An Honors Project: 💻 Internet Addiction and the Relationship with Mental Health 🧠
Hi peeps! 💖 In this post, I would like to raise awareness about internet addiction and what it does to your brain and your life! 😮
🔌 What is Internet Addiction?
Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), is also commonly referred to as Compulsive Internet Use (CIU), Problematic Internet Use (PIU), or iDisorder. It is simply characterized by compulsion with the Internet by using excessively till it interferes your life. Though it is not recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as a disorder, 1 in 8 Americans exhibit this behavior and affect their daily life and healthy relationships. That is 12 percent! Some reports even suggest it affected Koreans by 30 percent. Is going online our new lifestyle? 😧
🔌 Are you dealing with IAD?
If you agree with most of the statements below, yes you might be dealing with IAD!
📌 I think about being online almost constantly. If I'm not online, I'm thinking about the next time I can be or that last time that I was.
📌 I need to online longer and longer each time before I feel satisfied.
📌 I have tried to control, reduce, or stop my internet use, but haven't been able to do so successfully.
📌 I feel irritable or depressed when I try to reduce the amount of time that I am on the Internet or when I can't get online.
📌 The way I use the Internet has threatened a relationship with someone I care about, my job, or my school work.
📌 I lose track of time when I'm online.
📌 I sometimes lie to important people in my life about the amount of time I spend, or the types of activities I participate in on the Internet.
📌 Being online helps me to forget about my problems or improve my mood when I'm feeling sad, anxious, or lonely.
🔌 There are 5 types of IAD!
🔔 Cybersexual: Cybersex and Pornography
🔔 Net compulsion: Online gambling, shopping, or stock trading
🔔 Cyber-relationships: Social media, online dating, and other virtual communication
🔔 Gaming: Online game playing
🔔 Information Seeking: Web surfing or database searches
🔌 What Gender Affect IAD?
Both men and women are affected. While men are more addicted to gaming, cybersex and online gambling, women are addicted to instant messaging, social media and online shopping! 😮
🔌 Symptoms of IAD
🔎 A withdrawal symptoms like depression and moodiness.
🔎 Dishonesty about internet usage.
🔎 Feelings of guilt when not responding or missing out.
🔎 Feelings of euphoria when using the computer or using the internet to escape problems.
🔎 Inability to prioritize or keep schedules.
🔎 Avoidance of work and procrastination.
🔎 Boredom with routine tasks.
🔎 Neglecting rest and sleep to stay online.
🔎 Online time affects work and school.
🔌 The Impact of IAD on Mental Health
People with IAD are evidenced to have a brain makeup similar to chemical dependency sufferers i.e. Drugs and alcohol!
IAD affect the pleasure center of the brain.
Addictive behavior triggers a release of dopamine to promote the pleasurable experience. Over time, more addictive activity is needed to produce dopamine which results in dependency.
IAD physically change the brain structure, the amount of gray and white matter in regions of the prefrontal brain. Prefrontal brain engages with some processes such as:
🔷 Remembering details
🔷 Attention
🔷 Planning
🔷 Prioritizing tasks
No wonder of IAD affects your capability to prioritize tasks in your life! 😧😰
🔌 Types of Treatment
💡 At home treatment
💖 Moderate use of the Internet.
💖 Abstinence of problematic/trigger applications.
💖 Track screen time and application usage using app E.g: QualityTime
💖 Exercise to increase dopamine level!
💡 Psychosocial Treatment
Cognitive behavioral therapy
🔷 Phase 1: Modification of behavior (to control internet usage) -> Examine time online and offline.
🔷 Phase 2: Cognitive restructuring (to challenge cognitive distortion) -> Identify, challenge and modify the rationalizations behind the reasons for excessive internet usage.
🔷 Phase 3: Harm reduction therapy (to address the co-morbid issue) -> Identify co-morbid factors, sustain the recovery and prevent relapse.
Other popular treatments are motivational interviewing, reality therapy, Naikan cognitive psychotherapy, group therapy, family therapy, and multimodal psychotherapy.
💡 Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
Electrical nerve stimulation using a certain frequency that adjusts the release of neurotransmitters in the brain.
💡 Pharmacologic therapy
Treat IAD by treating other underlying disorders.
🔌 Conclusion
Any type of addiction can hurt you and life in general, including the life of your loved ones. The key to any addiction is to track the dependency and measure your self-control. Often this behavior comes and goes for normal people but if you need help, it is necessary to seek assistance with a professional and the IAD community to recover and sustain the healing progress.
🔌 Resources for IAD
virtual-addiction.com/
www.zurinstitute.com/resources/psychology-of-the-web/psychology-of-the-web-internet-addiction/
🔌 Online tests for IAD
virtual-addiction.com/smartphone-compulsion-test/
virtual-addiction.com/cybersexual-abuse-test/
virtual-addiction.com/virtual-addiction-test/
virtual-addiction.com/digital-distraction-test/
virtual-addiction.com/online-pornography-test/
virtual-addiction.com/warning-signs-of-internet-addiction/
virtual-addiction.com/child-technology-test/
virtual-addiction.com/greenfield-video-game-addiction-test-gvgat/
🔌 References
www.techaddiction.ca/internet_addiction_statistics.html
www.psycom.net/iadcriteria.html
www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/risky-business-internet-addiction
💕💕💕 Discussion Questions! Yayy! 💕💕💕
1. Do you think you OR someone you know are dealing with IAD?
2. What is making you or someone you know addicted to the internet?
3. What are the coping techniques we can do at home?
4. How long you stay online in a day? What do you browse mainly?
5. Do you think that Internet life including 7Cups is better than real life?
~Phewww we made it through the whole post peeps! 😅😁 Thankies everyone for reading and happy answeringgg~~ 🌹🌹🌹
Tagging some peepsies~~ @bear228 @dancingStrawberry34 @nothingisforever91 @LilyBlossom21 @IsraNMSL @PalmTreesNRainbows @BunnyZs @Glue @raspberryChestnut @kindSoul10 @HealingSinthia @supportiveMango76 @Whitenightfury @vroomvrooom @Hoodwink @Hope @Erato @Catssunset @liamasnemo @Isentropic @musicalMagic @CompassionateListener88 @onedirection1213 @WeGotThis211001 @InternalAcceptance @BunnieLuv @MelatiMel @Jennoa2017 @SadyaKarni22 @lyss123 @HelpfulVision @SoftAlpaca10 @Rainbowtime40 @lucy2 @laserpowerr @ItsHayden @jillianlee94 @Marya25 @dbaptiste @Survive808 @DivineSupport @Positiveanchor20 @katvscat @SoftAlpaca10 @Kitta7 @helpfulComfort0819 @AislynnQ @Fristo @Aismile @peacefulwriting36 @Pidge @sinceresebas21 @Dori22 @optimisticBlossom66 @madjanie @friendlyadvice4u @miraculousIris31 @Kurdistan
@MieraCurie
Aaahh my love, I am so proud of you for completing your honors project 
Great work you have done here
For your interesting questions:
1. Do you think you OR someone you know are dealing with IAD? Yes, I think I actually do know someone
2. What is making you or someone you know addicted to the internet? The fact that he misbehaves and gets agrressive when he doesn't go online
3. What are the coping techniques we can do at home? Turning off the wifi at specific hours
4. How long you stay online in a day? What do you browse mainly? Pretty much actually haha, and I only use 7 cups as I deactivated all my other social media
5. Do you think that Internet life including 7Cups is better than real life? I think that real life is stil better, however, internet friends are sometimes better than real ones
Keep going Miery
@IsraNMSL Oh 😮 some great answers here! Switching off the wifi or mobile data might works wonder 🌼 and you and I are the same. 7 cups is the only type of 'social media' I have. I'm actually agreeing that real life is better, though sometimes friendship could come in any shape, form and even places 💖🌼 Love you and thank you for answering!
@MieraCurie
I love you more, and yes, we are twinsies afterall hihih
@MieraCurie
Really GOOD JOB Miera
1. Do you think you OR someone you know are dealing with IAD?
yes , I do know someone definitely dealing with IAD
2. What is making you or someone you know addicted to the internet?
l think, loneliness is what making the person I know addicted to the the Internet .
3. What are the coping techniques we can do at home?
the person with IAD stays long hours a day on the Internet , so I think if he/she can replace the Internet hours with a real life activity like reading or going out with friends , I guess it will help.
4. How long you stay online in a day? What do you browse mainly?
I stay maybe 3 or 4 hours a day sometimes more . I read articles , search for stuffs related to my study , twitter and cupss.
5. Do you think that Internet life including 7Cups is better than real life?
Internet life is kinda part of real life . In fact, it meant to help live a better /easier " real life " so no , I don't think Internet life is better than real life.
@ItsHayden Yayyy hayden 🌼💖 I think from your answer, you're far from addicted to internet at all 🌹🌹🌹 Good job you! Yes, we all agree having a fulfilling and fun hobbies can take the hours off the internet for good 💐 Thank you for your input! 🌼🌼🌼
@MieraCurie
I loove to stay online using the Internet all day long tbh , but I got kinda busy life so it's not possible . I tend to believe I'm just lucky for not being addicted to the internet , and in different circumstances I definitely will be on the top of list haha
@ItsHayden Aw that's alright, even if you do, we are here to learn and support each other, so in this journey together, we will take care of you and make sure you will heal and recover 💖🍓 that's what this site is all about! 🌼🌼🌼
you're so sweet @MieraCurie well done!! Super proud of you.
So I have a slight internet addiction or its probably more boredom and just missing my favourite peeps
I love being on 7cups and reading lots of articles on everything which I usually get from FB.
Currently I'm online most of the day but I am not employed and I kinda really don't have much to do.
The electricity cuts a lot a lot here so even if I didn't have a way to cope without it, I'm forced to XD but if I'm feeling its too much or interfering with things then I'll try to set things up so I can go offline and just be busy.
@LilyBlossom21 Aww lilsiee 🌹🌼 That's okay! First, knowing that you might be at that level shows that you admit your time spent and didn't try to hide it 🌼 I'm super proud of you! Yeshh I understand, since we have not much to do and at home all the time, it's very tempting to peek a bit in the virtual world, especially Cups 😝 Sometimes peeps are just too awesome to not pay attention to 🤭 Well, I hope we can together change our habit, even the slightest. Baby steps are progress too! Thankies for your reply lilsieee 🌹🌼
@LilyBlossom21 Aww lilsiee 🌹🌼 That's okay! First, knowing that you might be at that level shows that you admit your time spent and didn't try to hide it 🌼 I'm super proud of you! Yeshh I understand, since we have not much to do and at home all the time, it's very tempting to peek a bit in the virtual world, especially Cups 😝 Sometimes peeps are just too awesome to not pay attention to 🤭 Well, I hope we can together change our habit, even the slightest. Baby steps are progress too! Thankies for your reply lilsieee 🌹🌼
@MieraCurie Congratulations to your honours project! It's superb, great job!
You mentioned internet addiction disorder isn't recognised by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) and I wondered if there is critique about it's concepts.
I found this scientific article which seems like a good starting point if you're interested. This article explains why it wasn't added to the main manual: the is not enough understanding and scientific evidence yet for labeling it an disorder.
What was interesting for me was reading that extroverts and introverts use the internet differently. Papers suggest that introverts use it to maintain and grow their social networks whereas introverts might be using it to compensate lack of social offline activities.
@kindSoul10 Kindiee! 💖 This is a very good reply from you! 🌼 I even get up and do some extra digging to answer this! Okay actually there are so much debate in this, even the researchers argue about this but the harm of excessive internet usage is real! Still of course there are contradicting opinions such as what I read herehttp://childmind.org/article/is-internet-addiction-real/, but as we can read and see, majority agree to the fact that this behaviour can go into extremes, especially if children were involved. One journal articlehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2400129 I read also mentioned that actually there is no gold standard of internet addiction classification exists, but the need for extend research is still in high demand towards helping those who suffers from lack of online time control and eventually be applied into actual clinical practice. Read more herehttp://psychcentral.com/blog/is-internet-addiction-really-the-new-mental-disorder/
Thankies kindie for your reply! ~~~ 💖💖💖
@MieraCurie wow, you are really dedicated! :) It's very inspiring to see how motivated you do your research. :)
In my experience using the internet in a way that is harming you in your daily life isn't a good thing for sure. It's unhealthy and dangerous. Then it's probably time to think about how to use it differently or how to make healthier choices.
Congratulations on completing the project Miera! In today's time where everything is online it's important we know the harmful effects that it has on us. Amazing read! 🌸
@MieraCurie I am glad that you made it at this stage of your internship, Miera, and wonderful post! <3 I will try to answer it once I have free time :) Congratulations ~
@MieraCurie
This is such an amazing post! Good job,I am so proud of you. This is so informative and I'm glad you posted it, I am sure you will help some people regogise the signs of an IAD!
Do you think you OR someone you know are dealing with IAD?
I strongly believe I do - I think lots of people actually have one without realising and it seems to be something challenging to recognise in our society today.
What is making you or someone you know addicted to the internet?
I think potentially the internet doesn't help us. Normally there are pop ups suggesting other links for sites to go to or videos to watch and it's easy to binge the internet and hours can fly past and you're so engrossed it can be super hard to step away.
What are the coping techniques we can do at home?
Sometimes taking a step away can be helpful, recetly I myself have taken a step back to prioritise some self-care. Having a schedule works well too, planning out roughly what you are going to do at different times of the day and when is appropriate to go on the internet and for how long. Including self-care in this schedule is something I would highly encourage too, it is important to care for ourselves while the internet can sometimes be a good source of self-care, it is still awesome to get some traditional self care from things like taking a bath, taing a walk or reading a book.
How long you stay online in a day? What do you browse mainly?
Since taking the step to organising a weekly schedule according to my timetable with work I've found things have been much easier to control how much time I am using on the internet. For me it really depends on the day to be honest and it is based off the other plans I have too. For example I may spend 1 hour online on a Monday but I may spend 4 hours online on a Saturday. For me, balance is really key in ensuring good health.
Do you think that Internet life including 7Cups is better than real life?
Sometimes yes it can be helpful having places like 7 cups to turn to, it can be a good method of socialising but it is actually super easy to get sucked into having an IAD. Having some quality self-care time and socialising in real life can be beneficial to our health too. I totally understand it can be hard to socialise and that can make sense in some situations, but I would definitely encourage things such as self-care like getting involved in a good book. It is nice to get the great rush feelin of being immersed in a good book!
Thank you for posting this it has been a great read and super informative. It has also been great to have a think about questions normally I'd not ask myself and to take a step back and view something from a different perspective. Your work here is super thorough and a superb resource. Thank you for sharing your research and what you have learnt with us.
@bear228 Oh I spot a Helpful Bear 😮🙊 Thank you for your time replying to this and omg your answers are all very specific and I'm so glad you're not shy to admit that you might affected by IAD as well. 🌼 That's very brave so I admire that 💕 I think you exceeded all my points here and yes, nothing harmful can come from a very good book to read. Reading books can help us retreat from the internet and it is equally fun! 💖
Again, thank you for your time reading! 💕🌼
@MieraCurie
It's honestly no issue, you have taken so much time to create this information it only seems fair to also take some time to respond to it! This is so informative I even added it to my bookmarks to share with people as a resource for chat support as it is so informative. To be honest it's something I feel this is somthing that can affect everyone if you're not careful and it's been good to identify an area for improvement. It's always important to reflect on areas of life working to improve to become the best version of oneself. Thank you for sharing this information and opportunity, it's so great to have you as part of our community!!
@bear228 Bear 🌹 I am so glad it has been informative for you and that it can become a resource for some people. And yes indeed! We should always reflect the things we do in daily life to learn what we can improve! 🌼 Thank you so much once again for taking your time in responding this, reading it, and liking it 🌼 I appreciate it 💖 Glad I'm a part of this community as well *hugs*