Student thoughts: Society’s love for the Internet is an addiction
- Jul 20, 2015
- 2 min read
Do you ever have feelings guilt and pleasure when your image shows up on a screen? Do you grab your phone first thing in the morning? Even worse, do you text and drive? We can all admit that at some point, we have a desire to be online, but many times, it’s not for work related reasons.
This opinion article was originally featured in PantherNOW and discusses society's obsession with the Internet and how we should move away from our Internet addiction.
Check out the article’s excerpt below and click the link if you want to read the full story!
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Maytinee Kramer/Contributing Writer
Do you ever have feelings guilt and pleasure when your image shows up on a screen? Do you grab your phone first thing in the morning? Even worse, do you text and drive? We can all admit that at some point, we have a desire to be online, but many times, it’s not for work related reasons.
Internet addiction and the dangers of excessive computer gaming are nothing new, but the subject is receiving fresh attention with an alarming trend in China. It is estimated that roughly one in ten children between ages 10 and 19 are addicted to the Internet. Even here in the U.S. we are attached to our tech – social media, our smartphones, our tablets, the Internet – but it seems we are too attached, possibly to the point of addiction. A 2014 study showed that 16 percent of 18 to 25-year-olds dealt with compulsive Internet use.
In the U.S., Internet addiction is not formally recognized as a mental illness, but many acknowledge that the phenomenon is more complicated than a simple social problem. Growing concerns have called for medical practitioners and health officials to offer therapy and treatment centers for these addictions.
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Photo Credit: Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash
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