Internet Addiction- In today’s world internet access has become an integral part of daily life, and is the largest and most versatile source of information. Internet has many benefits and has helped mankind evolve through technological advancement, however it has many negative consequences attached to it. Internet addiction is one amongst them. Internet Addiction is defined as any online-related, compulsive behavior which interferes with the user’s life. The over-usage causes severe stress in the personal life as well as on the work environment of a user.

According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V), internet addiction is classified as a psychological disorder. There are many reasons why such addictions are triggered in the first place. The internet is highly entertaining and informative which makes it an attractive escape from stress of everyday life. There are various reasons why one tends to get addicted to the internet, however the three main reasons are; emotional attachment, negative social causes and societal escapism.

Top 3 causes of Internet Addiction:

Emotional Attachment

The factor which causes internet addiction the most is emotional attachment, which develops very rapidly and intensely. It usually occurs when cyber-relationships are formed virtually between two users. This is built when two different users form a bond virtually through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Tinder etc. Cyber-relationships can also be formed between a user and the world to project his or her opinions, thoughts and more. This occurs in form of blogging, fan clubs and, social clubs where the user connects with multiple users. The need to stay connected with other users and keep engaging causes internet addiction to develop.

The other kinds of emotional attachments occur when professionals who want to progress in their career are overusing the internet to reach their goals. The type of internet activity depends on the profession they are involved with. This can be in the form of over researching and continuously keeping track on activities related to their profession for example tracking the stock market.

According to Rosen (2012), a checklist about internet addiction is provided which highlights many problems or concerns, out which one in particular is attachment to devices. This point shows how users’ attachment to devices are noticed by their close ones, due to the intense usage of internet. Rosen states that people unwillingly get attached to their devices, which interferes with their social relationships, cloud their thought process and, causes negative emotions. Therefore, when an internet user is emotionally attached to the activity they are pursuing for a long period of time, they tend to get addicted as it gives them sense of satisfaction.

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Negative social causes

The negative social causes are caused by one’s disturbed family, work or social environment, it can lead to a feeling of loneliness, discrimination or rejection from people. Negative social causes can trigger depression or other psychological problems at some point in one’s life, due to the imbalance in a particular environment. When one is in a depressed state, he or she might feel an inevitable feeling of hopelessness and sorrow, therefore making them turn towards the internet to satisfy their emotional needs. These constant negative emotions causes over use of the internet which later turns into internet addiction.

In a study, Price (2011), showed how in China, poor grades and disappointing jobs opportunities caused high internet addiction amongst university students. The students identified showed significant psychological problems and a high level of internet addiction. These students were diagnosed with high level of depression and one specific factor which triggered this act was that the majority of the students belonged to “a single–parent family”. These students were facing instability in their personal lives and therefore performed poorly in their work environment, causing them to reach out to alternative source such as the internet to fulfill their emotional needs.

Societal Escapism

Societal pressure and expectations brings a sense of escapism, allowing the internet users to break from the real world into a virtual world. Research has shown that high stress levels initiate the urge to use the internet; allowing the user to enter a make-believe world. This kind of scenario can be best seen in studies between individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures. The needs and desires are different in the two cultures. For instance, in collectivistic cultures the pressure on teenagers to score high grades is higher than those teenagers in individualistic culture. In 2007, China (collectivistic culture) estimated that 10%-14% (Approximately10 million teenagers) of adolescent internet users were identified as addicts of the internet.

Rosen (2012), studied the research of Lawrence M. Paska and Zheng Yan (2011), which state that China faces a challenge to stop its growing number of youth, from getting addicted to the internet. However, in Europe (individualistic culture), internet addiction is not considered to be a big problem. Okazaki (2002) found that Asian Americans are more depressed in terms of social and academic environment because they face more pressure from their society, than their American classmates. This extreme indicator of stress can lead to feeling of dejection in many ethnic groups because they might have failed at succeeding in a competitive environment.

People with these feeling are dependent on the internet to allow them feel the emotion of happiness as it lacks in their real life. The neurotransmitter serotonin is released when a person is happy and therefore to get the feeling of happiness or a positive emotion they tend to spend more and more time online. Thus, the internet for highly stressed or depressed individuals is an escape from their daily problems and eliminate the fear of facing them.

In conclusion, there are many reasons that cause internet addiction. Emotional attachment, when the user gets emotionally connected to the activities they are doing online. The negative social causes, cause an imbalance in one’s external environment causing them to use the internet more frequently. Societal expectations sometimes force a person to use the internet to escape into a world of virtual reality away from the real world. These three causes influence the users the most to get addicted to the internet.

Every generation has its own challenges like in the past television addiction was matter of concern which is insignificant amongst present-day teenagers. Similarly, in the future internet addiction would not be a matter of concern as immense technological advancement will bring in new kind of addiction.

References

Okazaki, S. & Sue, S. (2002). Asian American mental health. New York: Kluwer Academic. Plenum Publishers.

Price, H. (2011). Internet addiction. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova Science Publisher’s, Inc. (pp. 10-30).

Rosen, L. (2012). IDisorder. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (pp. 83-97).