Sometime near the end of 2005 The New York Times reported six to ten percent of (then) one hundred eighty-nine million Internet users were afflicted with IAD (Internet Addiction Disorder). Some say it is a legitimate addiction, some say it is nothing more than a fad illness, either way the mental health field now includes Internet and Computer Addiction services to care for the needs of onlineaholics.

In 2007 the American Society of Addiction Medicine claimed Internet overuse as a bonafide addiction while the American Medical Association said it was not. According to Wikipedia where everything is explained thanks to many dedicated and suspected Internet addicts, IAD began as a "satirical hoax" in 1995 by Ivan Goldberg M.D..

Many of those suffering from IAD more often than not have other issues, issues that perhaps led to their excessive Internet use. Many have been diagnosed with disorders such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, anxiety and depression. Included in this group are those who have other addictions the Internet enables them to satisfy. Gambling, pornography, writing . . . okay, that last one was a joke. I can stop anytime I want to. I can.

For many the Internet is a tempting escape from reality, a virtual world of wonder waiting to be explored. The Internet has enabled us to expand our communication horizons, eased some of the difficulties handicaps can bring, educated and enlightened us well as entertained us since its conception. There are plateaus and pitfalls, there are opportunities and opportunists. We have to take the good with the bad and the bad with the worse.

Addiction is "the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma." In some way it appears we are all enslaved to the Internet in one way or another.

Many rely on the Internet to effectively operate their businesses. Information abounds that students would have no other way to access if not for the vast world of point and click at their fingertips. The homebound are a little less bound to their homes and the meek are made strong. Okay, weak poetic musings aside, the Internet is both a blessing and a curse.

I know my life would be very different without it. I live in a rather solitary world of my own making yet I am able to reach out to people, I am able to both learn and teach from the comfort of my home without the worries of the world outside causing me angst. I have been afforded opportunities I would have never been given if it were not for the Internet.

I am not certain there can be true Internet addiction, not without any other underlying and contributing conditions, but I do believe we can and in many ways have become dependent on it.

Learn more about this author, Crystal Cook.
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