Investigative Report Of Internet Addiction Essay Example

the Internet is.

However, the incredible growth of the size and technology of the Internet is a fact well worth mentioning. Ever since the Internet was commercially introduced to the public late in 1989 the number of the networks that form the Internet have been increasing exponentially. As you can see in figure 1 in the United States there is a new network connected to the Internet every 30 minutes.

Not all these networks are commercial, some are educational some are for organizations and some are simply networks that provide Internet services. All these different kind of networks can be identified on the Internet by their domain extension, or in other words the last three letters in the address. With such vast growth of the Internet what is considered as a small problem can grow along with the Internet to cause an even bigger problem. In a recent publication in the Los Angeles Times Mathew McAlleseter reported on a survey conducted on the Internet by Victor Brenner who came up with the following results: "17% said that they spend more than 40 hours a week online, 31% said that their work performance had deteriorated since they started using the Internet, 7% got "into hot water" with their employers or schools for Internet related activities"

However, Brenner acknowledges that his survey is unscientific in many ways; respondents are self-selected and many may be Internet researchers. On the other hand, Dr. Kimberly Young from the University of Pittsgurg-Bradford conducted a more accurate survey that included 396 men and women. In her point of view heavy on-line users in her study all met psychiatric criteria for clinical dependence applied to alcoholics

and drug addicts. They had lost control over their Net usage and couldn't end it despite harmful effects on their personal and professional lives.

What Causes It Finding a reason for Internet addiction can be as hard as finding a reason for smoking addiction, however, there are a couple of reasons that are obvious for some addicts: The power of instant access to all sorts of information and all kinds of people is a positive that can be overused. A different kind of community that can draw people who tend to "shy out" in the real world because this new virtual community does not require the social skill that real life does, all you have to do is be good on the keyboard.  Adopting new personas and playing your favorite kind of personality is not hard when others can not see or hear you.

Last but not least is the fascination with technology. This might be the best excuse -if there such a thing- to be addicted to the Internet, the information super highway, or cyber space. Symptoms When I was trying to collect more information about the symptoms of Internet addiction, I was surprised to find out that almost one half of the sites I visited took Internet addiction as a joke. So as a part of the research I decided to give you the top ten signs you may be addicted to the Internet :

• You wake up at 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom and stop and check your e- mail on the way back to bed.
• You get a tattoo that reads "This body best viewed with Netscape Navigator 2.0 or higher."

You start to twitch. You pick up the phone and manually dial your service provider access number. You try to hum to communicate with the network. You succeed !! On the more serious side, an Internet based support group for people who suffer from Internet addiction called the Internet Addiction Support Group (IASG) has established the Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) to be the following: A maladaptive pattern of Internet use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress as manifested by three (or more) of the following, occurring at any time in the same 12-month period:  tolerance, as defined by either of the following.