Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Yet another "addiction"?

How much time have you spent on the Web since the beginning of the month? Are you a "I'll just take a moment to check my email" kind of person, or are you one who checks email but is still on the computer hours later? Or, do you take it a step later and ignore all around you while you stay on the computer as long as you possibly can?

This article, Time to recognize Web addiction as illness, has news that I've been hearing on the radio since yesterday - that this should be a true illness like alcoholism. What do you think?

I know that it's easy to become addicted to something and that some people have more addictive personalities than others, but it seems to me - and this is my opinion only - that this whole addiction thing is getting a little out of control. I may not be popular saying this, but although I do understand that there are addictions to alcohol and drugs, I don't believe in sex addicts, for example. I believe that by naming all these issues as addictions takes the responsibility off the person and allows them to blame something out of their control.

I'm not saying it's easy to avoid something you really enjoy doing or feel you need to do. I go through stages where I just *have* to do something and could almost say it's like an addiction, but the issue isn't that I'm addicted to it, the issue is that I want to do it, I feel like I have to do it, and I'm an adult who has to realize that right here and now, perhaps I can't do it.

What do you think?

News for Today:
Girls with ADHD more likely to develop eating disorders: study
Botox a life-saver for babies with saliva syndrome
Some West Nile patients never fully recover: study
Reducing HD risk naturally post-menopause
An anti-inflammatory response to the vegan diet
Study examines changes in quality of life after head and neck cancer treatment
Trauma patients likely to experience moderately severe pain 1 year after injuries
Study outlines risk of treatment-resistant infection following facelift surgery
Cocaine may cause heart attack symptoms
Time to recognize Web addiction as illness

3 comments:

Dawn said...

Quite so!

I do think the internet has a siren call that's hard to resist at times. But an addiction? No.

Although when my computer packed a sad I did suffer withdrawal symptoms!

Marijke Vroomen-Durning said...

Hi Dawn - nice to see you. :-)

I know what you mean. There are times when I need to be careful about the amount of time I spend on this computer. It can be awfully tempting sometimes to spend more time than I should.

franz said...

I have usually have a desire to be online most of the time, usually to play a video game. And, given the chance sometimes I will stay up far later than what's good for me, it can affect my work, etc. However my behavior now is no different than when I was "addicted" to reading from childhood to late-twenties -- basically before the Internet and really sophisticated video games came along. Somehow, popular culture doesn't criticize people for reading too much -- somehow that's better for you. I have never been terrifically addicted however. I used to know someone who was much more addicted to PC computer games, where I worked in the late 90's. He would be a no-show for days, had a terrible diet but could still afford new games & hardware. He managed to stay on for a long time as he was very likeable and popular, but was finally fired in 2001. I am convinced his gaming was a replacement for hard-core drug use; he had a scar about 3/8 inch on his inside elbow, right where you would shoot up heroin, but I never saw any other indications specific to drugs and I don't think he used them (anymore) my 1 1/3 cents btw I am Haggis_Breath now but he knew me as Noodle -- Duffy where ever you are hope you're OK.
___________________
delia
Suffering from an addiction. This website has a lot of great resources and treatment centers. http://www.treatmentcenters.org