Essay - Internet Addiction It Is Thought That Nearly Five Million People...

Internet Addiction

It is thought that nearly five million people today are addicted to the Internet. With ***** many ***** experiencing addiction symp*****ms, it is important for the mental health commun*****y to develop methods of treatment. In an article in the March-April 1998 issue of Psychology Today, author Carol Potera explores the questions and realities of onl*****e use and **********.

Although ***** ***** ***** ***** became common in the early 1990s, it wasn't until 1994 that an associate professor of psychology, Kimberly Young, discovered that some people were spending a l*****rge amount of time online and suffering negative consequences for it. Not having a real name ***** the condition, she called it "Internet Addiction."

The survey of 500 Internet users led Young to classify people as dependent or non-dependent on the Internet. Dependent ***** claimed that they used the Internet 38 hours per week, compared to 5 ***** reported by the n*****-dependent users. Thirty-five percent said their favor*****e activity was talking in chat rooms. Another study done two years later showed ***** dependents spent twice as much ***** in chat rooms ***** non-dependent users.

*****'s study asked about financial, personal, work, or school problems ca***** ***** ***** use. Half the dependents said *****y had ***** but none of the non-dependents did.

But another ***** rep*****ted even more serious statistics. Counseling Net reported on a study by Dr. J*****net Morahn-Martin at Bryant College wherein ***** concluded that 72% of those with high Internet use experienced problems ***** work, school and relationships. (COUNSELING.)

***** not really known how many people have Internet *****, but since there are similarities to other addictions, numbers can be estimated. Since about five to ten percent of people who drink or gamble develop addiction problems, it can ***** estimated ***** of the 47 million people online (at the time ***** the study) possibly two to ***** million *****ed Internet Addiction.

***** ***** surprised to discover th***** middle-aged women, instead of young men, were ***** most likely to become dependent *****. Yet ***** statistics that same year claimed that the typical ***** user was a while N*****th American male, aged 35-44, with a bachelor's degree. (SULER)

Sixty percent of users who became dependent ***** women who reported a preference for ***** rooms bec*****use they could talk online ***** others without telling anything about themselves unless ***** chose to. Another psychologist, Sherry Turkle, believed that one component of Internet Addiction is that being online lets ***** pretend to be *****one else.

Why do people *****come addicted in the first place? The answers can be very simple -- and deceptive ***** their simplicity. Richard Dav***** wrote in "***** Treatment of Internet Addiction" that rein*****cers include the computer room environment, the chair one sits on, ***** feel of the keyboard and mouse in *****'s h*****, ***** sound of the computer's fan runn*****g, and various audio signals, (e.g. beeps, clicks, bells, etc.) that are elicited in computer software programs," and "cogniti*****s about the self include such thoughts as, "I have control *****