Thank you a lot. But there are two alternative points of view. One of them- if it's addiction, it'll be caused by two reasons- social and psychological. I remember two greatest persons- Socrates and Dostoyevsky. Socrates couldn't live without communication- he took poison. Dostoyevsky couldn't live without gambling- he spent all his money on games.Were they addicted?

My friend PhD in Sciences and I are researching the problem "a computer and a personality: negative consequences of Internet addiction disorder". But there are a lot of contraindicative points of view on this problem. Some scientists think, that it' s a habit only, like watching football on TV. Some scientists exaggerate this problem and dwell on facts of madness, suicide, murder, death as a result of the Internet addiction. Some write about productive activity in the process of games. The most dangerous thing is that our brain can receive a powerful doze of adrenalin, that's why this virtual habit can replace joys of life. Are the facts of aggression - consequences of computer addiction or other social reasons?

In psychology, is it accepted as an "impulse control behavior" ? This would put it inline with xxxxxx-mania disorder category ... I think a lot of people "connect" through this new "medium" . If you are communicating with somebody face-to-face, you have to "respond" immediately ... However, for example, internet-based social networks afford you to time to think, get your emotions in order (to a point) , etc ... So, I see the social network sites as a way for people to connect using a different "medium". My sister-in-law lives 400 miles away from us. My wife always communicates with her and my nieces, nephews through Facebook. If she had to "drive" there, she would be seeing them once a year ! So, is this internet addiction ? or, utilizing this new communications medium to bring people close to each other ?

Now, if you are talking about "impulse shopping" on the internet, how is this different than impulsive shopping at a store ?

I don't see anything different with the internet, it is just a new medium to connect people. I bet you, when the "cars" were first invented, they were talking about "driving addiction" ?

Hello Irina,

I don't know enough about this issue to be qualified to comment. With anyone having the broad interests that we share, the Internet is almost a "convenient nuisance" (sort of like a trampoline in a neighbor's yard, as lawyers would see it). As for my attraction to the Internet, I regularly have to ask myself whether I am spending my time wisely and not compromising my time-resource with which I must take care of necessary business (including everything from home-based chores to work-related tasks) and often it's necessary to choose to ignore some of the attractive items that beg for attention. Other problems that have been mentioned, however, I thankfully seem to not have, so will continue to simply try to exercise wisdom in my choices.

In case you'd like to see my latest "interesting" and "attractive" web-information, see this: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13921021000393.

Best regards,

Ed

I can see a point in Ms Pechonkina's concern. I know many people that spend a lot of time with games on the internet and the question which arises is when do we call it an addiction and when is it a hobby.

The problem of addiction to computer usage is one of "use and abuse" abuse leads to awkward social behavior such as manic impulsive traits of character projecting reality through a screen the case is more prominent in adolescence (teens) .

I see nothing wrong with social applications (mailing Skype and point to point) or forum communication over the globe which otherwise would have been impossible internet shopping promotes marketing ,there should be a close monitoring of under aged users.

Hello,

Do not know if it's an illness or an addiction. But it certainly is a social phenomenon to be understood and studied.

I think the internet is primarily a social phenomenon. Today, more than before especially. My daughter goes out with her girlfriends and when they go home continue the conversation for some "WhatsApp" application type ...

The classic definition of addiction says it is a repetitive habit and that generates some damage to the addict and / or those who live with them.

I doubt if the inernet fits that definition.

It seems to me that we are facing a social phenomenon of communication, information and knowledge (beyond good and evil, as Nietzsche would say) than actually an addiction. On the other hand, do not rule out that the internet can become an addiction some pair. Play the internet for example has become an addiction. But there were already addicted to games before the internet lol ... or addicted to sex online ... but it comes to the internet addiction or addiction to sex?

I'm tempted to say that the internet has acquired a crucial dimension in our lives. I think we should understand this. I doubt if treating the Internet as an addiction will be discussing the actual dimensions of the internet and social complexity that a social tool acquired in our daily lives.

If someone uses a knife to murder someone the problem is the knife or the subject and its psychic motives that led him to kill someone?

It seems to me that we are facing a similar dilemma as the internet ...

See you later,

S.

I think is a complex question: Past century we had our grandparents sitting during hours listening radio shows, even, they could move around with a high level of speakers, then we had the TV, which keep us sitting, watching, it seems our eyes and ears work together, now we devices needing our eyes, ears, hands and attention... so, in my mind is not the device, is the cultural social moment.

Talking specifically about addiction, it can be, and it is, for some persons, however, it will depending of the environment. If you have a poor emotional environment, where nobody cares what you do, YES, you will have a bigger chance to become addict, but if your environment gives you something good to chat or do, or even going out to walk or enjoy a nice moment with a dog, the device will be the second, or third choice.

So, internet is as good as you wanted to make it. I use to work, most of my work is on line, but when my husband arrives, we talk and watch TV.

Now, as much as I hate the info-graphics, here we can see what people does; http://dashburst.com/infographic/internet-usage-statistics-desktop-mobile/

Here there is another: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/82401868156307235/... and one more site: http://pewinternet.org/Trend-Data-%28Adults%29/Online-Activites-Total.aspx

May or may not be .It depends on the person himself

For now nobody knows... I guess the present level of the internet and information technologies do not still allow people to become both more inteligent and more really socially active. Mainly up to date internet supplies a virtual feeling of getting involved into the global social life, but it is not more than a mystic illusion...

Internet addition does not lead to slavery.

All techno savvy communication modes lead to addiction. Whether addiction is the right word or not, will be a debatable issue. Being continuously on Internet or mobile apps, will definitely have its advantages as well as disadvantages. There is fine line between being an expert with these and being addicted to them. What we want to do, is upto us. Too much of anything is problematic .

It depends on the person who is using the internet.So, Internet addiction does not lead to slavery.

Today Internet is a necessary tool, but must be looked at as a tool only. Addiction must be prohibited by real social relationships especially for children and young people.

@Fairouz Bettayeb ·

Great, you are so right- really - "Internet is a necessary tool, but must be looked at as a tool only."

Regards!

Some behaviors become an addiction i.e. a compulsive habit that is maintained despite harmful consequences.

In pre-metallurgical perspective, communication was essentially gestual, figurative and oral, and technology (the know-how intended as intentional ideation, production and application of techniques/procedures, manual and/or instrumental, aimed at the satisfaction of anthropic purposes) was conveyed by practicing and by oral transmission.

The metallurgical technology (Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age), ie the extensive application of the ability to control fire to transform crude ore into finished metal (recyclable), resorting to a careful combination of metals to achieve a league, gave a strong impetus to the production of new artifacts, more durable and more effective than lytic.

This extraordinary technological impulse led to great social transformations, new cultural perspectives, and the need for new media, new forms of communication. A need that was satisfied by the invention of writing (IV-III millennium BC).

From this moment on, the plots between metallurgical techniques and communication techniques will determine the fate of millions people all over the world.

In our incredibly more sophisticated Age of the Ultra-Nano-Technologies, Genetic and Neurological Engineering , Informatics and Sub-Nuclear Engineering, the need for new media and new forms of communication is called tele- and internet communications.

Does it hurts?

Yesterday,the craftsman metalworker, the lord of fire (foreshadowed by the shaman), boasts of obtaining, in a short time, a result, the finished metal, which would otherwise require thousands of years to mature deep underground.

Today, scientists, with all the amazing technology we have, do the same thing. They pride themselves on being able to do things unthinkable, for example, communicate all over the world, and even out in space, through tele- and inetrnet-communications.

Can this affect our health, or our ability to discern? Yes. Why? Because the pervasive and invasive action of the new media is awesome.

Between the ideation, planning and production of oral language, and the ideation, planning and production of motor patterns, there is a relationship of mutual reinforcement and facilitation that, in turn, plays a facilitating and reinforcing action on the ideation, programming and production of sign language or body language that, in turn, performs an action of facilitation and reinforcement on the ideation, planning and production of written language (from the figurative form to the ideographic, syllabic, alphabetic, etc..).

For implementation purposes, the transition from oral language to written language uses the facilitating and reinforcing role played by sign (body) language, but it is thanks to the availability of hand-eye coordination that this step can become effective (the current storage media, such as interactive voice controlled or neural command software, have bypassed the use of hand-eye coordination).

On the ideative level, however, it is necessary to have an analogic system, capable of transferring the sound vibration (to which it has access, and on which it relies the oral and/or instrumental language) from acoustic plane to the geometric plane (Euclidean) the plan available to the hand that wrote. For this purpose, the geometric-material plane that acts as a support to the writing must become a dynamic plane (plane of potential and/or in action forces), capable of vibrating in different ways depending on how it is induced to vibrate, ie depending on the materials and gestures (praxis) used, exactly as the taut surface of a drum constitutes a dynamic plane able to vibrate with different modalities depending on the techniques of percussion, the materials and the shape of the instrument.

In this way, the ethereal world of phonemes gives life to the materic world of the graphemes.

To which transformations are we going towards, in our Age of bits and quantum-bits?

Claudio,

You make a link between metallurgy and the invention of writing whose development led to Internet. There is another link to the thread. Metallurgy and mining is the main source of the need of slavery. Only slaves, poeple who do not have any choice would do mining in the old days. Duing full moon days my brain makes to much connections.

Of course compulsive use of internet is regarded as addiction or disorder. Even then, it is better than wasting time on something else. Internet a new source of interaction and information. Even people interacting on facebook learn a lot. Their worldview changes so drastically and positively that their character is changed. My son doing BTech is of dry nature and had no sense of humor. After joining facebook he became humorous, his popularity has increased with the increased circle of friends in neighbourhood and university, otherwise he was a lonely and boring persons talking tersely.

Even internet gamers are also learn several skills. In one thread I have given reference of a scientific problem which scientists in Washington University could not solve with high speed computers over a decade, gamers solved that problem in ten days.

I would say slavery!

Regards

Theodora Issa

@Irina, nice thread, and many nice responses. Yes, I do consider internet as a tool,but, for example someone who gamble over the internet becomes an addict and this leads to a modern technological slavery. Many things that are available over the internet should be banned and constrained, regarding different social criteria!

No.I don think internet user addiction disorder leads to slavery. .It depends upon the user whether he use for good purpose or bad purpose.Internet is a tool and internet addiction does not lead to slavery if it is use rationally.

Deepak

Allow me not to agree! sometimes you would not be yourself if you have not checked the internet, especially now with the presence of the tablets, iphones etc... you are connected - and imagine if you are disconnected... you feel inappropriate -similar to someone who is used to smoking and suddenly stopped they would be feeling itchy! or something of the like....

Look at those travelling in the plane... they would be just eager to commence their phones as soon as airline official announces you can! jumping to using it... and finding out the wifi so they are connected...

Regards

Theodora Issa

It is said that "Too much of any thing is bad", but still, it ok, if some one keeps a "balance" between internet and daily life. Many a times, using internet is not "Too much", it is not addiction at all. So many buts and ifs, before we call it an IAD case. Above all, these devices and technology are need of the time. Only we have to be judicial in our approach. However, for reasons I would support the comments by Theodora Issa.

One of the issue to be clarified is what are the symptoms indicating that an habit has transformed itself into a compulsive habit, an addiction. When I was 8 years old, I became tv addict for a while and one of the symptom yes was the excessive number of hours about 6 hrs during weekend but a more potent symptom was that I was often watching tv show that I did not like at all just to stay in front of the tv in the hope that the next show will be better. So one symptom of internet addiction could be when we stay on it for hours that we do not really enjoy in hope that it will become enjoyable.

Prof Ravi Sharma

ADDICTION means excessive use of something gradually resulting a state in which not do without that specific thing.

How many times have we heard "HOW CAN YOU GET ALONG WITHOUT A COMPUTER",

Why excessively using the internet is not "too much" hence addiction .

I am afraid that the need for information has its limits.The excessive need to be connected is simply generated through good marketing.

It is USE V/S ABUSE i think.

Thank you for your discussions and thank you Prof. Sharma for your support - indeed, it seems the more we use this internet (excessive use) the more we are dependent on it - and the less we can live without it...

Regards

Theodora Issa

The fascination given by the ability to communicate in real time with anyone, anywhere in the world, is huge, extraordinary. The ability to access information of any kind, while sitting in front of an enabled device to surf the Internet, it is also extraordinary. Equally amazing is the opportunity to introduce themselves anywhere, for any reason. Internet (a global, interconnected network of computing devicese) and the Web (a subset of these interactions and supports websites), make possible an impressive variety of exchanges (commercial, cultural, scientific, informational, etc.), operations (financial, advertising, administrative , military, etc), contacts (related to sex, gambling, sharing interests, religion, etc.) and forms of entertainment for all tastes and all ages, pretty much unimaginable until the early nineties.

The acceleration of the relationship life has been impressive and, in some respects, devastating. The communicative power recognized to the internet and the web by millions of people around the world, has decreed the birth of a new (after the television), impressive, instrument capable of modeling behaviors, preferences, trends, opinions, ways of being, reference points and consciences of thousands people all over the word.

Every human community to thrive, it detects and recognizes itself in a system of behavioral landmarks, to be followed. This is their identitarian model.

What are the behavioral landmarks conveyed by the media?

Which is the identitarian model that dominates the web today?

Are we experiencing an epochal crisis of identity?

Dear all,

Thousand of thanks for your valuable thoughts. I think, it will be interesting to research the problem from age psychology. I found a useful material "Matrix of fundamental personal qualities in age evolution"I'd like to share this innovative approach of our doctor and researcher Makeev (2013) with you. It arouses a lot of thoughts.http://sci.forblabla.com/blog/45722097083/Matritsa-fundamentalnyih-lichnostnyih-kachestv?from=mail&l=bnq_bn&bp_id_click=43200415760&bpid=43200415760

Gratification here, there and everywhere, at any time, cost what it may. Gratification indefinitely. We live the era of the need of gratification, and of the removal of frustration.

To satisfy the compulsive need for gratification, you have to rely on technology. Easy.

Internet and the web amplify this equivalence: technology matches gratification.

Can this equivalence create behavioral disorders? Yeah sure.

Can the virtual reality, conveyed by devices conceived to simulate reality, for recreational purposes for example, generate behavioral disorders? Yeah sure.

Virtual reality on the market is conceived to meet the needs of gratification of the consumer of virtual reality.

For a child to escape from reality, into the world of fantasy, has a sense. For a teenager it has another meaning. For an adult yet another.

Align the fantasy with virtual reality, it is a marketing operation. If you succeed, you have a good chance of selling your product passing it off as harmless.

As i maintain compulsive use of the internet is generated by good marketing

Interesting discussion. I'm working in this area and it seems that the academic work to have coined the phrase "Internet Addiction" is by Dr. Young:

Young, K. S. (1998). Caught in the net: How to recognize the signs of internet addiction–and a winning strategy for recovery. John Wiley & Sons.

Lack of sleep and fatigue are common signs of addictive or compulsive online behavior. Interestingly, many addicts will even take caffeine pills just to stay awake and alert for a longer duration to use the Internet. Internet addicts may also suffer from back strain, eyestrain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and repetitive stress inquiry from intensive time spent at the computer.

Individuals may feel overwhelmed or be experiencing job burnout or money problems or life-changing events such as a recent divorce, relocation, or a death in the family can absorb themselves in a virtual world inside the computer. They can loose themselves in anything from online pornography, Internet gambling, or online gaming and once online, the difficulties of their lives fade into the background as their attention becomes completely focused on the computer. The Internet becomes a new way of escaping without really dealing with the underlying problems becoming a quick fix to wash away troubling feelings

Sorry, but I think it is advisable to consider the significance of the INTERNET and WEB in the appropriate manner. This is to avoid confusion.

The question is: is it correct to speak of addiction to the internet, or would it be more appropriate to speak of addiction to the web?

Definition of: Web vs. Internet

(http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/54358/web-vs-internet)

Content vs. transport. Many people use the terms Web and Internet synonymously. In casual conversation such as "I was on the Internet" or "I was on the Web," there is no difference. However, the Web is only one of the many services deployed on the Internet. Just as cargo is transported in a truck on a highway, a Web page is transported in packets on the Internet.

Not Just Web Pages

Every form of information travels over the Internet, including Web pages, e-mail messages, newsgroup news, instant messages as well as audio, video and data files of all description. Countless client-to-server and client-to-client (peer-to-peer) applications use the Internet as the transport between sending and receiving stations.

IP Packets

When information is sent over the Internet, it is first broken apart, and each part is placed inside an electronic package called an "IP packet" (Internet Protocol packet). At the receiving end, the data are removed from the packets and reassembled back into their original format.

A provocative question Irina, given that so many of my colleagues (and I include myself in this description) freely acknowledge that the iPhone (or similar) has transformed the way they work - so that tweeting, posting and reading of Facebook messages, and managing email and online course content now occupies their time from waking to the moment they set their alarm at night.

it is all too easy to pathologize 'others' use of technologies (and I note the references to gaming and pornography in earlier postings... so that this 'othering' seems to operate within moral parameters - but do you consider that we should perhaps be turning the lens more upon how our use of technologies is having profound impacts upon everyday life for so many people...including academics?

The border or boundary between the dutiful educator responding to a student query at midnight and later, and that of the supposedly addicted gamer is a matter of the power of the reward and the intensity and frequency of response. For the academic the reward for intense and extended interaction with students in virtual environments may eventuate in positive student feedback, and those valuations are critical to promotion. For the gamer..similar behaviours lead to a badging of success and a move to the next level.

Intriguing - and a resonant question for us all..academics do not live outside that description of addiction given that each of us is engaged in this environment with its positive rewarding of 'engagement' ( and not doubt other environments such as Lindk'dIn.)

Janice

@JJ Very rightly said I do agree with your comments. I feel that the question aims at very young persons -students or young professionals, only .

For a retired Senior Scientist, the word "Addiction" does not arise at all, because purposeful interaction(s) with students/colleagues/academic friends is a boon to keep alive the thought process as well as memories and share the knowledge gained during the entire life. More we use web/internet more we share. I give 8-10 hrs every day at my convenience and feel involved and professionally active.

Symptoms of addiction as Prof Ravi Sharma correctly mentions can be attributed only to young users

Arno

Point taken

In drug addiction therapy placebo drugs are used the major problem in internet addiction normal educational side-effect as you name it can be treated by progressive abstention of using computer-usage returning to lectures and libraries seeking information as placebo sources of information.

Is someone who watches TV every evening addicted to television? Or is it just the way he spends his leisure time?

If you compare it to alcohol one would estimate the person is addicted to it.

Thank you a lot. But there are two alternative points of view. One of them- if it's addiction, it'll be caused by two reasons- social and psychological. I remember two greatest persons- Socrates and Dostoyevsky. Socrates couldn't live without communication- he took poison. Dostoyevsky couldn't live without gambling- he spent all his money on games.Were they addicted?

Both Socrates and Dostoyevsky deliberately chose their own path. no one could say they were addicted for it was their mode/way of life.

@Irina Pechonkina

It is evidently that Yes, especially F. Dostoyevsky... He was really very talented, yet not completely psychically healthy, and his gambling addiction was only a result of his health...To the regret. Concerning Socratus one can find other explanations of his behavior, not necessary related with addiction...

Regards!

@Irina, physical effects of Internet Addiction are given on following picture!

P.S. yes, it is interesting picture!

Dear Ljubomir,

Oh, thank you a lot! It's a very useful material for Andrey Nikolayevich and me!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brainside.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Very good link dear Irina! I like the following: " ...NetAddiction.com offer self-assessment tests to determine if technology has become a drug."

http://netaddiction.com/

IRINA

Great article it stresses impatience as a by-product of excessive Internet and computer usage among the non-specialists

@Irina, very good point. It let me think how internet affects the course of a disorder when the patient has the certainty to may know everything by internet and, therefore, to cure himself by automedication. I have seen serious physical damages by internet! I liken Internet to a beautiful penthouse from which you can enjoy a fascinating panorama only if it is resting on a solid foundation. Without a base, the penthouse collapses and the landscape suddenly becomes disastrous.

Lots of people have experienced Internet Addiction. Once it is proved, the outcome will depend on each individual being and his level of addiction. It should be treated like any other addiction and not just a misbehavior. I believe it is much harder to diagnose and treat than ordinary known drugs and one can fall trapped much faster too.

The technique is the daughter of the process of abstraction; for a long time it has been driven by social production that required tools. Today the technique is "autonomised" from the social relationship and is incorporated into the productive relationship, leading to a "primacy of instrumental reason", of means over ends. If the technique automatize itself, it achieves the technical organization of the technique: it only responds to its own power with the sole purpose of self-continuous growth; automatized even by particular purposes, which has enslaved to the sole purpose of increasing itself. Today, from the technique we expect miracles; we can imagine that tomorrow we will have prosthesis for everything: replacing the liver, heart, eyes, face, even the brain, with the serious risk that this could lead to a transformation of the man anthropological statute.

The use of the informatics tool, is part of the wider panorama the fetishist cult of the hyper-technological tool and the power gained from possessing it and being possessed by it (techno-idolatry). The use of informatics language, as a privileged tool of communication, marks the beginning of a profound anthropological (psychological, cultural, religious, social) transformation,  that will change the way of relating between people, leading to a human identity model that is gradually more uncertain and disconnected from the natural body, sensitive-thinking-vulnerable-perishable-unique-finite, and increasingly fascinated by the idea of a virtual body, computerized-cybernetic-invulnerable-artificial-modifiable-transparent.

Annie J.Daniel https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232113892_An_Exploration_of_Middle_and_High_School_Students_Perceptions_of_Deviant_Behavior_When_Using_Computers_and_the_Internet

Article An Exploration of Middle and High School Students’ Perceptio...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274457540_Online_Time_and_Gender_Perceptions_of_Internet_Addiction

Article Online Time and Gender Perceptions of Internet Addiction

Internet browsing is a good friend but the hell of a master.

Firstly we should define what internet addiction is and this is not an easy thing to do. Secondly,  we should define all another terms here. The question is connected to our attitude to such issues , like "semi-illnesses" . The question is a serious one and has a lot of consequences. ..

Although the merits of the Internet make it an ideal research tool, students experienced significant academic problems as they surf irrelevant web sites, engage in chat room gossip, converse with Internet pen-pals, and play interactive games at the cost of productive activity students had difficulty completing homework assignments, studying for exams, or getting enough sleep to be alert for class the next morning due to such Internet misuse. Often times, they were unable to control their Internet use which eventually resulted in poor grades,academic probation and even expulsion from the university.

With the popularity and wide-spread promotion of the Internet, we must first determine a set of criteria which would define addictive from normal Internet usage. If a workable set of criteria could be effective in diagnosis, then such criteria could be used in clinical treatment settings and facilitate future research on addictive Internet use. However, proper diagnosis is often complicated by the fact that the term addiction is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders  (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association. Of all the diagnoses referenced in the DSM-IV, Pathological Gambling was viewed as most akin to the pathological nature of Internet use. By using Pathological Gambling as a model, Internet addiction can be defined as an impulse-control disorder which does not involve an intoxicant. Therefore, this study developed a brief eight-item questionnaire referred to as a Diagnostic Questionnaire (DQ) which modified criteria for pathological gambling to provide a screening instrument for addictive Internet use:

1. Do you feel preoccupied with the Internet (think about previous on-line activity or anticipate next on-line session)?

2. Do you feel the need to use the Internet with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction?

3. Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop Internet use?

4. Do you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop Internet use?

5. Do you stay on-line longer than originally intended?

6. Have you jeopardized or risked the loss of significant relationship, job, educational or career opportunity because of the Internet?

7. Have you lied to family members, therapist, or others to conceal the extent of involvement with the Internet?

8. Do you use the Internet as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a dysphoric mood (e.g., feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, depression)?

The substitution of natural forms of relation between humans for internet relations in few years can be cause of new disorders with addiction to these last forms of communication.

Internet addiction, if it exists, is less harmful than other types of addiction. Though not a strong, especially young, mind can be controlled via Internet.

Internet is the cause of alienation and loneliness. Definitely, it is a disorder.

Does Internet addiction disorder lead to development or slavery?

Think moderately use of Internet can lead to development but excessively use of Internet can lead to “slavery”. The degree of moderately / excessively use is different from a person to another & depending on the surrounding environment / conditions. In order to curb any addiction we need to cut down / eliminate the usage or exposure plus other interventions like counseling, positive substitution, proper guidance of usage, understanding of the word "freedom" etc.

This topic reminds me about the definition of freedom.  Some people define freedom as "I can do anything I like" which can lead to addiction in certain situations.  Some people define freedom as "If I don't like this I can control not doing it" which might not lead to addiction.

If a human being is alone in his real life and can't get the adequate response from the people around, he tries to find a friend in the virtual communication. It's normal. Our world is so infinite and so close and may be your true friend is among the diverse world.Why not? It's so rare thing to find a human being.To Igor Severyanin, "In the immeasurable humanity there is the rare thing - a human being!"

https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B8_%D0%BE_%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B5_(%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BD) Стихи о человеке

 Меж тем как век — невечный — мечется

И знаньями кичится век,

В неисчислимом человечестве

Большая редкость — Человек.

Приверженцы теории Дарвина

Убийственный нашли изъян:

Вся эта суетливость Марфина —

Наследье тех же обезьян.

Да, в металлической стихийности

Всех механических страстей —

Лишь доля малая «марийности»

И серебристости вестей…

Земля! Века — ты страстью грезила,

Любовь и милосердье чла,

И гордостью была поэзия,

Для человечьего чела!

Теперь же дух земли увечится,

И техникою скорчен век,

И в бесконечном человечестве,

Боюсь, что кончен Человек.

Irina,

Wish I knew Russian.

I'm always your free teacherThe greatest opportunity is to master every language through the communication in virtuality, because the aim of communication is real, not artificial.

Hello there,

Internet addiction is described as an impulse control disorder, which does not involve use of an intoxicating drug and is very similar to pathological gambling. Internet addiction results in personal, family, academic, financial, and occupational problems that are characteristic of other addictions. Impairments of real life relationships are disrupted as a result of excessive use of the Internet. 

Problematic Internet use is also called compulsive Internet use (CIU), Internet overuse, problematic computer use, or pathological computer use, problematic Internet use.

Being addicted to the Internet can also cause physical discomfort or medical problems such as: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, dry eyes, backaches, severe headaches, eating irregularities, (such as skipping meals), failure to attend to personal hygiene, and sleep disturbance.

Regards

Getting addicted to internet will surely lead to slavery. We must know our limit to use internet and it should be use wisely. If we are using internet it should be useful for growing our knowledge and also can be use for relaxing our mind. But some misunderstand the word relaxation. They think they are relaxing their mind but in reality they waste more time making excuses. There are chance you may start feeling lonely if you use computer too long. This will lead to lack of social interaction. Even if your using for good purpose we must give rest to our eyes for every twenty minute.

Dear @Sudeep, you MUST cite the original resources. Here they are! This is my friendly advice in order to avoid plagiarism!

http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/index.aspx?AID=43

https://canadaslim.wordpress.com/2017/03/12/slave-to-the-machine-one-flew-over-the-internet/

So far the Internet is poorly protected from propaganda, any kind of extremism, fraud, phishing, social engineering, illegal business, etc. While it is an attractive information storage, communication and business opportunities tool, it remains a quite dangerous place, especially for kids and easily influenced adults.

Every country decides independently what propaganda and extremism should be prohibited. There should be a global cooperation and decisive actions on what is to be limited and/or prohibited on the Internet. Meanwhile, parents, schools, colleges and universities should consider tighter control measures on the Internet which is not responsible for the students' security and education, but they do.

It is difficult to prevent free adults to be over consumed by the Internet, and it seems like a nobody's business to do so. However, it is a growing concern of this new form of addiction and dependence. Time will tell what is the best cure for it.

I think that when one depends more of technologies one can be less happy person.

Everything in moderation.