Do you find yourself snuggling up to your iPhone or “Crackberry”, waking up several times a night to check emails and text messages; checking and updating your Facebook account every three minutes of the day, or perhaps declining social gatherings to spend hours upon hours playing online games? Though technology has an amazing ability for connecting people, it can become incredibly difficult for some to control how much time they spend in front of their LCD screens; and in the most severe of cases, the result can be deadly. Once upon a time, people couldn’t live without landlines and televisions. Now, cell phones and computers are rabidly replacing these fading technologies.
In Forbes’ article Tech Addicts Kimberly Young’s (director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery) research in technology addiction showed that 96 percent of compulsive internet users struggle with time management problems, (perhaps Microsoft should look into developing hosted CRM solutions for personal use), 85 percent have issues involving relationships, 75 percent have issues relating to sex, 71 percent with work, 42 percent with finances, 29 percent with physical well-being and 15 percent with academic performance. Psychologists typically categorize internet addiction as an “impulse control disorder”.
People with an impulse control disorder are unable to resist their urges causing potential harm to themselves or others.
British Psychologist Mark Griffiths, who studies Internet addiction, defines technological addictions as “non-chemical (behavioral) addictions which involve human-machine interactions.” The traditional definition of addiction includes these following features:
• Salience: the activity or drug becomes the most important activity in a person’s life.
• Mood modification: feeling a buzz or high, or feeling numb or tranquil.
• Tolerance: Increasing amounts of the substance or activity are needed over time to produce the same euphoric effect.
• Withdrawal symptoms: unpleasant feeling states which occur when the substance or activity is removed.
• Conflict: Interpersonal conflict because of the substance or activity, and interpersonal conflict within the individual.
• Relapse: the tendency to repeatedly revert to earlier pathological patterns of use, and for the most extreme patterns of use to be quickly restored after many years of control or abstinence. (Summarized from Griffiths, 1997)
A study carried out by New Jersey’s Rutgers University School found that Blackberry use “is fuelling a rise in email and internet addiction, with sufferers able to survive only a few minutes without checking for new mail.” Even if they are sitting around a table of friends, they will ignore them and focus on the device.
Facebook addicts tend to obsessively think about what is written on their wall, or updating their status.
Going a whole day without Facebook is like denying a diabetic insulin. In CNN’s article Five Clues That You Are Addicted To Facebook the signs one should look out for include:
1) Losing sleep over Facebook
2) Spending more than an hour a day on Facebook
3) Becoming obsessed with old loves
4) Ignoring work in favor of Facebook
5) The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in a cold sweat
MMOs
Massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) such as Second Life, EverQuest and World of Warcraft are good examples of how healthy enthusiasm for a game can develop into unhealthy addiction. To play a game seriously, requires time and dedication. But when the game replaces real life, and people sacrifice their jobs and relationships, there is a clear and present danger. In Second Life, you can literally create a second person in a virtual reality. Many Second Lifers are drawn to the idea of playing out their fantasies; some users spending absorbent amounts of money bidding on virtual goods on eBay or even pursing online affairs.
One woman divorced her husband after walking in on him “having sex” with another woman in Second Life. Her estranged husband was soon “engaged” to one of the women he was having a Second Life ‘affair’ with, even though they had never met in real life. Though these games are played to a great extent for their social aspect, it can become very easy to slip into a pattern of solitude, avoiding real-life interactions and living as a social techluse.
Marathon Gaming
In 2002, a 17 year old boy died after a marathon game-playing session. According to regulars of the cybercafé he worked at, out of the 12 hour days he worked, 10 of them were spent gaming, leaving only two hours for sleep. One day, after 16 hours of playing Diablo II, he was found lying on the floor of the cybercafé. He was declared dead by the time he reached the hospital. In September of 2007, a 30 year old man from Guangzhou died after playing an online game continuously for three days. Details of what game he was playing were not revealed. He too was playing at an Internet café. Yet another incident occurred in March of 2007 when a local teacher from Jinzhou collapsed and died after spending nearly 15 days playing online games. Exhaustion was the cause of death in all cases.
In places such as China, where web addicted teens have been an on-going problem, boot-camp style military training, psychological counseling and even electroshock therapy (ECT) have been implemented to treat their “e-addictions”. Over 40 million Chinese youth play online games. Government regulations limit game-play to a maximum of three hours a day though the likelihood of these rules being strictly obeyed is improbable to say the least. In South Korea 30% of the population are registered online gamers.
A rehab center for video game addicts called Wild Horses, in Amsterdam, has its own 12 step program to help gamers reintegrate into the real world. Activities to help gamers overcome their addictions include yoga, body massages and camping. Wild Horses staff are certified psychologists and addiction specialists.
According to the Center for Online and Internet Addiction’s Web site (www.netaddiction.com), an estimated five to 10 percent of the population suffers from true Internet addiction. When users begin to ignore work and family obligations in favor for technology there is a problem. Gaming, text messaging these can become sources of isolation and dependence. But is it the technology itself that’s inherently addictive or is the addictive nature already there?
People die from playing games?
Here I thought I was a tech-addict because I like to read the source code from good web sites!
Not a gamer myself. Tried, -just can’t get my head around the ‘play’ thing. Totally agree with above comment though; I find myself VIEW – SOURCE to read the code of web pages and such. :->
Yes this is me. I’m a closet tech addict. A few hours away from the computer and I start to go into withdrawal. he he
Unlike chemical addictions like alcohol, cigarettes and other substances, the addiction to an MMO is not physical. However, it is both emotional and psychological. The addiction to MMOs can be difficult to overcome.Here are tips on how to maximize your online gaming fun without crossing the line into irresponsibility, obsession and (for some) addiction.
http://searchwarp.com/swa511090-Kicking-The-Habit.htm
I am too a computer addict .
My parents always scold me . One day my father tried to throw my laptop out of the window but my I grabbed that laptop tight . So I am able to comment here
marathon gaming and MMO issue should be directed to korean.
they’re no-lifer for gaming,
nice article there.
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