Internet Addiction Affects Us All

By Joanna Miller in Miscellaneous on Oct 25, 2006 8:29PM

Do you know how long you’ve been staring at your computer screen? No? Perhaps you lost consciousness for a while? And maybe your wife is divorcing you because you spend too much time online?

According to Stanford University researchers, these are signs of an Internet addiction. Other symptoms include compulsive email checking and using the Internet to escape real-life problems.

They say one in eight Internet users report symptoms similar to alcohol and other addictions. These people may be obsessed with online gambling and porn, as well as chat rooms, blogs and shopping.

So, as usual, the first step is admitting you have a problem, and then getting some help. Luckily, there’s a Web site devoted to Internet addiction. You can even take an online quiz to help you self-diagnose your Internet addition with questions like, “How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Internet?”

Then again, if you’re addicted to Chicagoist, that’s an entirely different story altogether and not bad at all.

BAD SIMBA! via Kevin