Jan
21
IAD
January 21, 2009 | Tagged baylor_nms_s09 | 2 Comments
I am currently in the process of writing a research paper for English on Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). Although it is not considered an actual disorder in the psychology world, many psychologists support and study this disorder. The debate that some use against the existence of IAD is that the internet is a means of communication–a social medium–and cannot be a form of addiction. For example, if a person were stressed and in need of communication, just because they use the phone for a long spans of time and excessively does not mean they are “addicted” to the phone.
However, some may see the internet as an imposing threat on our society as a serious form of addiction. There is evidence of negative physical symptoms of addiction like fatigue. Also, there are negative social symptoms like the lack of human contact and the withdrawel from family.
How will we see the internet? An imposing threat? Or a social medium?
Can there be too much of a good thing?
Comments
2 Comments so far
Yeah, internet use can be pretty addicting for some people. I think people who have poor social skills but are under the “internet disinhibition effect” seem particularly prone to it as it’s much easier to participate in a chat room, Second Life, or an online messageboard for these people than to face reality. I know from years of frequenting an internet forum that there are some people on that site who almost can’t seem to help themselves, they say they’re going to take a few months off but can’t bear more than a few days before coming back.
And China takes this stuff very seriously.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4327258.stm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022102094.html
I like the way you’re framing the issue here: is the Internet a medium, or a human activity, or both? Similar questions emerge with any language. To what extent do we speak it, and to what extent does it speak us? How can we find intent, motive, etc. within a speech act? The Internet’s multi-modal nature (text, images, video, audio, etc.) make the questions here even more complex.