Artifact 10

One idea I have for the focus of my fourth essay is internet addiction.  For this artifact I read the article “Miss G: A Case of Internet Addiction”. 

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/miss-g-a-case-of-internet-addiction/?emc=eta1

In this article by Virginia Heffernan, she begins to talk about an online addiction test created by Dr. Young, a professor at Bonaventure University in 1998. Dr. Young says that the internet is addictive because it allows a person to create new personalities and helps individuals fulfill psychological needs.  Dr. Young’s test will suggest that any real-life task should be more important and more fulfilling than online interactions or social life.  A question from her internet addiction test is “Do you neglect household chores to use the internet?”  This could be a warning sign if you are spending more time on the internet or thinking about the internet then taking care of your real responsibilities.  In the article, they later discuss how some things a person is considered “passionate” about but with the internet it is considered to be addiction.  A person can be obsessed with poetry and art which is just being passionate about it.  The word passionate is like addiction in the sense that you are really involved with something and spend a lot of time thinking about it or taking part in it, but passion is healthier than addiction.  Being passionate is showing your emotions for something in a way that isn’t considered unhealthy or an illness like internet addiction.  The article also touches on the issue that the internet makes females vulnerable to predators. 

Internet addiction is a growing issue.  The article discusses the 20-year-old college student, Gabriela, who is an internet addict.  She sleeps with her laptop and stays up to all hours of the night because she is surfing the web.  Everything she views on the internet she connects with other things she must research just to get basic information about and that will lead to more discoveries for her.  It is all interconnected.  Gabriela refrains from using the internet on her Sabbath day, but during this day she is constantly talking or thinking about the internet.  It seems the internet has benefitted Gabriela in a way that some might find unusually.  She is gaining knowledge all the time and happy with her life just the way it is.  Her “addiction” of the internet hasn’t reacted against her just yet; it is still at a somewhat normal level.  This article mentions the idea that we have seen many times throughout this class, the idea that “fantasy life and real life should, ideally, be brought into balance”. 

I believe that internet addiction is a growing problem for many individuals all around the world.  In some cases, like Gabriela, the addiction is handled in a way that one can carry on their normal responsibilities and be productive, even if the internet is always on their mind.  It will be very interesting to see more cases of internet addiction as I continue my research for this essay.  I would think that most people today have a little bit of internet addiction in them because of all the distractions the internet has offered us.  We get on the computer as soon as we walk into our rooms and check our Facebook accounts, then we download music, look at Textsfromlastnight.com, creep on Facebook some more, and finally we start our homework.  The distractions of the internet are the main reason people get addicted.  There is so much to know, so much to look up, so much to see.