Examining the Causes and Consequences of Internet Addiction

The internet is one of the greatest technological gifts to the world. With the increased usage of mobile devices such as smartphones and notebook computers, it is difficult to locate a person under the age of 70 who does not use the internet on a regular basis. The internet is an important part of life because of its many applications, which include: information for both science and education; networking through different social media platforms; financial transactions such as online money transfers, and so on. However, as Sherry Turkle the author of the book Alone Together says, “The internet is young, and it is up to people to shape it. The problem begins when normal use turns into excessive use” (Turkle, 10).

Internet addiction is a disorder associated with any online related irresistible behavior that interferes with a person’s normal life. This dependence is also called Internet Addiction Disorder(IAD). Though it may seem insignificant, internet addiction is just as dangerous, if not worse than any other addictions like drugs or alcohol addiction. Internet addicts may spend as many as over 50 hours a week online, neglecting their families, friends and their jobs. Some of the major platforms that people are addicted to in the internet include; video games, social media platforms such as Facebook, emails, as well as Twitter. Life has been made a lot easier through the internet by making information accessible as well as creating connections among people in the world. However, individuals make the internet the center of their lives by spending a lot of time in it; as a result, causing an addiction. Although the disorder of internet addiction has still not been considered as a disorder by researches, hopes are high that future editions will add it. A lot of research has been done to understand the complex nature of this disorder. Most of it has been done on the youths because they are the most vulnerable to this addiction. Compared to adults and older people, the youths use the internet more than the elders. Therefore, the need to find ways to contain or instead minimize internet addiction in the society is significant.

Reasons For Internet Addiction

The cause of Internet Addiction Disorder is not easy to identify. Many factors come into play. A developing child is greatly influenced by the background of growth. The development of a child requires an emotional as well as a physically available parent. Poor skills of parenting as well as dysfunctional parenting are associated with youth’s delinquency. For instance, individuals growing up in low-income families tend to seek some ways to fulfill their psychological needs. The alternative behavior meant to cause a distraction is referred to as compensation. Some individuals choose the internet as a form of compensation. Some factors affect the compensation level including; problem-solving ability, self-control degree, as well as emotional control. Addiction occurs when compensation is done in excess. From social learning, when physical activities, for instance, personal identity, peer relationship, as well as autonomy does not fulfill the high development needs of adolescence, such people shed social inhibition, leading to internet addiction. Moreover, individuals tend to seek excitement as well as pleasure from the internet, mainly when dissatisfied with their leisure time. The internet fulfills as well as entertains the needs of the youth.

Types of Internet Addictions

People are addicted to various forms of internet addictions. The most common forms of addiction include; addiction to pornographic material, video games, social networks, and chat-rooms. Pornographic materials have caused the highest percentage of addictions. Individuals addicted to these are involved in sending and downloading of these materials as well as sexting. Social media platforms together with chatrooms have resulted in a rise of cases of infidelity and online affairs, both virtual and actual. Many times people can make friends whom they prioritize at the expense of their real relationships. These have led to increased cases of divorce along with separation and family instability for many families. According to Turkle, social networks tend to push people apart and also offers the chance to practice malicious behaviors such as hate speech, even escaping in relating in real space as well as time.

Playing video games is another major addiction. This especially so for teens and preteens who are the highest percentage of people who have the compulsive need to play video games. These days kids are exposed to use of the internet from a very young age. That game that you introduced to your kid when he/she was a toddler can lay the foundation for this addiction to gaming. In most cases, the result of this obsession is teenagers skipping classes to service this compulsive need as well as kids growing up with no real friends and becoming introverted (Young, 17).

Symptoms of Internet Addiction

There are many warning signs to identify someone suffering from internet addiction. These signs can be divided into four groups, namely; physiological, behavioral, physical and relational. Physiological symptoms are physical symptoms felt when a person is under a lot of stress or when anxious. Although they are connected to the physiological state of mind they are exhibited physically. Some of these symptoms that will indicate to a person that they are addicted to the internet include; Feeling guilty about how much time you spend on the internet. This will be amongst the first signs. A person becomes aware that they are spending too much time online. Feeling anger and frustration when internet time is interrupted. Many internet addicts will find themselves feeling angry when their online time is disrupted. They will get mad at whatever or whoever interrupted their online time. This hurts their real-life relationships. For example, when a parent interrupts his/her teenager’s online video games time, their relationship might become strained. Many addicts feel frustrated when they have no access or are unable to get online.

Failure to notice the passage of time when online. Most addicts will get on the internet with an intention to stay online for only a particular amount of time but will find themselves losing track of time and staying on so much longer than intended. Besides, Many times you will see an internet addict justifying their actions by saying such things like ”everyone is doing it why is it wrong when I do it too?” or ”other people are online more I.” Justifying their actions makes the unhealthy use of the internet seem somewhat normal to them.

Addicts devote more time for online activities that they use in activities such as family activities and hobbies. They will tend to lose the connection with their family and friends as they develop other virtual friends online. Other physiological symptoms include; Mood swings when disconnected from the internet, Most often the mood is negative, Feeling satisfaction(for example, calmness, as well as happiness) only when online. This especially so for people using the internet as an escape from their normal life, A compulsive need to go online even when engaged in other activities such as school or when out with friends.

Examples of physical symptoms that will indicate to a person that their internet use has become problematic and excessive include Insomnia. Addicts are more likely to want to stay awake later than usual to complete their online sessions. Staying connected to the internet on a mobile device in bed at night will most likely have a person sleeping late. Sleep deprived individuals may experience fatigue as well as compromise a person’s immune system.

Effects of Addiction

Internet addiction refers to an impulse control disorder similar to the dependence of pathological gambling. Some users of the internet have developed emotional attachments to friends they meet online, therefore spending much of their time on the internet. Internet addicts go to the extent of meeting friends online as an alternative to meeting them physically (Keller, 8).

Internet overuse causes physical effects because of the sedentary lifestyle. Such individuals tend to gain weight, and in the long run, the physical fitness deteriorates. The physical discomfort that internet addicts suffer include backaches, as well as carpal tunnel syndrome and eating disorders. Carpal tunnel syndrome refers to the numbness, tingling as well as general weakness in the hand due to pressure occurring on the median nerve in the wrist. This problem is very likely to happen to game addicts because they make the same hand movements over and over.

A comparison between excessive internet users versus normal internet users indicates that for excessive internet users experience reduced appetites, eat at a slower pace as well as take small meal sizes than the normal internet users (Kuss, 6). The diet quality of internet users is also lower. Moreover, they tend to prefer snacks. The favorite snacks preferred by excessive internet users have high calories as well as fats impacting in their growth and development. Such individuals snack more frequently, for instance, more than three times a day, thus end up gaining a lot of weight. Also, this also results in such people tending to skip meals frequently.

Excessive internet users also experience sleep patterns that are irregular as well as increased rates of sleep disturbance episodes. Moreover, excessive internet users are at higher risk of suffering from mental health problems which are associated with sleep disturbances. Other issues include apnea, insomnia, as well as nightmares. Lack of sleep may have a negative impact on the performance of an individual. For instance, poor performance in learning institutions as well as at the places of work. Besides, some individuals experience drowsiness and lack of concentration at inappropriate times such as while driving which may result in accidents. The adverse effects of introduction of technology such as the internet are only pondered when a negative impact occurs, for example, accidents caused by texting while driving.

Individuals addicted to watching pornographic materials develop sexually related effects. Individuals who are frequently exposed to these materials will exhibit effects such as sex addictions as well as unreal expectations about sex. Internet sex addiction is also known as cybersex addiction. Sex addiction may result in adverse impact on a person’s mental, physical as well as social well being. For instance, these people may show weird sexual behaviors, and also some may turn into rapists.

Treatment

Internet addiction like any other addiction is a vice that needs to be discarded. There are many techniques used to treat internet addiction including cognitive behavioral therapy. The method is efficient and focusses on the reduction of addict behaviors that are out of control; as a result, preventing relapse. The chief objective of therapy is abstinence when treating addiction. For instance, an alcoholic is best off when he or she stops the use of the drug entirely and maintains a lifestyle that is sober. The technique is applied to an internet addict by reminding one of the effects if overused; as a result, a person becomes more conscious and avoids trouble. Cognitive therapy is known for producing excellent results. In a study done by young, it was found that the 114 clients treated through cognitive behavioral therapy managed their post-treatment presenting problems and showed improved motivation to end the internet abuse, improved to control their use of computers as well as function in offline relationships (Wallace, 15).

Psychological approaches including motivational interviewing are applied to enhance intrinsic motivation to change through exploring as well as resolving the ambiance of the client. Individuals learn new behavioral skills through the use of some techniques including open-ended questions which aids people to express their feelings about change. Family member’s intervention including family training are useful methods to enhance the addict’s motivation to reduce the use of internet. Moreover, reality therapy encourages addicts to commit to behavioral change for the major aim of improving their lives. The therapy session includes time management training as well as demonstrating that addiction is a choice. Reality therapy is a significant tool for addiction recovery since it provides a wide variety of uses as a treatment for disorders that are addictive including sex, as well as food and so on. A study done in Korea asserts that this program of treatment effectively reduced the levels of addiction and improved the self-esteem of 25 students that were addicted to the internet.

Sometimes a multimodal treatment approach is used. The procedure involves the simultaneous implementation of several treatment methods including pharmacology, psychotherapy, as well as family counseling since the problems of the patients are complex. A study done by Du, Jiang, as well as Vance found that multimodal treatment is effective in adolescents with internet disorder. The technique improved individual’s emotional state as well as regulation ability.

Conclusion

All in all, the internet is neither bad or good. How a person uses it determines whether it is good or bad. Any addiction is a severe problem. Any individual who exhibits any of the warning signs of internet addiction should seek help immediately. When an individual is dealing with an obsession with the internet, it is best if one identifies the problem and set goals or else find an alternate activity to reduce the addiction.

Moreover, the government ought to take an active role in the formation as well as evaluation of health intervention techniques to reduce internet addiction. Creation of internet addiction awareness is paramount given the adverse effect on the internet users’ development following poor quality of diets due to internet addiction. The book Alone Together asserts that any new technology will have a cost as well as a momentum which are not taken into consideration in the course of its introduction. With the continuing trend in excessive internet use, humans will be like androids with no sense of empathy (Schuster, 26).

Works cited

Keller, Michael, et al. ”“ Reading Spike Jonze’s Her: A Discursion.” (2015).

Kuss, Daria J., et al. “Internet addiction in adolescents: Prevalence and risk factors.” Computers in Human Behavior29.5 (2013): 1987-1996.

Schuster, Joshua. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.” The Goose 14.2 (2016): 26.

Turkle, Sherry. Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Hachette UK, 2017.

Wallace, Patricia. “Internet addiction disorder and youth.” EMBO reports 15.1 (2014): 12-16.

Young, Kimberly. “The evolution of Internet addiction disorder.” Internet addiction. Springer, Cham, 2015. 3-17.