Are you an aggressive Web Junkie?

While Internet addiction has been known and recognised for some time now, a new study is linking this with belligerent teen behaviour

Substance abuse is a sad thing and until recently commonly abused substances were limited to stuff like tobacco, alcohol and drugs. But now, over a period of time, the Net is also becoming a source of addiction.

Ironically, Internet addiction disorder or IAD originally started out as a joke and was originally proposed as a disorder in a satirical hoax by Ivan Goldberg, MD, in 1995. But today, it is no longer funny and a lot of people are seriously affected. So serious is this issue that there is actually a debate going on that concerns the inclusion of IAD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) when the next edition, namely DSM-V, comes up in 2012.

Studies have been conducted over the areas concerning IAD and one of them concerning Taiwan college students was conducted by Chien Chou and Ming-Chun Hsiao around 2000. The study found that Internet addiction did exist among some of Taiwan's college students and in fact even identified 54 students as Internet addicts. The study also pointed out that 'It was found that Internet addicts spent almost triple the number of hours connected to the Internet as compare to non-addicts, and spent significantly more time on BBSs, the WWW, e-mail and games than non-addicts. The addict group found the Internet entertaining, interesting, interactive, and satisfactory. The addict group rated Internet impacts on their studies and daily life routines significantly more negatively than the non-addict group. The study also found that the most powerful predictor of Internet addiction is the communication pleasure score, followed by BBS use hours, sex, satisfaction score, and e-mail-use hours.'

Fight and browse

A recent study, again conducted in Taiwan, and again involving people of a similar age group, found that there is a link between aggressive behaviour and usage of the Internet. This study involved 9,400 Taiwanese teenagers and Dr Chih-Hung Ko of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan, who was the lead researcher of the study, said that there is also the possibility that teenagers who are violent are bound to be obsessive, and therefore, might be channelling such behaviour by using the Internet in an obsessive manner.

This does not mean that you have to stop using the Internet. The study specifically states that people who used the Internet for research were not as violent as those who used the Net for activities like gambling and pornography.

Caused by pride?

The biggest danger is that growth of the Net is a matter of pride for all countries and the world itself. We proudly proclaim '<abc> million users worldwide use the Net' without realising that a good percentage of these users could be Internet addicts. Seldom does this happen with any other substance no country will proudly proclaim that '<abc> per cent of our population smokes', for instance!

We must understand that even nectar is poisonous when taken excessively. It is important that people discover balance in their lives so that the Internet becomes just one of the things that they do.

QUICK TAKE
>>Study finds link between violent teens and Internet addiction
>>But using Net for research doesn't make teens violent
>>All said and done, moderation is the key

Test yourself
>>Do you find that you stay on-line longer than you intended?
>>Do you neglect household chores to spend more time on-line?
>>Do you prefer the excitement of the Internet to intimacy with your partner?
>>Does your job performance or productivity suffer because of the Internet?
>>Do you become defensive or secretive when anyone asks you what you do on-line?

If you answered 'yes' to most of the questions above, chances are high that the Web has a very powerful hold on you.

Adapted from netaddiction.com