Internet Addiction: Is Internet Your Best Friend or Worst Enemy?
Many people wonder if Internet Addiction is real or just some cooked up thing by internet users. It is actually very real. It can mess up your health, relationships and work performance to if you don’t come to the realization that you have a problem and work to overcome
it.
Case Scenario: Harriet arrives at work at 7.00a.m. one hour before her official time. She enters her office, turns on the PC and the first thing she opens is the Internet Browser. She further opens the social media sites (Facebook, Twitter,) and starts punching away addresses, usernames and passwords to access the sites. She smiles as she spots some notifications alerts begging for her attention. She peruses through all and then starts scrolling on the main page. She comments here, tweets there, likes here, shares there and even recommends over here. She continues to read some more comments and depending on the content, she either giggles, curses, laments or just stares back at the screen probably pondering. She remembers she had kept a mental note to Google about "How to loose that pesky fat around your tummy and get your man to adore you". She therefore punches a few keys and presses enter and voila, a list of websites parade right in front of her eyes. She opens the catchy headings and becomes lost in her reading. By the time she decides to lift herself away from the screen, an hour plus has already lapsed. She decides to begin the work especially on that deadline she is yet to meet. Unknown to her, the chat in her Facebook account is automatically logged on and as she carries on with her work, there is a ding sound that tells her someone is seeking her attention by chat. She smiles as she recognizes the person and again punches away the keyboard as she chats, the urgent work on her desk already forgotten. The chatting, Google searches, online discussions, sharing, commenting, tweeting continues for the better part of the day and probably the night.
The above example depicts many other people who are caught up in the addiction and may not know when to stop. Internet addiction can literally take away your interest in people, work and even kill the desire for things that you had otherwise valued and cherished. For some people, losing themselves in online forums, blogs and social networks is a way to escape harsh circumstances in life, mostly when they are experiencing some anger, pain or disappointment. This sounds familiar, doesn't it? It is the very same reason people opt to use drugs and alcohol. When life becomes difficult and stressful at times, people find all kinds of escape routes and internet addiction is one of them. Internet addiction is much cheaper unlike the drugs and alcohol where some are even forced to steal or sell stuff to buy even the smallest of the amount. The sad part is these people do not realize that internet addiction is equally as destructive.
Just like other addictions, internet addition can also deem difficult to overcome as it gives one a certain online identity that one may not want to ditch. Most admit to having a problem but do not know how to fix it. First and foremost, they need to figure out what drove them to the particular addiction mainly by evaluating what could be happening in their current lives.
A lot of support is required here without the blame game. These people may need to be taught how to balance between the virtual world of internet and their social life without having to give up the internet world entirely. Internet may not always be harmful to people if put to good use and not abused, misused or used as an alternative to escape from the hurt and anger. Heck, I use internet all the time and I can say it has made me a better person and sometimes would be lost without it as I sometimes have to rely on it on certain occasions. On the other hand, am cautious in my usage as I have to incorporate other activities and people just to keep everything in check. My two cents in this matter is to use the internet to a level where it is neither harmful to you as an individual or your social life.
The above example depicts many other people who are caught up in the addiction and may not know when to stop. Internet addiction can literally take away your interest in people, work and even kill the desire for things that you had otherwise valued and cherished. For some people, losing themselves in online forums, blogs and social networks is a way to escape harsh circumstances in life, mostly when they are experiencing some anger, pain or disappointment. This sounds familiar, doesn't it? It is the very same reason people opt to use drugs and alcohol. When life becomes difficult and stressful at times, people find all kinds of escape routes and internet addiction is one of them. Internet addiction is much cheaper unlike the drugs and alcohol where some are even forced to steal or sell stuff to buy even the smallest of the amount. The sad part is these people do not realize that internet addiction is equally as destructive.
Just like other addictions, internet addition can also deem difficult to overcome as it gives one a certain online identity that one may not want to ditch. Most admit to having a problem but do not know how to fix it. First and foremost, they need to figure out what drove them to the particular addiction mainly by evaluating what could be happening in their current lives.
A lot of support is required here without the blame game. These people may need to be taught how to balance between the virtual world of internet and their social life without having to give up the internet world entirely. Internet may not always be harmful to people if put to good use and not abused, misused or used as an alternative to escape from the hurt and anger. Heck, I use internet all the time and I can say it has made me a better person and sometimes would be lost without it as I sometimes have to rely on it on certain occasions. On the other hand, am cautious in my usage as I have to incorporate other activities and people just to keep everything in check. My two cents in this matter is to use the internet to a level where it is neither harmful to you as an individual or your social life.
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