Internet Addiction: The Onset and Persistence
Given the fast growth of technology, it is common knowledge that individuals prefer to spend more time online. The Internet is often used for research, communication, entertainment, and commerce. However, Internet dependency also has detrimental ramifications, disconnecting individuals from their social relationships and diminishing their ability to do ordinary everyday tasks.
Internet addiction is enabled in part by the fact that feedback from others on what is shared online functions as a reward, which in turn perpetuates the cycle of internet use. The reactions of others to a person's online sharing contribute to internet addiction by boosting the person's online involvement and prolonging the Internet usage cycle. In turn, this causes a person to spend more time on the Internet.
As the person spends time on the Internet, an emotional experience involving happiness (a euphoric state) is triggered initially. As the person uses the Internet more often, he or she gets more linked to the Internet (tolerance) in order to attain the same euphoric experience. When a person is unable to connect to the Internet, he or she experiences side effects (withdrawal symptoms), which are the polar opposite of happy symptoms, such as sadness. The person who attempts to deal with these feelings passively ultimately develops a strong need to connect to the Internet on a regular basis. This mechanism, the complicated emotion-intense desire-passive coping-repetitive behavior cycle, is irreversible in the long term and leads to internet addiction.
If you think you have an Internet addiction, our psychotherapists at the GRACE Psychotherapy Center are available to help.