Aug 18, 2009

netomania

What is netomania or as we called it, internet addiction disorder? It is a maladaptive pattern of Internet use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress. Internet addiction disorder (IAD), or more broadly Internet overuse, problematic computer use or pathological computer use is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life.

Early in 1995, New York psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg, MD, announced the appearance of a new addiction: people abandoning their family obligations to sit gazing into their computer monitor as they surfed the Internet. Ivan Goldberg took pathological gambling as diagnosed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as his model for the description of IAD. However, IAD receives coverage in the press, and its classification as a psychological disorder is being debated and researched.

Online activities would normally be considered troublesome, such as compulsive gambling or shopping, are sometimes called net compulsions. Others, such as reading or playing computer games, are troubling only to the extent that these activities interfere with normal life. Supporters of disorder classification often divide IAD into subtypes by activity, such as excessive viewing of pornography overwhelming and excessive gaming, inappropriate involvement in online social networking sites or blogging, and Internet shopping addiction. For many patients, overuse or inappropriate use of the Internet is merely a manifestation of their depression, anxiety, impulse control disorders, or pathological gambling. The Internet is largely a pro-social, interactive, and information-driven medium, while gambling is seen as a single, anti-social behavior that has very little social redeeming value. So-called Internet addicts do not suffer from the same damage to health and relationships that are common to established addictions.

Based on here, 17% of youth addicted to internet. China Communist Youth League (CCYL) research subsidiary China Youth & Children Research Center (CYCRC) released a report on January 10 on Chinese youth. According to the report, 17.1 percent of Chinese citizens between the ages 13 and 17 are addicted to the Internet. In the other hand, one Beijing judge, Shan Xiuyun, claimed that 85 percent of juvenile crime in the city was Internet-related. This proves that Internet addiction is nothing more than brings us harm and danger.

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