“The disorder, as described in the study published this week in the journal PLoS One, is defined as ‘problematic’ or pathological computer use that can cause ‘marked distress’ and interfere with school, work, family and social relationships.” - Sharon Kirkey, PostMedia News
Hey, you! Yes, you! Log off that computer and listen up!
You’re a drug addict! Now, now, you’re objecting that you’ve never touched forbidden substances in your life (apart from a few trial doobies back there in the late ‘60s that, yes, your mother did know about). Nonetheless, listen up, you slave to the Internet.
Results of a new study suggest people who cannot control, cut back or stop their use of the Internet have abnormal white matter structure in the brain similar to what is seen in cocaine and crystal-meth addicts.
That’s right. According to those who initiated the study, as the number of people logging onto cyberspace soars, Internet Addiction Disorder (or IAD) – which is poised to enter the official lexicon of psychiatric illnesses – “is becoming a serious mental-health issue around the world.”
One of the malicious characteristics indicating you have IAD is a marked inability to appropriately interface (not Facebook!) with family members and friends. Put another way, people diagnosed with IAD had significantly impaired white matter fibres connecting different brain regions that play a critical role in emotional processing, as well as in “addiction-related phenomena” such as cravings, compulsive-repetitive behaviours, compulsive-repetitive behaviours, compulsive-repetitive behaviours (whoops) and poor decision-making. They also scored higher on a scale measuring symptoms of anxiety-related disorders.
So convinced are some researchers of the legitimacy of these findings that Internet addiction is being considered for addition to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the massive catalogue of mental illness now undergoing its first major revision in 16 years.
Given abundant evidence I see on a daily basis in our society that e-mobilicity has now replaced both cleanliness and godliness in terms of primary importance to us, it’s not difficult to appreciate that e-addiction indeed looms as a measureable and ominous malady.
Perhaps you’ve already abandoned several of your New Year’s resolutions. If so, permit me to suggest a New Year’s, um, exercise. Apart from what your status among the gainfully employed requires of you, keep track of how much time you spend online over the course of a two-week period and then consider cutting it back in the interests of face-time with your loved ones.
If even a momentary consideration of my request induces muscular tremors and an irresistible urge to seek me out and smack me upside my vacant noggin with your iPad, that’s not a good sign, my friend. Clearly, you are already DOA with respect to IAD.
Tim Callaway is pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church, Airdrie, and welcomes your thoughts at [email protected]
