Do you spend your entire day surfing the internet and have withdrawl symptoms when offline? Chinese doctors took the first step to give a diagnostic definition of Internet addiction to address medical concerns over psychological problems from Internet overuse.
Symptoms of addiction included yearning to get back online, mental or physical distress, irritation and difficulty concentrating or sleeping. The definition, based on a study of more than 1,300 problematic computer users, classifies as addicts those who spend at least six hours online a day and have shown at least one symptom in the past three months.
They say such persons can seek medical help and counselling and now psychiatrists can easily treat such cases. I am sure a large population is surfing the web over 6 hours daily and showing one of those symptoms. I am sure many of my bloggers friends show these signs of addiction too. Maybe I am also getting addicted to the web, sitting and writing this post on a Sunday evening, though I still try to avoid my blogging time wasting habits.
Wikipedia defines Internet addiction disorder (IAD) into subtypes by activity, such as overwhelming and immoderate gaming, inappropriate involvement in online social networking sites or blogging, and Internet shopping addiction. They define net compulsions as activities which, if done in person, would normally be considered troublesome, such as compulsive gambling or shopping. Problematic computer use or pathological computer use are accepted descriptions for excessive computer use that interferes with daily life.