I have joked with my friends about being addicted to the Internet. It is my workplace, my place for socialization, and it provides me with both retail therapy and entertainment.
If I was single I would exist on computer time, Diet Dr Pepper, and my debit card. I literally would never leave my space unless I had an intervention and was sent to a clinic for Internet addicts.
Well, Internet addictions may not be a joke according to some researchers. Dr. Christian Montag from DepartÂment for Differential and Biological Psychology at the University of Bonn says that after interviewing 843 people about their Internet habits and analyzing the data, 132 men and women in the group exhibited the problematic behavior of an addict.
Researchers then compared the “addicted†Internet users with users who had healthy control. The addicted users were more often carriers of the genetic variation that promotes a nicotine addiction. The variation occurs more frequently in women than in men according to Montag.
He goes on to say that they are puzzled by this and looking into it more thoroughly because men are more likely to be the ones that exhibit the Internet addicted behavior. Researchers believe that is may be categorical – perhaps women are more addicted to the social media category of the Internet, for example.
Pinterest anyone?
If Internet addiction is physical, then therapists will be better able to diagnose, medicate, and guide patients through the addiction more effectively. Best of all, I can tell everyone with honesty that it isn’t my fault, the problem lies within my genetic makeup.
Do you think you are, or do you know anyone who is, Internet addicted?
source: Science Daily
photo credit: Betty 1138
