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What about video games? That's about what many young people do day and night. It must be an addiction far worse than at least learning something on the internet.

of AK 1:29PM April 02, 2008

I agree with _ofCA... and found his/her explanation quite amusing.
One thing I will add is it seems to me that people have more spare time to even think of being obsessed with something that doesn't put food in the mouths of their family. My parents and grandparents were simply too tired from a hard day of work to bother with being obsessed with anything. How many kids these days have an hour or more of chores to do every day after school. How many help cook? Ha! How many parents really cook? It's a nuke it, eat it, go play on the internet.
The internet can be like a giant library in your study... or it can be a game box or a porn screen. It will be what you make it be. In our house it's a library.

bikerval of WA 12:03PM April 02, 2008

Not only the doctors correct in diagnosing the problemof internet addiction, I'm surprised it took them this long to figure it out.
When ANY obsession - whether computer/internet or computer-game usage eclipses a person's normal life -- avoiding children and family members, taking care of personal business, hygiene, healthy eating habits, working, then, yes -- they have an addiction.
When someone is buying computer games and another tower and online pornography instead of paying the grocery, rent and utility bills, then, yes -- they have an addiction.
When a person cannot break away from the computer for 12-14 hours at a time, when they fall asleep at the computer, then waking up not knowing what DAY it is, then, yes -- they have an addiction.
One way to look at this problem is to study the obsessive-avoidance obsessive-compulsive characteristics of members of different addiction-behavior groups.
What's needed is more public information and intervention by family members.

Doc Chapman, Private Investigator of VA 7:47AM April 02, 2008

No way. It's not a disease.
Everybody talks about addiction or genetics for almost everything.
We must learn how to use our brains to live a better life and change behaviors.
Start your day earlier so that you make time for all your activities, including internet.

Antonio Castelo, M.D. of NY 6:11AM April 02, 2008

Just another excuse for no self discipline. It's rediculous that society accepts this.

bk of FL 4:36PM April 01, 2008

Re the article of internet addiction; just another excuse for people who can't say no to the internet, another way to not take care of their responsibilities, another way to not except the real world, but live in the dream world of cyberspace.

of CA 3:04PM April 01, 2008

Of course I am not an Internet addict. I found this article using the last of my spare time. Why I could blog this one for another 10 hours. But I can quit whenever I want. I am just a social Internet user. Honest. Yeah. Really.

Rob of WA 2:37PM April 01, 2008

there is this fascination with the internet, like the media, magazines, and radio...but after acknowledging the thousands of young kids having to seek treatment for being addicted to the internet....it should be considered to be added to the files of mental disorders...

chris of CA 2:10PM April 01, 2008

The temptation is to ask things like "Are we addicted to books if we read a lot?" and "Are we addicted to protein if we eat meat three times a day?" I guess people who know about psychiatry must know what they are talking about if they want to add internet addiction to the DSM.
It seems to me (I'm not a psychiatrist, mind you) that an obsessive/compulsive behavior might target just about anything. If avoiding cracks in the sidewalk so that you don't "step on a crack, break your mother's back" can be a DSM entry, then so can too much computer usage. Yet I worry, maybe obsessively, that there will be so may entries in DSM-V that it won't fit on the bookshelf.

of CA 12:53PM April 01, 2008