue with spouse

It may have value in that it categorizes character traits, but the fact that many psychiatrists use it for medication decisions is disturbing....

 

[Guest]

What's next ? Declaring that reading too many books is an addiction ?
Surfing the net is one of the most complex and intellectually challanging thing a human can do nowadays. I don't see anything wrong with trying to do less everyday-realworld stuff and more intellectual-globally interactive stuff.

I'm 25 years old. Normally I surf the web 8-12 hours a day, while watching TV and talking to family and friends. My job (if you can call blogging a job) is also on-line, but I go out, into the real world without hesitation when opportunity knocks (shopping, dating, doing work outside - around the house ... and so on).

Bottom line, in my opinion evolution ties most intellectuals to PCs and the internet, while other people are drawn to everyday - realworld activities, that are inellectually less challanging. BUT this doesn't mean that people in any of these two categories are sick or addicted, they simply make different life choices (which is still legal, right?).

 

[bcube]

yes