Internet Addition Disorder--What a Tangled Web We Weave

Essay by KFellerCollege, UndergraduateA-, February 2005

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Is It A Tangled Web We Weave?

A Cincinnati mother was charged with child neglect when she locked her three toddler age children in their bedrooms for unusually long periods of time. The mother did not like to be disturbed while surfing the Internet. A Toledo family is penniless after the father gambled everything away at on-line gambling. (Center for On-line Addiction)

Instead of picking up the phone to call a friend, an e-mail is sent or a chat room is utilized. Desires for new forms of communication or entertainment are fulfilled by looking for romance and friends in chat rooms. Playing cards, chess, auction bids or even shopping on the internet are becoming common place. With the growing importance of the Internet in everyday life, more people accessing various on-line resources each day.

The World Wide Web is informative, convenient, resourceful, and fun. For some people, the addicted, these benefits are becoming detriments.

Psychiatrist, Ivan Goldberg, M.D., coined the term Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). Dr Goldberg defines IAD as, "a maladaptive pattern of Internet use, leading to clinically significant impairment and distress. The internet can be addicting, to the point that it interferes with daily life and those around them." Evidence in the area of addiction suggests that Internet Addiction Disorder is presenting problems that are becoming more common in society as on-line usage increases.(Goldberg)

What is IAD? The American Psychiatric Association set the following criteria:

1. Tolerance

* A need for increased amounts of time on the Internet achieve satisfaction

* Diminished effect with the same of amount of time on the Internet

2. Withdrawal

* Trembling and tremors with agitation

* Anxiety and moodiness

* Obsessive thinking about what is happening on the Internet

* Fantasies or dreams about the Internet

* Voluntary or involuntary typing movements...