Washington, Dec 19:
As many as 6 per cent people in the world are addicted to the internet
which may be adversely affecting their lives, including their health and
interpersonal relationships, according to a new global study which
included data from India.
Internet addiction is an impulse-control problem marked by an inability
to inhibit Internet use, which can negatively impact a person’s life,
health and interpersonal relationships, researchers said.
The prevalence of Internet addiction varies among regions around the
world, according to data from more than 89,000 individuals in 31
countries.
Researchers Cecelia Cheng and Angel Yee-lam Li, from The University of
Hong Kong, found that internet addiction affects 6 per cent of people
worldwide.
Prevalence ranged from a low of 2.6 per cent in Northern and Western Europe to a high of 10.9 per cent in the Middle East.
In Asia, which included data from China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea
and Taiwan, 7.1 per cent people were found to be addicted to the
internet.
“This study provides initial support for the inverse relationship
between quality of life and Internet Addiction (IA),” according to the
research published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
“It, however, finds no support for the hypothesis that high Internet
accessibility (such as the high penetration rates in northern and
western Europe), promote IA,” said Editor-in-Chief Brenda K Wiederhold,
Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality
Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.
(This article was published on December 19, 2014)
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/smartbuy/tech-news/internet-addiction-affects-6-of-people-worldwide/article6707905.ece
Constantly checking your Facebook and Twitter accounts? Internet addiction has long been disputed as one of the mental disorders of our age – now scientists warn that social networks overuse is a serious illness demanding treatment.
The issue is being discussed at the World Congress of the World Association for Dynamic Psychiatry (WADP) taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia.
All kinds of addictions are chronic recurring diseases, says Evgeny Krupitsky, chief drug therapist for the Leningrad region.
"They are illnesses the same as peptic ulcers, hypertonia or diabetes, and treatment is a long process, sometimes lifelong, combining personalized methods of drug therapy, psychotherapy and rehabilitation," Krupitsky told the forum.
Another issue discussed by the congress participants is wrong treatment for internet addictions. Scientists say that usually people who develop such disorders go to psychologists for help rather than medics.
But according to Aleksandr Kibitov, the head of a molecular genetics laboratory, social networks dependency works the same as alcohol, drug and toxic addictions with the only difference being a 'non-chemical nature.' He points out that genetic markers of the internet and social networking addictions are 80 percent the same as markers for alcohol and drug addicts.
Defining the nature of compulsive internet use is not the only problem.
Kibitov says that behavioral addictions, such as pathological gambling, internet addiction disorder and compulsive buying disorder are more difficult to study, because there is no way of doing laboratory experiments with animals.
“It’s hard to imagine a mouse addicted to social networks,” he said.
Internet addiction studies have developed as part of broader research on technology addiction, dating back to the 20th century featuring obsessions with radio and television.
Excessive internet use was first named a disorder back in the mid-1990s, and since then researchers have taken the matter seriously. Internet addiction disorder may be revised as an actual mental health disorder, but - although mired in controversy - it didn't make it to the latest edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association.
Constantly checking your Facebook and Twitter accounts? Internet addiction has long been disputed as one of the mental disorders of our age – now scientists warn that social networks overuse is a serious illness demanding treatment.
The issue is being discussed at the World Congress of the World Association for Dynamic Psychiatry (WADP) taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia.
All kinds of addictions are chronic recurring diseases, says Evgeny Krupitsky, chief drug therapist for the Leningrad region.
"They are illnesses the same as peptic ulcers, hypertonia or diabetes, and treatment is a long process, sometimes lifelong, combining personalized methods of drug therapy, psychotherapy and rehabilitation," Krupitsky told the forum.
Another issue discussed by the congress participants is wrong treatment for internet addictions. Scientists say that usually people who develop such disorders go to psychologists for help rather than medics.
But according to Aleksandr Kibitov, the head of a molecular genetics laboratory, social networks dependency works the same as alcohol, drug and toxic addictions with the only difference being a 'non-chemical nature.' He points out that genetic markers of the internet and social networking addictions are 80 percent the same as markers for alcohol and drug addicts.
Defining the nature of compulsive internet use is not the only problem.
Kibitov says that behavioral addictions, such as pathological gambling, internet addiction disorder and compulsive buying disorder are more difficult to study, because there is no way of doing laboratory experiments with animals.
“It’s hard to imagine a mouse addicted to social networks,” he said.
Internet addiction studies have developed as part of broader research on technology addiction, dating back to the 20th century featuring obsessions with radio and television.
Excessive internet use was first named a disorder back in the mid-1990s, and since then researchers have taken the matter seriously. Internet addiction disorder may be revised as an actual mental health disorder, but - although mired in controversy - it didn't make it to the latest edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/996361/science-technology
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