by Mae Rowles

Created on: April 17, 2010   Last Updated: April 18, 2010

Addicted to the Internet - Caught in the Web

1950. Letters were written by hand. All your friends were people you knew in "real life" - not virtual friends you met in a chat room. Facebook wasn't invented. Google and Yahoo didn't exist - so all research had to be done by looking through books.

Then the ARPA, or Advanced Research Projects Agency, came along, and without warning, that life was left behind.

Suddenly, we could send emails instead of writing letters. We could get instant updates from friends and celebrities on Twitter. We could use search engines to find virtually any information we needed. Of course, it didn't happen so abruptly, but instead evolved into what we see and use today.

Every day, more and more users join the Internet. In 2009, internetworldstats.com estimated that over 1.8 billion individuals used the Internet worldwide. 1 to 4 percent of these users have developed an Internet addiction.

So, what is this internet addiction?
Internet addiction is, as the name suggests, an addiction to the world wide web, or Internet. It has been called many names, namely, Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use. A person is considered an Internet addict when their emotional and mental states, as well as their academic and social interactions, are put on hold due to over use of the Internet.

As a very frequent user of the Internet myself, I know that it's sometimes hard to stay away. It's been my experience that sometimes, when you mean to get off, you just can't go without it for long. To some people, the need for the Internet is just a remedy - maybe for stress, or to get away from life. To others, the Internet is their life and soul.

Kids and teenagers, having grown up with the World Wide Web at their fingertips, are the most likely to become victims of IAD. With instant messaging, online games and videos, it's what almost every kid could want. Gradually, this need will increase, and become serious, leading to mood swings, depression and the suffering of grades, to name a few.

But it's not just the kids who are addicted - the big kids are in on it too, and sometimes, it doesn't end too well. New measures are being introduced in South Korea seeking to combat the problem of Internet addiction, following the recent case of Kim Jae-beom and Kim Yun-jung. They pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, after their three-month-old daughter's death. The baby had died to malnutrition - a result of the on-going neglect the parents showed their child while raising a virtual child online.

In China, their population has become so Internet savvy that Internet addiction could be classified as a disease there. Internet addiction is one of the most feared health hazards in China, and it has become so serious that recent Internet Addiction Camps have been developed to combat it. These camps have become deadly though, as one 15 year old boy, who was once a straight A student, found out. He was brutally beaten to death by camp officers, after running too slowly.

It seems that Internet addiction has become a common problem, and it needs to be combated. How much is too much? If you find that you check your email every five minutes, spend more time chatting to online strangers than to your family members and friends, have friends and family who complain about you spending too much time on the Internet or sneak online when friends and family members are out with a sigh of relief, it might be time to cut back on the usage.

Are you internet addicted? And if so, when will you get back on track?

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