Admittedly, there is a growing number of people who are hooked on the Internet because of social networking sites, chats and emails, illegal downloading, online games and of course the never-ending saga of pornographic video clips and images.
I can only imagine the frustration, withdrawal symptoms and incessant craving of many people to connect online when that mysterious cut of 5 undersea cables in the Middle East took place.
That’s why it comes as no surprise that some medical experts are pushing to make Internet addiction as an official mental disorder. The Ottawa Citizen reports that Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, pushes to include this in the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
It turned out about 86% of online addicts suffer from different forms of mental illness. Other studies reveal the estimated number of Internet addicts range from 5% to 10%.
Surprisingly, introverted male geeks no longer have the monopoly of this disorder for there are studies showing that middle-aged women are also exhibiting this behavior as a way to flee from reality.
Though its magnitude is not comparable to other mental illness, it’s a good step to chronicle this behavior and monitor its evolution constantly.
How about you? Do you think it’s too early to classify Internet addiction as a mental illness?
Originally posted on March 17, 2008 @ 10:31 am
hey, slow down!i love going on the internet for various activities-but that don’t mean im a addict.