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Does Internet Addiction Exist?

I recently wrote a magazine article about online communities, and discussed online disorders including Internet Addiction Disorder. Whilst I highlighted Internet Addiction as a disorder that has been identified I wonder whether it actually exists.

My model of ecological cognition suggests that the World Wide Web is an environment in which actors (people) and artefacts (tools and signs, such as hyperlinks) and structures exist, just as the real world or goldfish bowls are environments. The computer through which we access the Web may seem like a tool that someone is using from a system perspective, but it is an environment which the computer user becomes part of.

Saying that people can be addicted to the Internet is like saying people can be addicted to the real world. The Internet, or Web is an environment, so people can only be addicted to aspects of the environment, such as bidding on eBay, as people are addicted to aspects of the real world, such as gambling at casinos.

Some say that feelings of withdrawal from the Internet are evidence of Internet Addiction. If someone regularly acts out social desires in a pub with a friend and then suddenly that pub closes down then they are going to experience feelings of withdrawal, as they will no long be able to act out the desires they usually act out. If someone regularly acts out social desires in a chat room then suddenly no longer as access to the Internet they are not experiencing feelings of withdrawal because they are addicted to the Internet, but because they cannot act out the desires they want to act out.

People can develop real friendships online and meet interesting people that they may otherwise not have met. How it can be a disorder to regularly socialise online I do not know.

Publication: Unpublished Weblog Article

Date: 03 September 2005

Why did Jonathan express this opinion?

Jonathan believes that the computer is an environment and not a tool.

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