Do we really have a problem with digital addiction, or are we just talking about dependence? For example, it is more challenging to identify a quantifiable, adverse consequence of Internet use because it is a medium rather than an activity. Digital dependency turns into an addiction if you discover that you have an overwhelming urge to use your gadgets and be online, to the point that it interferes with your life and prevents you from participating in social activities or doing tasks you should be doing.
Digital addiction includes an inability to function without a phone, as well as an inability to use social media or the Internet in general.
The condition known as “phone addiction” occurs when a person uses their smartphone excessively to the point where it interferes with their everyday life. According to therapist Paul Hokemeyer, personality disorders and underlying behavioral health conditions may be the cause of this syndrome. A socially awkward demeanor, anxiety, and sadness are a few of these underlying diseases. They are impacted by these problems and turn to their phones for solace.
You most likely have a social media addiction if you feel the urge to post about every detail of your life on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Despite the fact that doctors do not recognize this addiction, current research has shown that excessive Facebook use might lower pleasure and satisfaction levels.
On the other hand, pathological internet use, or impulse control dysfunction, is the definition of internet addiction. Those who are impacted by this problem spend so much time online that they have trouble telling the difference between reality and the virtual world. The likelihood of overpaying on the internet is increased by this disease.
In 1997, even before the emergence of computers and cellphones, psychologists began examining the “addictive potential” of the Internet. People who used the Internet were exhibiting signs of illness even in its early stages, such as difficulty at work, social isolation, and an inability to cut back. The feeling of connecting to something, as opposed to an activity that may be completed via that medium, is what makes the Internet so addicting.
Around 2008, an editorial in The American Journal of Psychiatry requested that Internet Addiction be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), which is regarded as the bible of psychiatry. This marked the beginning of recognition of Internet addiction as a serious issue.
According to psychiatrist Jerald Block, ten years of research had shown that the 1997 study’s suspicions about the Internet’s potential to trigger the same patterns of excessive use, withdrawal, tolerance, and adverse effects linked to substance misuse were correct.
Black said, “Internet addiction is resistant to treatment, entails significant risks, and has high relapse rates.” As a result, just like any other disorder, Internet addiction requires treatment.
More people now think that using the Internet can lead to addictive behaviors on its own. For instance, a 2012 study that looked at about twelve thousand teenagers in eleven European nations discovered that 4.4% of the individuals either had “pathological Internet use” or used the internet in a way that negatively impacted their lives and health.
Overuse of the internet can lead to mental anguish and dysfunction associated with pathological gambling, particularly when it interferes with social and professional activities. The majority of the teenagers who misused the Internet and were polled also had anxiety, despair, OCD, and A.D.H.D.
Internet addiction was not included in the DSM-V’s official list of behavioral addictions because insufficient data was available. Given the rise of problematic Internet use in recent years, the situation may shift.
Internet use can become compulsive, according to Marc Potenza, a Yale psychiatrist and the head of the school’s Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders. “I think there are people who find it very difficult to tolerate time without using digital technologies like smartphones or other ways of connecting via the Internet,” he stated. What defines a problem is the sense of connectedness—or lack thereof.
According to a new San Francisco State University study, loneliness, anxiety, and despair are all increased by digital addiction. Additionally, it was discovered that using a smartphone can be comparable to using other substances.
