Internet Computer Addiction Among Teens

A growing trend is internet computer addiction among teens. It is not a positive trend, unfortunately, but negative. This kind of addiction among teens is very often destructive and one that could have a major impact on not only the computer addict, but on his or her family and friends also.

Teenagers of today find that the internet and computers are a necessity if they are going through high school. They need the internet and computers to do research for their assignments. If you don't have a computer you will get left behind in this information age. Internet addiction among teens is not specifically targetted towards the teens themselves, even children in lower grades will require a computer to research their assignments, but it all leads to one thing - computer dependency.

If a parent needs to combat internet computer addiction among teems, how are are they going to do it without confiscating the computer and depriving their children of it? It is not going to be possible to stop their teens from going anywhere near a computer. Computers are at schools, internet cafes and with friends. These are just some of the challenges faced by the parents of teens who are suffering from computer and internet addiction.

So, what sort of signs do parents of teens addicted to the computer have to look out for? Internet computer addiction among teens ranges from being addicted to games to spending hours and hours in chat rooms. Either way, the teenager is living out a fantasy life. The internet and computer is often an escape from reality for teenagers who feel they do not fit in with the real world. Either in chat rooms or with games, the teenager can be whomever they choose to be. All it takes is a click of the mouse and they are in their fantasy world living out their dream life, either in the form of a hero in a game to being somebody they are not in a chat room.

It is unfortunate that for a minority of teenagers, role playing of this kind turns into a full-on addiction. Internet computer addiction among teens is very often the cause of family arguments because the teen will forgo social and family events preferring to use their computer instead. Very often an internet addict will stay up all night playing games or using a chat room. In the worst cases, teens will quit school or college favoring their computer and internet addiction.

Internet computer addiction among teens is very similar to other teenage addictions, such as alcohol or tobacco. Symptoms can include mood changes, they can become withdrawn, bursts of anger and a huge impact on their social relationships.

To prevent, and end, internet computer addiction among teens is somewhat a challenge. A parent of a teenager suffering from internet and computer addiction should act upon it as soon as they see the symptoms by trying to limit the amount of hours the teenager spends on the computer. Encouraging the child to take up other pastimes or hobbies can in most cases turn their attention away from the computer.

An organization specifically set up to combat internet computer addiction among teens, and has helped many thousands of teens and indeed, people of all ages, with their computer and internet addiction. The organization is called The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery and can be found online at http://www.netaddiction.com.

http://www.computeraddictionanswers.com provides information on everything related to Computer Addiction. If you stop by our site you will get some education in different forms of computer addiction. Be sure to check out our page on internet computer addiction among teens.

Internet Addiction - What Are the Signs?

What Is It?

Internet Addiction Disorder or IAD is an impulse control disorder which does not involve use an intoxicating drug and is similar to pathological gambling in many ways. It is online-related compulsive behavior that disrupts and causes stress on relationships with family, friends and colleagues.

Addiction versus spending too much online can be differentiated by asking the question: "Do you control the Internet, or does the Internet control you?" Internet addiction can come to dominate a person's life and become more important than family, friends and work. To an addict, life without the internet is not life at all and will jeopardize real life relationships and successes to maintain their unhealthy behavior.

Internet Addiction is commonly broken down into various types including: online pornography, gambling, gaming, and online shopping addiction. The internet started as a convenient electronic network for academics and the military to share information, but has exploded into much more than that. Many people spend time on the internet and many more people spend too much time on the internet, but internet use becomes problematic and an addiction when people feel like they need to use it and it becomes a compulsion instead of just a way to procrastinate or reach a service online.

Although IAD has not yet been recognized as a clinical diagnosis, it is gaining momentum and recognition as a destructive addiction that can be especially detrimental to people with other co-occurring problems and issues. Internet Addiction is not determined by the time spent online, but rather a person's inability to control themselves when it comes to its use.

Symptoms of Addiction

- Always thinking about the Internet and what you did or will do

- Finding that you need to be online longer and longer to feel satisfied.

- Feeling restless, moody, depressed or irritable when trying to cut down on using the internet

- Significant relationships, your job, educational or career opportunities becoming endangered because of your internet use

- Finding that you lie to your family, friends and colleagues about how long or often you use the internet.

- Using the internet to avoid feeling negative emotions such as hopelessness, guilt and depression.

Treatment

IAD is a compulsive-impulsive disorder, and those affected generally require therapy to get better. As it is hardly realistic to expect people to eliminate technology from their lives, most therapies teach controlled use, and behavioral modification.

5 Ways to Curb Internet Addiction

Ah, the internet! I love the internet! There's always some exciting site to see, waiting for me to discover it (thank you, StumbleUpon!) But an internet addiction is a scary vice that can grip you, and sometimes you have to seriously curb back your online usage so the clamps let go.

For instance, take the time span of half an hour. Half an hour doesn't seem like much - it's only 30 minutes. But half an hour a day for one week is equal to 210 minutes, or 3 1/2 hours. Most of us idly spend 30 minutes at the computer a day, but we don't realize how quickly it can add up. What could you do in 3 1/2 hours instead of sitting online? You could start a new exercise routine, learn how to successfully cook a new meal, or spend some time catching up with old friends on the phone.

In this article, 5 ways of curbing an internet addiction, you will find five simple steps that I've found to be effective in immensely slashing my time online.

1. Go through your RSS subscriptions and cut down on the blogs you read. We all love blogs! How many of those blogs do you really love to read, though? Is it necessary to really subscribe to 1,000 different blogs? Cut out all of the useless junk, and only stick to the blogs you adore. Let everything else fall through the cracks.

2. Set time limits. By setting yourself a crystal clear time limit for online usage - for example, 30 minutes to two hours - you'll only go to the websites that you absolutely must go to, and get some real work done online. If you tell yourself you only have 15 minutes to check and answer all e-mails before you shut off the computer, you'll zip through those e-mails as fast as lightning.

3. Be clear why you're online. We all know this familiar story - you get online to *only* check your e-mail... but somehow that leads to looking at gossip websites, which leads to having to share the gossip with other people. Eventually two hours pass, and you only got three e-mails checked. (But hey! At least you got all of the latest celebrity gossip under your belt!) If you are totally clear on why you are online, succumbing to the lures of time wasters won't trap you.

4. Track your internet usage for a few days. Log how much time you're spending online each day. Don't just do a half-assed job about it either, even if you go online for exactly 43 seconds, write it down. After two to three days, look back at your log. How much time were you really wasting? What could you shuffle around so that your internet time is less?

5. Replace internet time with something else. Take a half an hour of time thrown at the internet, and channel it into something else. Why not exercise? Learn how to cook? Play the piano? Read a book? There are a million things you can do that don't require the internet. You might pick up on some valuable skills in the process.

But hey - above all, enjoy the time you do spend on the internet each and every day!