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Daniel Berman

Millstein

English 114B

9 May 2018

Internet Addiction: Users to Abusers

The internet has become a common staple in our everyday lives. We use it to look up the

weather in the morning, to find a new restaurant for lunch, or just spending a few extra minutes of

one’s busy day to browse Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to see what is happening in the world

at the moment. There are an extraordinary number of daily tasks that the internet assists in making

our lives easier. Never before were we able to access information so quickly and succinctly.

However, while the internet is a great positive force, many have become addicted and dependent

upon using the internet. According to Chiungjung Huang, internet addiction is “a compulsive

behavior characterized by obsessive thoughts, tolerance, craving, and withdrawal that creates

psychological, social, marital, and/or academic difficulties” (Huang, 345). Hours rather than

minutes are spent behind a computer or phone screen until it consumes one’s life entirely and

diminishes the quality and quantity of time spent interacting with the living world around them.

Just as any other addiction, the user, and note the term applied to one who is on the internet, is just

as debilitating. The internet user may be unaware of their abuse and denial if confronted, they may

neglect family and friends choosing to surf the net as opposed to engaging in conversations, they

may compulsively check their emails, twitter accounts, or Facebook updates. Their behavior is no

different than an individual using drugs, or alcohol, or gambling.

According to Jawad Fatayer, addiction is “a pathological love between the person and the

addictive object a substance (such as nicotine, food, alcohol or heroin, etc.) or an event (such as
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gambling, love, or the internet)” (Fatayer, 88). The love for the internet becomes too strong and

breaking the habit becomes harder. There is a certain instant gratification having the world at one’s

fingertips. The latest news from global news to the mundane of who went where for dinner is a

constant source of information that feeds the need to be in the know. As with most things, a love

for something such as food or gambling is perhaps not instantaneously addictive, however, the

overuse and constant excess without moderation leads towards an addiction. The abuse of the

internet can be classified as a Gamma addiction, which affects mental function. Internet addiction

changes the way one proceeds about life by affecting their mental state but does not harm them

physically like addictions such as a heroin or alcohol. Fatayer states, “Gamma addiction has a

serious effect on our lifestyle, the way we manage ourselves, and on our relationships. It also has

serious effect on the way we handle things, take responsibilities, make decisions, and evaluate

situations” (Fatayer, 92). Gamma addiction revolves around the basis of non-substance mental

abuse, and those affected get their mental high from the act they are committing. Gambling, porn,

and video games are examples of addictions which fall into the category of Gamma addiction.

Internet addiction qualifies as such because every email sent, YouTube video watched, and

Facebook like one receives all add to this idea of one achieving this internet usage high thus

affecting an individual’s mental state while not harming them physically.

The internet is designed in such a way that the user can spend countless hours exploring

the myriad of information the web has to offer. Online forums, chatrooms, and social media sites

are places that people can share ideas and connect with others. These sites offer various methods

to signal the user that they support what they are viewing, for example, someone who is angry,

happy, or sad can emit that emotion with a click of a button. Facebook allows for comments or

emoji support buttons, retweeting for Twitter, or upvotes for the site Reddit are all ways that the
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user connects to social posts. These actions keep the site’s users coming back and for longer

periods of time thereby turning the user into an abuser. Dr. Kimberly Young states that the

“psychological hook of addiction…gives you feelings and gratifying sensations that you are not

able to get in other ways” (Young, 27). The action of pressing or receiving confirmation is instantly

gratifying. One can escape the realism of the world and live vicariously through their online

persona. Abusers of any substance or action relies on the idea of triggers. Triggers initiate the

behaviors of abuse. In regards to an internet obsession, Young states, “[Internet addiction] operates

on triggers or cues which lead to "net binges”… Internet have the same ability to provide emotional

relief, mental escape, and ways to avoid problems as do alcohol, drugs, food, or gambling” (Young,

26). Trigger points are scattered everywhere across the internet. Individuals may fixate as to

whether someone liked or disliked their post or comments, they may wish to observe what other

people are doing in order to compare themselves to them, or perhaps they are impatiently waiting

to see if a twitter retweet has happened in order to follow if a friend is online. All of these things

may be considered a trigger cue for someone. As Fatayer states, “the adrenaline and the dopamine

shooting in their brain when they participate in the addictive event” (Fatayer, 91) causes the

individuals to set on a journey in which they engage in more and more internet time in order to

fulfill their level of pleasure. “Behaviors that stimulate an increase in dopamine, effectively give

them more reward but place them at a higher risk for addiction” (Fatayer, 91).

Addiction to the internet is sometimes over looked in the eyes of the public. The idea of

those saying just log off or power down the computer is along the same lines of telling the

alcoholic, just put down your drink. The internet is a spider web of information by design and

sadly, those who get quite often become trapped. Logging off and removing one’s self from social

media often feels like no option. Family, academics, and occupations become affected because
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habits spiral out of control. Ultimately, the victim’s themselves suffer. Due to the internet’s fairly

recent inception, options for battling the disease are limited. Treatment options include cognitive

behavior modification which may include abstinence, schedules when to log on or off, creating a

personal inventory showing the activities that the individual engaged in, or even entering a support

group (Cash). Some therapists suggest the use of pharmaceutical drugs to help alter the user’s

behavior. Quite often, family members are asked to assist in monitoring and limiting an

individual’s time on the internet. As with any addiction, it is a cycle that is very challenging to

break. The internet, while being a great positive force, has its consequences. In the end, our society

must be aware that internet users may lean towards a slippery slope to becoming internet abusers.
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Work Cited

Cash, Hilarie et al. “Internet Addiction: A Brief Summary of Research and Practice.” Current

Psychiatry Reviews 8.4 (2012): 292–298. PMC. Web. 8 May 2018.

Fatayer, Jawad. “Addiction Types: A Clinical Sociology Perspective.” Journal of Applied Social

Science, vol. 2, no. 1, 2008, pp. 88–93. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23549240.

Huang, Chiungjung. “Internet Addiction: Stability and Change.” European Journal of

Psychology of Education, vol. 25, no. 3, 2010, pp. 345–361. JSTOR, JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/23421688.

Suzan Lema Gencer, and Mustafa Koc. “Internet Abuse among Teenagers and Its Relations to

Internet Usage Patterns and Demographics.” Journal of Educational Technology &

Society, vol. 15, no. 2, 2012, pp. 25–36. JSTOR, JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.15.2.25.

Young, Kimberly S. "Internet addiction: symptoms, evaluation and treatment." Innovations in

clinical practice: A source book. 17 (1999): 19-31. Web. 7 May 2018.