With new tech toys constantly popping up like the 3G- iPhone and other small portable hand-held Internet devices, some people might be wondering if it's a good idea to be on the Internet so much.
You see it everywhere, whether waiting in lines, in classrooms, on the bus, at the grocery store, or even in the car.
The Internet has even transformed language with such words as "blog," "text," "IM," and "LOL."
The next generation has seemingly turned into the "text" generation with the ability to have information at finger tips and chat with friends and family at the touch of a button.
But not only are legislators now taking a look at whether "texting" and over-obsessive Internet use is safe in the car, but the issue has become a main topic of discussion in psychiatric groups.
"Internet Addiction," termed in the American Psychiatric Association committee's editorial published in March, 2008, appears to be a common disorder that merits inclusion in DSM-V (Five), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the latest manual for revising mental conditions in America.
The article in the American Journal of Psychiatry was written by Dr. Jerald J. Block, who briefly discussed the epidemic on a recent showing of the Coast-to-Coast am radio program.
The diagnosis is a compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder that involves online and/or off line computer usage and consists of at least three subtypes: excessive gaming, sexual preoccupations, and email/text messaging.
All of the variants share the following four components, excessive use, often associated with a loss of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives, withdrawal, including feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible, tolerance, including the need for better computer equipment, more software, or more hours of use, and negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation, and fatigue.
According to the APA, most research on Internet addiction has been published in South Korea, where Internet gaming cafes actually have become violent. Using data from 2006, the government says about 210,000 South Korean children (2.1 percent, ages 6 to 19 are afflicted and require treatment. About 80 percent of those needing treatment may need psychotropic medications and perhaps 20 percent to 24 percent require hospitalization.
China is also concerned about the disorder with about 10 million teenagers afflicted by the disorder.
In the United States, accurate estimates of the prevalence of the disorder are lacking. Unlike in Asia, where Internet cafes are frequently use and in the US games and virtual sex are accessed from the home. Attempts to measure the phenomenon are clouded by shame, denial and minimization, and further complicated by comorbidity, with about 86 percent of Internet Addiction cases having some other disorder diagnosis present.
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