An Article I found interesting relating to Technology 1:

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Opinions/Addicted-to-Technology/

This article was about people’s addiction to technology. Not only the addictions people have with the internet and texting but the older forms of technology addiction such as television and video game addiction. The article discusses whether technology addiction or Internet addiction disorder really exists? Well, regardless of whether or not it’s a real addiction, there are many clinics open to help people who think or are addicted to the internet, with many more to open.

I think its interesting that the “experts” in this area cant agree on whether or not it’s a real addiction or not. Dr Goldsburg and others are trying to convince the Health Board that it’s a real addiction so that insurance companies will pay for counselling for Internet addiction.

Dr. Goldsburg described internet addiction in seven parts. He believed if you had three or more of these symptoms that you were an internet addict:

1)      Tolerance: if you feel you need more time online to achieve the same effect or are not satisfied if you spend the same amount of time online as usual.

2)      Withdrawal: if you stop using the internet you constantly think about it, you become anxious or distressed, you dream about what you’re missing.

3)      You tend to go on the internet or go on for longer than you wanted.

4)      You can’t control how long or how often you use the internet.

5)      You talk about the internet in daily life.

6)      You’re not as social in face to face interactions with family and friends.

7)      You continue to use the internet knowing that you suffer from one of the above or if it’s affecting your day to day life in a negative way e.g. lack of sleep.

These symptoms can also be applied to addiction to video games, emails, mobile phones and even pods. But is it a real addiction? This is the question the article constantly refers to. It has symptoms, it affects your daily life and Dr. Goldsburg has come up with a step by step “cure”. But the argument is it’s a psychological addiction, it’s not physical – there’s no drug or substance abuse as there is with alcohol and smokes.

The article goes on to describe some of the effects of internet addiction and a cure in five steps. I’m amazed at how much research has been done on internet addiction. I think it’s very interesting that they have a list of symptoms, effects and a step by step programme to recover, just like many other addictions. I knew before reading this article that people were spending more and more time online but I never realized how dependent people were becoming and how serious some people were about helping internet addicts.