Internet Addiction - Fact or Fantasy?

If you read sites such as Center for Online Addiction, you are led to believe that there is such a thing as online addiction. And if you take the quiz and are like me, you come to believe that perhaps you suffer from such ailments.

But is it fantasy or fact?

I used to believe that there was such a thing. I found myself pining to get online. My life revolved around the computer. The people on them were more real and more of a friend to me than the guy next door. If someone were to suddenly talk to me about computers or the Internet, I’d suddenly get excited.

Over time, I started to realize I didn’t remember how to socialize normally. I’d go to parties and find myself the quiet one in the corner. Was I always like this? I couldn’t remember.

The agony of not being part of the “crowd” nearly overwhelmed me with depression. My escape was my computer. Thus, the spiral began. The more time I spent online, the less time I spent with real people.

But the need for real people didn’t escape me. I chided myself each night for my lack of physical friends. Why can’t I find someone to just go to the mall with? Why can’t I have a best friend or a buddy like that person over there? I had a lot of acquaintances, but I felt like none of them really knew me.

Then we planned a big trip with some of my husband’s friends. Six days on the river to white water raft. It was the longest trip I had planned in a long time. And it would be completely away from civilization, no computers, no TV, no hotels, no nothing.

Wilderness, here I come!

I was certain before the trip that it would be six days of pure agony. I would be away from my computer. Everything I knew and loved online would disappear or suddenly break down. I’d return and there would no longer be a place for me.

Well, we’re all still here so I guess I was wrong. And when I returned from that trip, I loathed the idea of getting back online. The piles of emails and layers of things to do felt more like work than enjoyment.

That was when I started to question, does Internet addiction really exist?

What do you think?

For me, I believe my addiction was with a game or a place or a site. But I wasn’t addicted to the Internet in general. True, I spent countless nights up and online. But most of them were because of a game or series of. So the more correct addiction would be to the games themselves, not the Internet.

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