If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size? ~Sydney J. Harris
Ten years ago, the only people who spent a majority of leisure time on the computer were those who worked in the technology field. Today, however, surfing the web has become a social pastime like going to the movies. As the web has become a part of mainstream life, some mental health professionals have noted that a percentage of people using the internet do so in a compulsive way.
In 1997, an extreme case of a mother in Cincinnati made the news. She allegedly spent over 12 hours a day secluded from her three young children while she surfed the web.
Internet addiction is similar to other common addictions and is an actual disorder. The term addiction applies when someone’s stimulation seeking gets to the point where it starts to interfere with their ability to function normally in daily life and they neglect their work and personal relationships.
Mental health professionals are divided as to whether or not Internet addiction is real. The argument is if people can become addicted to the Internet itself, or to the stimulation and information that the Internet provides (i.e. online gambling, pornography, chat rooms or shopping).
Those addicted to the Internet are addicted to a favored kind of social stimulation – not to the actual Internet – though it is true that the Internet is the catalyst for the addiction.