Web addiction can ruin lives, even kill
http://www.addictioninfo.org/articles/2483/1/Web-addiction-can-ruin-lives-even-kill/Page1.html
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By News Services
Published on 04/7/2008
Less than a year after the American Medical Association backed away
from labeling video game addiction a mental illness, the debate rages
on, particularly for the families of the 10 to 14 percent of avid
gamers who have become so obsessed with videogames, Facebook and other
computer-based pastimes that their virtual lives are damaging their
reality.
Less than a year after the American Medical Association backed away
from labeling video game addiction a mental illness, the debate rages
on, particularly for the families of the 10 to 14 percent of avid
gamers who have become so obsessed with videogames, Facebook and other
computer-based pastimes that their virtual lives are damaging their
reality.By JACKIE BURRELL
A few weeks ago, Walnut Creek Intermediate School's auditorium was crammed with parents anxious to hear therapist Steven Freemire's take on Wii, iPhones and cyberaddiction.
He started the talk with a few examples drawn from friends' and patients' experiences, including the following scenario:
It's a sunny Sunday afternoon, and a Walnut Creek teen is indoors, gazing unblinkingly at the flickering screen. For hours, she buffets the game controller buttons, eager to reach the next level and the next and the next. It isn't until six hours later that she finally tears herself away and goes on with her day.
"Problem?'' Freemire asked the crowd.
Seventy hands shoot toward the sky.
In truth, the answer is no. This particular girl has a great circle of friends, gets consistently good grades and plays competitive soccer. And after an intense week, capped off by a Saturday spent entirely on the soccer field, she was simply decompressing on a Sunday — her one day to relax — with a brand new video game.
"Six hours could be a danger,'' said Freemire. "It wasn't in this case.''
Less than a year after the American Medical Association backed away from labeling video game addiction a mental illness, the debate rages on, particularly for the families of the 10 to 14 percent of avid gamers who have become so obsessed with videogames, Facebook and other computer-based pastimes that their virtual lives are damaging their reality.
"There's a fine line between addiction and the fact that most of our lives are spent on online,'' said Larry Rosen, a CSU-Dominguez Hills professor who wrote "Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation."
"Kids? Their whole social life is online. They're IMing and if you throw in texting and (school) work, it's 50 hours a week. Is that addicted or are they just responding to their world?''
The line is crossed, he says, when grades drop, chores go undone and children disappear from the family dinner table, wooed by the allure of that glowing screen.
It's not just teens, of course. The Chinese man who died last year after playing a video game for three straight days was 30. And in 2005 the Chinese government opened a computer addiction clinic after two young men collapsed and died after marathon game sessions.
In fact, while we most frequently associate cyberaddiction with video games, adults are notorious for their dependency on Blackberries, compulsive e-mail checking and the "just one more thing'' approach that keeps them online half the night, says Lafayette therapist Dominic D'Ambrosio.
A 2006 Stanford School of Medicine study revealed that 14 percent of the nation's Internet users — adults, not kids — found it difficult to stay offline for several days, and nearly 9 percent lied about their Internet use to spouses, friends and colleagues.
D'Ambrosio has seen cyberaddictions devastate marriages and careers. When parents start looking at Internet addictions, he says, they need to look at the behavior they're modeling first.
But it's simplistic to point a finger at any one game or technological tool in particular. Like any substance abuse issue, says D'Ambrosio, "The one that's a problem is the one that's a problem for you.''
MontereyHerald.com 04/06/2008
A few weeks ago, Walnut Creek Intermediate School's auditorium was crammed with parents anxious to hear therapist Steven Freemire's take on Wii, iPhones and cyberaddiction.
He started the talk with a few examples drawn from friends' and patients' experiences, including the following scenario:
It's a sunny Sunday afternoon, and a Walnut Creek teen is indoors, gazing unblinkingly at the flickering screen. For hours, she buffets the game controller buttons, eager to reach the next level and the next and the next. It isn't until six hours later that she finally tears herself away and goes on with her day.
"Problem?'' Freemire asked the crowd.
Seventy hands shoot toward the sky.
In truth, the answer is no. This particular girl has a great circle of friends, gets consistently good grades and plays competitive soccer. And after an intense week, capped off by a Saturday spent entirely on the soccer field, she was simply decompressing on a Sunday — her one day to relax — with a brand new video game.
"Six hours could be a danger,'' said Freemire. "It wasn't in this case.''
Less than a year after the American Medical Association backed away from labeling video game addiction a mental illness, the debate rages on, particularly for the families of the 10 to 14 percent of avid gamers who have become so obsessed with videogames, Facebook and other computer-based pastimes that their virtual lives are damaging their reality.
"There's a fine line between addiction and the fact that most of our lives are spent on online,'' said Larry Rosen, a CSU-Dominguez Hills professor who wrote "Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation.""Kids? Their whole social life is online. They're IMing and if you throw in texting and (school) work, it's 50 hours a week. Is that addicted or are they just responding to their world?''
The line is crossed, he says, when grades drop, chores go undone and children disappear from the family dinner table, wooed by the allure of that glowing screen.
It's not just teens, of course. The Chinese man who died last year after playing a video game for three straight days was 30. And in 2005 the Chinese government opened a computer addiction clinic after two young men collapsed and died after marathon game sessions.
In fact, while we most frequently associate cyberaddiction with video games, adults are notorious for their dependency on Blackberries, compulsive e-mail checking and the "just one more thing'' approach that keeps them online half the night, says Lafayette therapist Dominic D'Ambrosio.
A 2006 Stanford School of Medicine study revealed that 14 percent of the nation's Internet users — adults, not kids — found it difficult to stay offline for several days, and nearly 9 percent lied about their Internet use to spouses, friends and colleagues.
D'Ambrosio has seen cyberaddictions devastate marriages and careers. When parents start looking at Internet addictions, he says, they need to look at the behavior they're modeling first.
But it's simplistic to point a finger at any one game or technological tool in particular. Like any substance abuse issue, says D'Ambrosio, "The one that's a problem is the one that's a problem for you.''
MontereyHerald.com 04/06/2008