Internet addiction is the disease of the future

Of the 20 Ukrainian schoolchildren surveyed, only one can avoid visiting Internet pages every day. Is this a modern necessity or a new type of addiction? Experts are inclined to the second opinion.

Symptoms of the new disease are found in most of the younger generation. Children who have experienced stress from the lack of the Internet describe a feeling of complete emptiness and fear. According to psychologists, such attacks of anxiety are on a par with withdrawal symptoms in drug addicts and alcoholics. The statistical results of the Goreshyn Institute are disappointing: over 70% of Ukrainian youth cannot imagine life without immersion in the World Wide Web, and almost half of teenagers have been diagnosed with a painful addiction to communication via the Internet.

The manic need to be in the virtual world is a disease of the future, which is becoming global in scale. Official medicine considers this trend as a deviation from the norm. A number of countries, such as China and the USA, classify this type of addiction as a mental disorder and are already creating special medical institutions.

In adolescence, the disease is especially difficult to resist. The first signs of the disease in young people are associated with the emergence of anxiety if mail, chat, etc. have not been checked for 15 minutes. Psychologists support the symptoms with a sedentary lifestyle, decreased academic performance, lack of contact outside the network, which threatens to worsen the physical condition, as well as the development of serious mental disorders.

How do schoolchildren explain their internet addiction? Social networks, online games, searching for information for school, downloading music and movies – this is the most common list of “urgent needs”. The time spent sitting in front of the monitor ranges from several hours to the whole day.

What happens to teenagers when the Internet is lost? They start to experience real withdrawal symptoms. A psychologist from St. Petersburg conducted independent testing. Young people (12-18 years old) were deprived of the “gifts” of civilization for eight hours – TV, mobile communications, radio and computer. The results of the experiment were shocking – only 4% of the volunteer group managed to calmly survive such a restriction. The remaining teenagers experienced dizziness, sweating, suffocation, abdominal pain, nausea and panic attacks.

Replacing real life with virtual life is fraught with a number of problems. It is very easy to communicate even with strangers while online. Try to do the same when you go outside. You will probably just be dumbfounded. Sitting in front of the monitor, children stop following basic hygiene rules and do not have time to eat properly. No time - another exciting immersion awaits.

The concept of Internet addiction (internet addiction disorder) was introduced by Ivan Goldberg in 1995 and equated with the problems of drug addiction and alcoholism.

It would seem that Internet addiction is not as dangerous as drug and alcohol addiction. However, such disorders have the same principle - to find yourself in a comfortable illusory space, only the means are different. Life on the Internet does not require you to tell the truth, you can be anyone and lie as much as you want. All this gives rise to a feeling of boundless freedom, joy, euphoria. Isn't it a new drug?

Of course, the ability to use the Internet helps in studying, opens up horizons for finding a new job or acquiring necessary skills. Psychologists are afraid of possible attacks of causeless aggression, irritability. Only a sense of proportion, a certain golden mean, which parents should control, can lead to the harmonious development of a young personality.

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