An American Addiction Centers Resource

New to the DrugAbuse.com Forums?Join or

Addicted to the internet?

Discussion in 'Other Substances' started by danjon, Dec 23, 2015.

  1. JohnBeaulieu

    JohnBeaulieu Community Champion

    This can clearly be a compulsive behavior but it is not an addiction. Contrary to popular belief every repeated behavior with negative consequences cannot be accurately called an addiction.
  2. danjon

    danjon Senior Contributor

    That's interesting. A compulsive action which negatively affected a person's life could be classed as OCD, but it could also be classed as an addiction. I wonder how a health professional would differentiate between the two?
  3. bleblanc10

    bleblanc10 Senior Contributor

    I think I just enjoy it far to much and being in college I have so much down time in between classes.
  4. kassie1234

    kassie1234 Community Champion

    Like anything I think it depends on the level of use and how that affects your life in other ways. For instance, plenty of people have to use the internet regularly for their line of work - being connected via email is hugely important for a lot of people in the business world. However, if they're on the internet so much that it's impacting their relationships with their spouse, their children, their friends - and the internet is really the only thing they're spending time on, then absolutely it's a problem.
  5. cpinatsi

    cpinatsi Senior Contributor

    This is a serious issue in our time. I used to be a video game addict, and still am up to a point. Yes, internet and video game addiction can have a serious negative impact on both our mental and physical well being.
  6. Damien Lee

    Damien Lee Community Champion

    Well, I can't stay away from the internet even if I wanted to. I'm online at least 12 hours per day but it's mostly work related. Before I started working online, I would be browsing sites and checking out videos for around 3-4 hours per day. The internet can definitely be addictive as there is so much that it makes available to us.
  7. Jasmine2015

    Jasmine2015 Community Champion

    The Internet can be very addictive. Some people are known for checking their emails at least every hour. I saw a preview of a Dr Phill episode about a teem addicted to her smartphone, so I'm assuming she is using Internet besides texting. It got so bad that she started texting while the Dr was talking to her and when he took the phone she had a melt down!
  8. bleblanc10

    bleblanc10 Senior Contributor

    The internet is so large that you could spend forever looking around and never run out of material!
  9. ReadmeByAmy

    ReadmeByAmy Community Champion

    It depends upon the situation and the way how you are using the internet. Like me I am always using the internet because of my online work that is why I may not call it that I am addicted to the internet because what I am doing had a purpose. But if you are using the internet only for playing games and chatting all the time with no importance at all then it is a different thing already.
  10. Tremmie

    Tremmie Community Champion

    I definitely think one can be addicted to the internet! I know because I have been addicted to online gaming, and now I can no longer imagine my life without the internet. Which is odd because it wasn't until I was a teenager that I started going to cyber cafes to use the internet there :p Now I have internet at home, and the one day there is no internet for some reason I feel lie going crazy and totally disconnected from the world. I can't believe just one hour of internet was enough for me before...
  11. endoftherainbow

    endoftherainbow Active Contributor

    Yeah, it definitely can be. Especially places like Facebook or Instagram. They suck you in and keep you there! Facebook seems to be the worst that way. I'm not sure what it is, whether it's the news stories or the things that people say, or just the fear of missing out on activity from others and knowing what is going on with everyone. The addiction in that case may stem from the desire and advantage of knowing so much instantly, yet missing out on other important things in your life while you are trying to pay attention to things that really don't have to be known but just seem like they should be. Another aspect for people are the online games. I used to get so many game requests on facebook from people. I thought most of them were automated, but there were people always asking me if I played something called "candy crush" or "farmville", and I had to tell them no, and no. I never really liked the games that they had on there, but a lot of people do. For me it was always about communicating with a lot of people at once, but I lost a lot of time doing that. I've found that like anything else in life (that has a positive and healthy purpose), moderation and balance is necessary.

    There's a lot of other things people can be addicted to on the internet, though. It's such a broad topic. Some people are big into online gambling or playing cards online, others are into porn, while others are just spending all of their time listening to music and watching videos or tv rather than going outside and doing things. There's a lot of different ways that the internet could be addictive, since it's an avenue to so many different things.
  12. Vinaya

    Vinaya Community Champion

    I spend around 8-9 hours in the internet every day. I don't play games or spend time chatting on social media.I work online and I have to spend many hours surfing the internet. However, I believe there can be addiction of internet. I have seen people who cannot live without playing games online or facebooking.
  13. djdrug

    djdrug Community Champion

    We are all addicted to the internet. I mean, try to get away from your phone for a few days. Just go to someplace for camping or something without any means of communication - if you miss the internet just a little bit, you know you're addicted.

    Its not just internet that we are addicted to. Its the "high-speed" internet format of it. I mean to think that we have similar computing and networking power in our tiny little phones and tablets that researchers and military personnel would have killed for even a decade ago. But, today if there is even a slight "slowness" or lag to anything, we get so impatient, maybe even angry.

    The lack of patience makes us prime victims of social isolation. - Not good. Not good at all.
  14. hg088

    hg088 Member

    Internet is a brad term. For example, I play a lot of hours of League of Legends online a week and that's pretty much all I do on the internet. Am I addicted to the internet? not really, I'm actually addicted to the game. If you take that away I'll be a regular internet user.
  15. DN02

    DN02 Member

    Internet addiction is certainly a very real thing and the scary thing is that so many young people are becoming victims. There is no argument that the internet is very useful, but when its use starts interfering with daily life, work, and relationships, then it's definitely become a problem. It's important to maintain a good balance of time off and online.
  16. Joethefirst

    Joethefirst Community Champion

    Well I guess you can develop an addiction to anything. If the thing takes over your life it can be considered an addiction.
  17. kaiserflame

    kaiserflame Member

    There's no denying that it can be addictive. There was a period in my life when I was totally shut down from actually doing anything productive because of the internet. I've moderated my usage but I sometimes find myself slipping back sometimes. It's a matter of remembering your priorities and setting a schedule for your use time.
  18. kgord

    kgord Community Champion

    I plead guilty to being an internet addict but it is just because there is not much to do here, and I can make money online. If I was in a different area, with more options, I highly doubt I would be chained to the puter. There are just too many other fun things to do.
  19. ZXD22

    ZXD22 Senior Contributor

    Yes you can get addicted to the internet, but you can use it to your advantage. I used to have a very deadly video gaming addiction, but I have really cut that down finally after a good 8 years and now I have been working online and it has been paying off greatly.
  20. monty

    monty Active Contributor

    Well! I think that yes, I am really addicted to Internet and my first and last addicton is only Internet because I spend almost maximum times on net doing various activities.When I have nothing to do at home then I just connect my PC with Internet connection and start having fun and it's really impossible for me to leave one day without Internet because I don't have any friend leaving in my society and Internet is my only friend with whom I spend most of the times.