1. Introduction
Search engines, social networks, pornography, online games, shopping, etc.. These are some of the things people use the internet for. With the internet, it had made things so accessible, fast and easy-everything is just a click away. Now, with the invention of mobile phones, people can just pull out the tiny device from their pocket and start surfing the net.
There is, however, a downside to it which is the over dependency on the internet. Internet dependence is a term for the excessive usage of the internet that it becomes detrimental to one’s physical, psychological, social, or vocational well-being. (Villanova Counselling Centre, 2012)
Statistics have shown that 9-15 million people in the United States use the internet everyday, and in every three months, the rate of use increases by 25%. One in eight individuals shows signs of problematic use. In September 2008, 22 billion hours were spent online. In September 2009, the hours spent online increased to 27 billion hours. (Techaddiction, 2011)
2. Problem statement
Majority of Americans and virtually all college students would now use the internet as a source of information and entertainment. Most would use it without becoming dependent on it, whereas some, their involvement on the internet begins to have serious negative consequences. When the consequences are ignored while the internet usage increases, internet dependency is occurring. Some of the common excessive usage of internet are chat rooms, pornography, database searches, blogging, gambling, gaming, and shopping. (Villanova Counselling Centre, 2012)
Some of the signs of internet dependency include spending more and more time online, spending less time with friends or family, preoccupied with internet activities and your next online session, feeling restless and irritable when not online, lied about or tried to conceal about your internet usage from friends, family members, or others, sleep or physical health has been affected by your internet usage, academic and/or work performance has been compromised, using the internet as a way of avoiding people, using the internet as a way of escaping from your own feelings, and having intended to cut down on you time online, but have not.
There are also websites such as Netaddiction.com that offers a self-assessments to determine if you are using the internet excessively. (Pope, 2010) Some of the questions asked at Netaddiction are, do you stay online longer than originally intended? Do you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop internet use? Do you feel preoccupied with the internet?
Being addicted to the internet can have serious negative consequences on a person. Firstly, it’s familial problems. Marriages, dating relationships, parent-child relationships, and close friendships are disrupted by “net-binges.” These are affected slowly by spending less time with them in exchange for a private time in front of a computer. (Young, 1999)
Next, it’s academic performance. Barber (1997) (as cited by Young, 1999) stated that a survey revealed that 58% of responding teachers, librarians, and computer coordinators believe that internet usage does not improve performance. Instead, they argued that information on the internet is too disorganized and unrelated to help students achieve better results. Young (1999) found that 58% of students reported a decline in study habits, a significant drop in grades, missed classes, or being placed on probation due to excessive internet use.
Thirdly, it’s occupational problems. A concern of managers are internet misuse among their employees. With monitoring devices, bosses can track the employee’s internet usage. It was shown that only 23% of the usage was business-related according to Machlis (1997) (as cited by Young, 1999)
3. Purpose of content
The purpose of this study is to meet certain objectives related to the earlier mentioned problem statement. Firstly, it is to determine the relationship between the motivation of internet usage and the internet usage pattern. This is to find out why they use the internet and how often do they use it. Secondly, it is to determine the usage pattern and the uses of it. For instance, how often they use it and for what. The last objective is to find out the relationship between the usage pattern of internet and face to face communication time. For example, the frequency of usage with the relationship of real life communication.
4. Review of content
The article that will be analysed is from Dr Kimberly S. Young’s, Internet addiction: symptoms, evaluation and treatment. Here, she talks about the complications of diagnosing internet addiction, the negative consequences of addictive usage, assessment of pathological internet use, treatment strategies, and future implications of pathological internet use.
Next it is from Villanova University Counselling Centre which defines what internet dependence is, who becomes dependent on the internet, signs of dependence, and some tips on coping with effectively with it.
References
Villanova Counselling Centre (2012). Internet dependence. Retrieved on January 29, 2012, from http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/studentlife/counselingcenter/infosheets/internetdepend.html
Pope. P. T. (2010). The ugly toll of technology : impatience and forgetfulness. Retrieved on January 29, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brainside.html
Netaddiction (2010). The centre for internet addiction.. your resource since 1995. Retrieved on January 29, 2012, from http://netaddiction.com/
Techaddiction (2011). Internet addiction statistics- facts, figures and numbers. Retrieved on January 29, 2012, from http://www.techaddiction.ca/internet_addiction_statistics.html
Young. K. S. (1999). Internet addiction: symptoms, evaluation, and treatment. Retrieved on January 29, 2012, from http://www.netaddiction.com/articles/symptoms.pdf
