Do you have an addiction to the internet?

In this day and age, our “Digital Diet” or time online with all social media available on the internet is expanding to the point of being a problem for more and more of the population at all ages. What do I mean by this? Well, If you have to be online continually, perhaps you need to examine how you time on the internet may be affecting your life, work, relationships, family and mood. Warning signs to watch out for include:

Inability to control your time on the internet.
Lying about your time online.
Hiding your activities online.
Finding yourself “surfing” online, shopping gambling, accessing cyber porn/sex.
Feeling irritable, depressed mood, escaping, isolating yourself, losing sleep, &/or avoiding face-to-face social interaction.

The above indicators may be signs you are addicted to the internet. Clinically, addiction has three major elements: tolerance, withdrawal and craving. If you experience these feeling or are having these problems, it may be time for you to seek help. The internet can be a “reality” substitute. Certainly, there is healthy and unhealthy use of the internet. The problem categories are: 1) Cybersex addiction (Porn, Adult Chat, Fantasy, Role Play), 2) Cyber Relationship addiction (Chat rooms, Messaging), 3) Net compulsions (Gambling, Stock Trading, Auctions, eBay), 4) Net overload (FaceBook, Pinterest, Searching) 5) Computer addiction (games). Take a vacation and leave the social media behind. You will discover if you need to “detox” from the internet. Don’t get caught in the net and lose contact with life and reality. Virtual reality is only a temporary substitute. If you would like to see a recent interview I did on Internet Addiction for Channel 39, just click on the link below.

Dr. Klaybor Television Interview on Internet Addiction

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