Article on Internet Addiction

www.guardian.co.uk; "Internet Addiction" wrote:

Internet addiction has for the first time been linked with changes in the brain similar to those seen in people addicted to alcohol, cocaine and cannabis. In a groundbreaking study, researchers used MRI scanners to reveal abnormalities in the brains of adolescents who spent many hours on the internet, to the detriment of their social and personal lives. The finding could throw light on other behavioural problems and lead to the development of new approaches to treatment, researchers said. An estimated 5 to 10 per cent of internet users are thought to be addicted - meaning they are unable to control their use. The majority are games players who become so absorbed in the activity they go without food or drink for long periods and their education, work and relationships suffer.

So finally!

(Report: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/addicted-scientists-show-how-internet-dependency-alters-the-human-brain-6288344.html)

When I went through heavy withdrawals 7 months ago I was quite shocked about it. I did NOT think my excessive gaming was anything but too many hours in a game.

But quitting that game, my brain went BANANAS! I felt like I was going through drug-withdrawals.

I'll be glad when this issue becomes a reality in the medical field of this country (USA); This is now occurring to many people, and hardly anyone out there feels there's an issue.

No one questions alcohol abuse and addiction anymore.

(p.s. the reason why I continue to belong to OLGA, instead of AA, is that unfortunately a lot of my long-time AA friends are now addicted to games like "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars." I won't be getting recovery there for games; just alcohol).

I work at a medical research facility. I would say the name of it but I wish to stay somewhat anonymous. What I will say is that it is a very well known facility both in the USA and around the world. I work as a researcher...I mainly work with viruses. However, since many viruses do effect the neurological pathways, sometimes us virologist will work with neurologists from time to time in our studies. Mainly to find which pathways are being interrupted or intercepted by the virus. During our off time, we will chit-chat about this and that. I had an ex-boyfriend that was and still is addicted to gaming. So naturally, I was intrigued by their understanding of the human brain...but more specifically, the neurological pathways that are excited by addictions.

Just about every single neurologist and neuro-psychiatrist that I have worked with believe that gaming is in fact a form of an addiction. Some of them have even said that they were disapproved to use funding to conduct some of the tests on "gaming" addiction. It wasn't because the facility did not think the addiction didn't exist...it was because the funding could be used for other things such as drug or alcohol addiction which is more prevalent than the so-called "gaming" addiction. When there is not a proper diagnosis of something found within the DSM...on some occasions it is hard for research to be conducted on it. Now that gaming addiction will be in the DSM as of May '13....you can expect more research propositions to be approved in medical research facilities.

I'm not sure that drug or alcohol addiction is more prevalent than gaming addiction, especially among kids.

Has it been announced somewhere that gaming addiction will definitely be in the DSM-V? I haven't seen that, but sure would be glad if it's true.

Just a few weeks ago i was with a friend and i saw a newspapper on the floor, dunno why i stopped to look at it and there was an article about gaming addiction... it was a research that some organization of my country did about it. I have to say that this made me very happy, because at least this reached the news. I just hope that in the nearly future this problem can be know for more people and they really take it as a serious matter.

Dr.Anastasia wrote:

Some of them have even said that they were disapproved to use funding to conduct some of the tests on "gaming" addiction. It wasn't because the facility did not think the addiction didn't exist...it was because the funding could be used for other things such as drug or alcohol addiction which is more prevalent than the so-called "gaming" addiction. When there is not a proper diagnosis of something found within the DSM...on some occasions it is hard for research to be conducted on it. Now that gaming addiction will be in the DSM as of May '13....you can expect more research propositions to be approved in medical research facilities.

I'm glad it will be added to DSM as of May '13.

The problem with gaming addiction, is that this is a new phenomenon. Online gaming has only been around for what, 30 years at most? or less?

But it won't be unknown 10 or 20 years from now.

It's kind of exciting to be in on the initial stages of this.

I think Everquest was the first really popular online multiplayer game. 1999. This whole thing has transpired in less than 15 years. (I guess MUD's go back further than that though.)

I have been using internet for quite a long time and I dont think you can really get addicted to internet. Maybe the applications are but not the internet itself. I admit you can also get addicted but its all up to you. If you really determine to get free from addiction, you can set thoughts in your minds to prevent from addiction.

Oh, cool, it's easy then! Thanks for explaining how it works! :)

JamesBurgman wrote:

I have been using internet for quite a long time and I dont think you can really get addicted to internet. Maybe the applications are but not the internet itself. I admit you can also get addicted but its all up to you. If you really determine to get free from addiction, you can set thoughts in your minds to prevent from addiction.

Oh yeah? and you know this, how?

JamesBurgman wrote:

I have been using internet for quite a long time and I dont think you can really get addicted to internet. Maybe the applications are but not the internet itself. I admit you can also get addicted but its all up to you. If you really determine to get free from addiction, you can set thoughts in your minds to prevent from addiction.

Thanks, I needed a laugh!

By the way, I've been drinking alcohol on occasion for quite a long time so I don't think you can get addicted to that either.

Zynga/Farmville co-founder admits to helping millions being addicted to dopamine... and major technology companies are telling their employees to SLOW down and unhook.

"Some people disagree there is a problem, even if they agree that the online activities tap into deep neurological mechanisms. Eric Schiermeyer, a co-founder of Zynga, an online game company and maker of huge hits like FarmVille, has said he has helped addict millions of people to dopamine, a neurochemical that has been shown to be released by pleasurable activities, including video game playing, but also is understood to play a major role in the cycle of addiction."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/technology/silicon-valley-worries-about-addiction-to-devices.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=general&src=me&adxnnlx=1343300437-DESvHGXdnY5qjkLJve%2FQHA

Simply because I have been addicted to different kinds of games and apps before. But somehow I have overcome this and can control the things your saying as "addiction".

Well, James, we are happy that you can control those things. It means you weren't actually addicted. Fortunately, for me, I have always been able to control my alcohol intake. I could have one or two or even three drinks, decide I was relaxed enough, and stop. Only on a few unfortuante occasions when I was younger did I seriously overdo things. Nowadays, I have a drink every week or two. That just means I'm not an alcoholic. It doesn't mean that alcohol is not an addictive substance. It doesn't mean that other people aren't alcoholics.

For an addiction to happen you need: 1. A person who wants to alter their mood, whose brain is suceptible to the cycle of addiction, and 2. A behavior that alters their mood that is capable of engaging the cycle of addiction in that person's brain. It's a combination of two things interacting in a specific way that spins out of control.

If you can control it, James, that's a good thing. Make sure you have gone to the page with the quiz, so that you aren't fooling yourself:

http://olganon.org/?q=self_tests_on_gaming_addiction

But if that isn't you, then cool.

Just don't come here and put down people who happen to be sensitive enough to a particular activity that they can get addicted to it. If you haven't actually ever been addicted to something, then you simply have no idea what you are talking about. Again, good for you, but take it easy on us.

Glad you came to visit, James. Come back if you ever need to! :)

That article I think, wrongly titled as it referenced a study of "gamers" in China who gamed using the Internet.

Making a sweeping.. the entire Internet is addictive .... I would question a bit.. It is highly in the sense that most people use it for .. everything now a days...

And people who have compulsive tendencies.. and procrastination tendancies.. can find lots of ways to waste time on it.. but wasting time does not equal "addiction"

In the seventies. the same statements were made about telephones.

@JamesBurgman

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We do not debate the existence of gaming addiction. If you wish to debate this please find another site.

- pete