Increasing Computer and Internet Addiction
The Chicago Tribune reports a recent study about computer and Internet addiction and how mental health care workers are going to see more incidences of it. “Although a useful tool for communication, the Internet has properties that for some individuals promote addictive behaviors and pseudo-intimate interpersonal relationships,” writes author Diane M. Wieland. The abstract indicates people might be neglecting others and themselves because of how much time they spend online. It reminds me of the terms “blogging widow” and “blogging widower”—people whose spouses spend so much time blogging it’s like they aren’t married to anyone—and of the recent reports about how we’re becoming more isolated as a society, partly because of the time people spend alone using computers. Wieland discusses online relationships and using computers and the Internet as communication tools in her study.
