What’s “Internet Addiction”?
I just read this article saying that internet-addiction is going up, and that many people check their Facebook/Twitter stuff from their dinner table, bed, and first thing in the morning. (for those wondering how you check a website while in bed, it’s via phone/tablet/laptop/iPod Touch). In fact, about 50% of the polled users (I think Americans) said they did at least one of those things… (though it’s stupid when they count in “checking first thing in the morning”, because lots of non-addicted people simply WOULD do that).
Don’t be confused, though. If 50% of pollsters check online stuff often, it doesn’t mean they’re all ADDICTED. For Americans (and probably most other prominently plugged-in cultures), that would be more in the range of 10-20% of surfers (according to various studies), but remember that very few would have a strong addiction (such as that a non-scientist would actually CALL an addiction).
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Let’s start with Facebook/Twitter and social-networking stuff. The problem with associating addictions to these things with “the internet” is that all we’re talking about here is a PEOPLE-addiction (wanting to maintain a connection to the actions and reactions of PEOPLE, that you actually know), except that it’s translated from the real-world into a 2d-world… in other words, merely translated from voices to text. When a teen itches and burn to get out of the house, and go be with friends, they aren’t accused of having a “friends addiction” (though they probably should be). It’s kind of like that.
Taking this a step further, I don’t actually believe in "internet-addiction", except pertaining to a few… because the internet is merely a digital world – like the real world outside – in which you get addicted to *things* within it, not the net itself (at least usually. Now, there are some people who get addicted to just "being on the net", without a specific thing within it that they’re actually addicted to, but probably less the case). It’s obvious to me that “internet addiction” is a phrase used mostly (but perhaps not entirely) by people who have very little concept of what the internet IS, and do a whole lot of “seeing-the-hunched-over-backs-of-internet-users-who-look-strangely-obsessed-with-this-stupid-screen”. Obviously, a person shouldn’t develop opinions based on empty, uninformed observations (like when classical-music listeners assume that all people who listen to heavy metal are unfriendly and evil… likewise, just because net users look like they’re mindlessly hunched over a screen, doesn’t mean they aren’t doing something that could be 5x more worthwhile than whatever you’re doing).
See, I view the world as containing 2 significant living planes, where you can interact with people, information, and "expression-materials"… and they are: 1) the outside world (this world is 3-dimensional, and can be walked through), and 2) the internet (this world is 2-dimensional, and can be looked through).
When someone gets addicted to a substance in the outside world, you don’t say he has a "world-addiction"… If he always has to peel himself away from the computer to go back to that addiction, everyone properly says that he has an addiction to some THING in the outside-world, not the world itself. (and nobody says, “Hey, you shouldn’t have all these things trying to pull you away from your valuable net time.”)
See, the internet is merely a 2-dimensional world-scape, with all kinds of "things" within it. And, one day, it may even be accessible through 3d video-games, portraying it as a digital earth, where you talk to people who inhabit 3d bodies, and visit websites by entering 3d buildings. (you could shop by walking through a digital store, and visit your “Facebook property”, which would be located in an actual 3d city)
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My opinion may still surprise anyone who thinks the internet is essentially just for email, Facebook, and YouTube… but that’s the internet for the digital caveman. For many (depending on occupation, family-setup, etc), the internet is an extremely rich place, and in many ways significantly more useful and accessible than the real-world. Example: there is almost no formality on the net… in writing, you feel free to talk about your deepest thoughts, and to engage complete strangers in meaningful, often important conversation.
One day, it will be a fact of life that the internet is a more meaningful and more rich world than the one outside. The fact that it is so accessible, and so geared for the transferring of human thought and information, makes its growing use unstoppable. Realize that you’re reading something that, ten years ago, would have been lost in a binder somewhere… or, at its best, sitting in some psychology magazine that you never would have come in contact with.
(one hurdle that slows things down is having to pay high prices for net access. In my opinion, net access MUST one day become universally free, just as the ability to open your mouth is free, and the ability to go outside. I firmly believe that the net is going to become tomorrow’s “outside” for the majority of things… and rightfully so)
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