A harmless work or amusement at first glance – Internet, may grow into a real mania and can be called an addiction along with the drug habit and alcoholism. The real danger lies in a capability to replace the natural world with the virtual one. A person reorients to the other type of contacts, information sharing, even money turnover. Today a person can really live in the virtual world, regardless of his physical needs and a world outside of the monitor display.
So, some people have problems with spending too much time online. Some people also spend too much time reading, watching television, and working. They ignore family, friendships, and social activities. But should we speak about TV addiction disorder, book addiction, and work addiction much more carefully and scarcer.
Would we ever characterize any time spent in the real world with friends as "addicting"? We never would.
Some people talk on the phone for hours on end, with people they see everyday! Are they addicted to the telephone? Just in some degree.
People spend hours reading books, ignoring friends and family, and often not even draw attention to the phone when it rings. Should we talk about book addiction? Of course, no. The question is only high self concentration and great interest. In all this cases, it does not evoke sensation of the whole replacing. But just with the internet addiction problem a person can experience a double consciousness.
If a person is in instant need of spending all his time online, and prefers it to any other types of pastime, we deal with a pathological computer user.
What to do if you acknowledge the existence of Internet addition? First, take matters easy, it is not dangerous and doesn’t have such a profound destructive effect. By the same token, you will overcome a problem without fail.
1. Make a strong time limitation and control for how much time you spend on the Internet;
2. Promise yourself to stay away from the Internet for several days at a time. Recompense yourself;
3. Establishing meaningful (but not harmful) amercement for yourself for failing to keep your word;
4. Sell yourself the idea it is pleasant to do other things instead of spending time on the net. Dedicate a day to new pleasures;
5. Look for other more healthy sources of pleasure in life to replace your Internet pleasure;
6. Ask for help when you feel you are not successful or in a box;
7. Avoid people or surroundings that abet you to return to your addictive behavior.