Following the Guidelines of the American Psychological Association

INTERNET ADDICTION 2

Internet Addiction

Following the Guidelines of the American Psychological Association

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Introduction

This essay will discuss the article “Internet Addiction” by Greg Beato which is discussed by Doody (August 16, 2010).

Characteristics of Being Addicted to the Internet

-do you only socialize online

-are all of the friends that you keep in touch with online

-is your concept of building community completely online based

-is the only time that you date is by dialoguing with someone that you like online

-when is the last time that you had a meaningful face-to-face conversation

Solutions for Internet Addiction

As Greg Beato reports in Reason, reSTART, a “five-acre haven in the woods near Seatle [where] clients pay big bucks to detox from pathological computer use,” recently took on its first client. Ben Alexander, a 19-year-old college student, checked himself in because he is obsessed with World of Warcraft (Doody, August 16, 2016).

-back in 1995 Internet addiction was considered to be a joke

Extreme Examples of Internet Addiction

“[A] guy who spent so many sedentary hours at his computer that he developed blood clots in his leg and had to have it amputated…[A]n Ohio teenager shot his parents, killing his mother and wounding his father, after they took away his Xbox…[A] South Korean couple let their real baby starve to death because they were spending so much time caring for their virtual baby in the role-playing game called Prius Online” (Doody, August 16, 2016).

Conclusion

With folks like Arianna Huffington campaigning for less use of all our gadgets and a mad dash by many to close their Facebook accounts, the idea that we’re spending too much time online has become a wide spread one.But, as Beato sees it: “As the Internet weaves itself more and more tightly into our lives, only the Amish are completely safe” (Doody, August 16, 2016).

References

Doody, D. (August 16, 2010). “Might as Well Face it, You’re Addicted to…the Internet?”,

UTNE Reader. United States: UTNE Reader. Retrieved from: http://www.utne.com/science-and-technology/addicted-to-the-internet