Internet Addiction Disorder

I’d like to show you a presentation about Internet Addiction Disorder. Let’s start. First of all, ask yourself “without your computer or the Internet what would you do? ” In the world of quickly advancing technology, it is hard to ignore the Internet which is becoming more and more important in lives of users worldwide. But the ugly truth is that the Internet is as addictive as it is useful.

IAD is a speculated mental disorder made and introduced by Ivan Goldberg in 1995. With the increased role of the Internet in society and business, some of its users have become addicted; these addicts show a set of symptoms that are accompanied by a variety of negative consequences. Internet addiction could be categorized into individual groups. Each group has their unique and distinct characteristics. For effective treatment it is essential to diagnose the correct type of Internet addiction.  They are Cybersexual Addiction, Computer Addiction, Net Compulsion, Information Overload, Cyber-Relational Addiction. Let's look at some types in more detail. Firstly, Cyber-Relational Addiction. People who suffer from an addiction to chat rooms or social networking sites become over-involved in online relationships or can participate in virtual adultery.

Online friends quickly become more important to person often at the expense of real life relationships with family and friends. In many cases, this will lead to a marriage disagreement and family instability. Authors say that Net Compulsion is an addiction to online gaming, online gambling. It is quickly becoming new mental problems in the post-Internet Era. With the instant access to virtual casinos, interactive games, addicts loose excessive amounts of money and even destroy other duties connected with work or essential relationships.

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Let me turn now to causes of IAD. Release of graphic intensive online games has lead to innumerable teenagers getting addicted with the Internet. Blogging and Youtube are also some of the temptations that many individuals find difficult to resist. However, these are just the obvious reasons. There are much more than it seems at first sight. Jennifer Ferris in article “IAD: Causes, Symptoms, and Consequences” describes several causes of IAD (2005). Firstly, it’s Psychodynamic and Personality.

Psychodynamic and personal opinions explain addiction through emotional shocks through childhood which has left a person with problems as an adult, together with other personality attributes and/or other disorders, and inherited psychological characters. Certain people, because of set of the reasons, are inclined to developing an addiction, such as heroin, gambling and sex. For example, even if a person only sometimes drinks alcohol, he may develop an addiction to alcohol if he increases consumption continuously. The same hypothesis remains for Internet addiction.

Given the right combination of time, person and case, addiction can take place. The next cause is Cyber-relationships. In almost 75% of cases, Internet addicts use applications like chat rooms, instant messaging, or online gaming as a safe way of establishing new relationships and more confidently relating to others. This is because some people may have lack the social skills that would enable them to meet people in person instead of online; hence they prefer to make friends without direct contact to people. In addition, they get rid of any stranger or people who they don’t want to chat with just by “blocking” them.

Another causes are anonymity, hunger for knowledge and convenience. I'd like now to say about consequences of IAD. Kimberly Young in her article “Internet addiction: Symptoms, evaluation, and treatment” says there are several consequences of IAD. The first is Familial Problems (1999). Dr Kimberly Young discovered that serious relationship problems were reported by 53% of Internet addicts surveyed. Marriages, dating relationships, parent-child relationships, and close friendships have been noted to be heavily damaged by Internet. The second is Academic Problems.

Survey has shown that 86% of responding teachers, librarians, and computer coordinators are convinced that the use of the Internet by children does not raise quality of academic performance. The next is Occupational Problems. Employees who are addicted to the Internet, can be fired, if they aren’t able to suppress the desire and are caught using network resources of companies for their own entertainment. Let's look now at treatment of IAD. Kimberly Young gives some types of treatments. Firstly, Practice the Opposite. A reorganization time is a major element in the treatment of the IAD. For example, if your habit involves you checking your e-mail or the Net first thing in the morning, try taking a shower and breakfast first instead. Then, make yourself a positive reminder card. Write a list of the five major problems caused by your addiction to the Internet. Next, write out the five major benefits of reducing your Internet use. This simple reminder will help you subconsciously. Next treatment is Family Therapy. It will be necessary for addicts whose family relationships have been destroyed under influence of Internet addiction.

A strong feeling of family support can help patient to recover from Internet addiction. To sum up, everybody should remember that Internet Addiction is a very real thing. It will not only continue to be a problem but it will become more popular as technology develops and becomes more widely used. However, despite of negative consequences of the Internet, it is very useful thing. The Internet is not bad just because people become dependent on it, Internet has many important and necessary advantages.

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