Internet Addiction:A Mental Illness orA Bad Habit?
About a month ago, I was eating outside with my friend Sophie and she suddenly asked me: “How do you feel after surfing the Internet for hours every day?” I felt it’s not even a question. I did not say a word and just kept eating. She mentioned that some medical experts said people who stayed online for fun for more than six hours per day were considered to be mentally ill. “What? How ridiculous” I said, “I use computer for eight hours at work every day. When I get home, I start watching movies, reading news, or chatting with friends, etc. for another 3 or 4 hours. How do you see that I’m abnormal? Please forget this nonsense.”
Since that day, we never talked about that anymore until recently I read some news about Internet addiction. “Oh my God” I exclaimed. I cannot believe that Internet addiction has been listed as a mental illness requiring treatment in China. I have also found that people who have, for more than three months, stayed online for fun more than six hours per day with symptoms of showing no interest in other things and feeling restless if stopped from using the Internet, could be diagnosed as having Internet addiction. I kept reading about a Chinese doctor who said more than half of Internet addicts could be cured with psychological counseling, military training (or a regular routine with lots of exercise) or other methods which required no medication. People with depression and anxiety need medication and if they don't receive medical treatment, they cannot recover from Internet addiction. I think it is no easy job for China to take care of its huge online population.
Additionally, I found something more interesting here. Internet addiction including "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging" is taken as a common compulsive-impulsive disorder that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders. A new medical study printed in the American Journal of Psychiatry says, if you send too many text messages, it may be a sign of mental illness.
It points out four warning signs:
1. Feelings of withdrawal when you can't text
2. An increased need for better equipment/phone
3. Need for more time to use it
4. Experiencing negative repercussions of their texting addition
What do you think of this? I doubted it when I came across it few days ago. I posted it on Eggxpert.com shortly to see how the eggxperts will respond to it. The result is within all my expectations. People think it is funny and no one seems to believe it. But the truth is more and more researches are being done by those psychiatrists or experts and some of them have brought out the facts in full confidence in front of us. Facing those facts, I tried to dispute, but the emptiness inside me somehow stopped me.
I was starting to miss those reading days I had in the past. I miss feeling filled and at peace while reading. Ever since I started using computer, I quit reading and feel so hard to pick it up day after day. I have got addicted to surfing the Internet every day, chatting on line, watching movies, listening to music, browsing pictures, checking everyday luck, etc. I don’t go out for a walk on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the park any more. In most of my rest days, I sit in front of computer from the crack of dawn to midnight if there is not a have-to-finish task waiting for me. I couldn’t imagine such a great change has happened in my life. I am not sure whether Internet addiction is a mental illness, but I believe it’s absolutely a bad habit not to limit the time using computer.
I remember some researchers say computer users’ use the Internet like they would drugs or alcohol as a way to escape reality and addicts may turn out to be addicted to everything from the sheer act of typing, to chat rooms, online shopping or three-dimensional, multiplayer games users. However, can we simply say that they are mentally ill? I don’t think so. As said previously, if we could simply define computer users using the Internet as a way to escape reality, then I want to say: “Don’t hesitate again, give yourself a holiday and be close to the nature, there is a more beautiful world out there. Kick that bad habit or keep it as is if you don’t mind being called a mental patient.”