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Then you may be suffering from IAD: Internet Addiction Disorder. Behavioral therapists define IAD as "a maladaptive pattern of Internet use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress" as manifested by the symptoms described above, among others. Some reports claim that "the incidence and prevalence of IAD has been increasing exponentially." Is IAD a widespread problem? Well, a survey by the University of Buffalo claims that 17% of Internet users spend more than 40 hours each week online, and 89% of those heavy users feel it is interfering with other areas of their life. And there is the anecdotal evidence of self-proclaimed IAD sufferers calling the Internet "my drug of choice". But is IAD real, or simply the latest trendy affliction that people use to absolve themselves of blame? "Don't get mad because I was surfing the Web and forgot our dinner date darling; I suffer from IAD." One prominent psychologist has declared IAD a hoax, and charged her colleagues who are "cashing in on the trend to pathologize everyday problems, making them out to be more serious than they truly are" with unprofessional conduct. I'd have to agree. As a compulsive behavior, spending long hours in front of a computer screen surfing the Web seems little different than spending that same time reading novels or watching TV. But we simply call compulsive readers "bookworms" and compulsive TV viewers "couch potatoes" instead of warning against Reading Addiction Disorder (RAD) or Boob-Tube Addiction Disorder (BAD). It appears that the term "Internet Addiction Disorder" was coined by New York City psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg as a parody of the classification system that psychiatrists use for such "illnesses" as compulsive gambling, anorexia, cocaine abuse, kleptomania, and pedophilia. He expanded the joke by starting an Internet Addiction Support Group mailing list -on the Internet, of course, which should have been a sign that he was less than serious. The concept of running this and other support groups that have cropped up since (among them, Netaholics Anonymous, the Webaholics Support Group, Interneters Anonymous, and CyberWidows) on the Internet is rather like holding a weekly Gamblers Anonymous Bingo game or Alcoholics Anonymous cocktail party.
So, is IAD an "illness" or a practical joke that got out of hand? If surfing the Web is disrupting your family life, interfering with your work, or chronically robbing you of sleep (which is likely if you've signed up for NTT's 11 PM to 8 AM Telehodai service), then you may have a real psychological problem. But if you're simply an overenthusiastic Net surfer, just recite this prayer in times of need:
 WM. Auckerman Back to the table of contents  |
Are you a frequent Internet user? If so, do you suffer from: Anxiety? Fantasies or dreams about the Net? Psychomotor agitation? Involuntary typing movements of the fingers or twitching of the wrist? Do you find yourself on the Web more and more, but enjoying it less and less?