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Is Internet Addiction the New Socially Acceptable Drug?
thecyn.com — Internet Addicts don ’t steal to pay for their habits. They don’t lock themselves in bathrooms and shove needles up their arms or snort things through their noses. Their addictions don’t cause car accidents or impair their judgment or ability to make decisions, but that doesn’t mean an Internet addiction isn’t dangerous. Some surprising facts...
socialpyramid- 223 diggs
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- shapattack, on 05/29/2008, -0/+14Interesting ... I'd like to know how the stats line up with other addictions. Is alcoholism damaging more than 6% of relationships, for instance? Would give a good comparison to measure the extent of Internet "addiction" as a social problem.
- blackdrivel, on 05/29/2008, -0/+19"My name is Ted and I've been an addict for 5 years" ---- Group Chat on Skype: "HI TED." "HI TED." "HI TED." "HI TED." "HI TED."
- traphik, on 05/29/2008, -0/+2HI TED
- andyboyd, on 05/29/2008, -0/+15If it is, then I'm hooked.
- CigarJack, on 05/29/2008, -2/+13You are missing a word in the title, because everyone lies. What they really have is an Internet Porn Addiction.
- byosko, on 05/29/2008, -0/+8Who says we don't steal for our habits? Until free wifi is ubiquitous I've got an Internet connection bill, hosting bills, etc. etc. *smile*
- chrisgarrett, on 05/29/2008, -0/+9You know, I think half my online contacts have been addicted to the internet since the 90's ... broadband, smart phones and 3g just made it worse
- CantonDog, on 05/29/2008, -0/+11I'm not addicted! I can stop any time I want... wait... maybe not.
- salocorgan69, on 05/29/2008, -0/+6It think its possible as a society we're just adjusting to being hyper-connected. Right now information overflow means we react to everything instantly, and new services like twitter dont help. We can't really continue to have more and more real time input - theres a limit to everything. I could see us adopting tools to better deal with all of this, which may help "addiction" by removing the idea that "everything has to done right now".
Alternatively, we may look back at all of this and wonder how we could have been so "real world addicted" ;) - sgiffy, on 05/29/2008, -0/+7"About 6% of surveyed individuals responded, “their relationships suffered as a result of excessive Internet use.”
As opposed to spending too much time golfing, shopping, or whacking off.
"About 9% attempted to conceal “nonessential Internet use.”
Likely from employers of anti-internet nazis.
"Nearly 4% reported feeling “preoccupied by the Internet when offline.”
*****, if only I had wikipedia I could answer that question.
"About 8% said they used the Internet as a way to escape problems"
The other 92% resorted to tv.
"Almost 14% reported they “found it hard to stay away from the Internet for several days at a time.”
Stupid addicts, always needing to pay their bills, buy stuff, or do their jobs. - angusm, on 05/29/2008, -1/+5Gee, I'm glad to see an article about Internet addiction, finally. I was getting sick and tired of all those articles about television addiction, going on and on about how the average American wastes more than 4 hours a day, a quarter of their waking life, on television.
Wait, there weren't any articles like that? Ooops, my bad. I wonder why not. - jontalisman, on 05/29/2008, -1/+8 How can it be possibly be "socially acceptable" if addicts have no social life in the first place?
- BigManOnCampus, on 05/29/2008, -0/+8must....digg....
- Homerr, on 05/29/2008, -0/+7My Digg addiction is a sub-class of my internet addiction.
- JoJoMoMo, on 05/29/2008, -0/+7I'm an addict and DIGG is my dealer.
- WiseWeasel, on 05/29/2008, -2/+5What a load of crap. If 'internet addiction' is a problem, then so is TV addiction, addiction to various sports, laziness addiction, work addiction, etc. People need to stop throwing the word 'addiction' around, as it's lost all meaning.
- FlyingSpaghetti, on 05/29/2008, -0/+4Yea, but have you ever sucked dick for Digg?
- rancemo, on 05/29/2008, -1/+2The internet is mostly just a source of information for me, which I consider necessary to maintain a decent life. Anyone who puts a negative connotation to an almost unlimited source of information, is probably an enemy to those who desire liberty. Someone is VERY afraid of you having too much information.
- mcbsconsulting, on 05/29/2008, -0/+2It's ot an addiction if you know it and still pay your bills, is it?
- chrisgarrett, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1I think so, because gamblers might be addicted but pay their bills ... for a while :)
- HossStyle, on 05/29/2008, -0/+5Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?
- EASwanson, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1You know you're addicted to the internet when:
You're on vacation and all you have is crappy dial-up and a really old AOL CD but you still go online no matter how long it takes a page to load... - maretten, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1Oh yes, "internet" addiction. More like "any type of porn imaginable for free" addiction.
- jontyf, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1I'm told I am an internet addict, particularly by the 'older generation'.
What I think they fail to realise is that there are far more opportunities on the internet than there were before. In addition to rick-rolling and lolcats, I find I am doing more work related things on the net than ever before.
An internet addiction is far more beneficial than a TV one. - psogle, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1The internetz are controlling my mind. I blame digg for most of my addiction
- rocr69, on 05/30/2008, -0/+1Porn, shmorn... I don't T&A to completely and obsessively fill my days and nights. Just keeping the leechers out of digg friends is a full-time job.
- Cfahooligan, on 05/30/2008, -0/+1Society acceptable drugs are Xananx and Prozac. And any derivative of. Think Soma from the book Brave New World. It's exactly the world we live in today.
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