Internet Addition

Date: 07/11/2022 
Totip: Internet Addition 
Article No.41 

What is internet addiction?

Spending more time on the Internet than necessary is called Internet addiction. This addiction is created by spending time in the internet world for games, porn, online shopping, reading through social media, watching videos etc.

This addiction has a negative impact on one's personal life, including the workplace, physical and mental health. According to the statistics of the United States, this addiction is currently in an alarming state all over the world and its effects are most visible among teenagers and young adults.

How can this addiction be identified?

There are basically five symptoms that are seen in a person to identify internet addiction.

• 1. Spend too much time on the internet. The Internet will place undue importance on what has happened before and what will happen next.

• 2. For your own peace of mind, you will constantly increase the amount and time you use the Internet.

• 3. Even taking steps to reduce the level of internet usage will fail.

• 4. Whenever you try to reduce the level of internet usage, problems like depression, irritability, restlessness will appear.

• 5. As much time as he wants to be on the Internet, he will unknowingly spend more time than he should.

What problems can arise as a result of Internet addiction?

No addiction brings any good results in life. Similarly, the following problems will start appearing from internet addiction-

• 1. Loss of interest in all personal areas including studies, career, relationships.

• 2. Starting to resort to lying to spend a little more time on the internet.

• 3. Choosing the Internet to run away from the problem rather than solving it. This increases the level of the problem.

• 4. Spending more time on the Internet than necessary reduces social skills. Reluctance to socialize with people, get to know them, even talk politely.

• 5. Sitting for a long time in the same place, using gadgets (computer, laptop, mobile, tab) in the same posture, causing problems in bone formation.

Types or Types of Internet Addiction

Like a drug addict, when you use the Internet excessively, it causes your brain to release a neurotransmitter called dopamine. And because of this, it weakens your working capacity and changes your normal thinking as a result of your emotional influence.

Addiction through social media

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram are among the popular social media in all countries of the world. And the most popular medium is Facebook. In terms of using Facebook, the most users are young adult boys and girls. Time passes by using the internet by posting various posts, sharing personal opinions and emotional states on one's timeline, uploading videos and images, live video and chatting and many more.

In the past, even with cameras, people didn't take a lot of pictures, they only took pictures on occasions or special occasions. But now after getting a smartphone everyone is busy uploading hundreds of pictures every day. Besides, many people take selfies with various gestures and publish them on social media. If you can't express the images of their different moments on the timeline every day, it is as if sleep is prohibited. Some people spend a long time watching other people's posts even if they don't publish it themselves. And through such excessive use of Facebook addiction is created. Nowadays, Facebook addiction is a very big disorder.

The most popular video viewing platform is YouTube. According to Statista's May 2019 report, more than 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and about 30,000 hours of new video content is uploaded every hour. These videos entertain the viewers on thousands of different topics and keep playing on the screen one after the other for a long time. The resulting addiction causes various problems in personal life and professional life.

Pornography or cyber sex addiction

The number of Internet users who do not visit porn websites or watch porn videos is very small. One of the most harmful internet addictions is porn addiction. According to research, this addiction to pornography is controlled from the posterior part of the brain. Because of this, Internet users repeatedly become insatiable with new sexual desires and slowly develop porn addiction like heroin addiction.

As a result of homosexuality, many men want to have sex with other women despite having a wife, and if he does not have the opportunity, he goes to forbidden villages and meets with sex workers. Even in the case of women, even if they have a husband, many talk with boy friends, travel and engage in illicit relations. Some even engage in multiple marriages and relationships.

Especially there are some porn addicted internet users who visit various cyber sex sites to have virtual sex. Porn addiction is a serious disease in our society. This results in violence against women, sexual harassment, molestation of women and even rape of children. As a result of such terrible addiction in the society, the crime trend is increasing day by day.

Online audio and video chatting

There are numerous messengers that are very popular worldwide to talk to people from far and wide. Young generation boys and girls spend hours every day talking with loved ones on these messengers. In addition, chat with friends and loved ones at home and outside, on the street, in restaurants, at work, in the classroom, in the car and anywhere at any time.

As a result of which all kinds of activities are disrupted and their mood changes according to different situations while speaking and errors in actions and reactions can be observed. Even misunderstandings in relationships and talking for a long time lead to negative feelings towards each other. Many individuals have been seen to change their behavior in a matter of moments and in some cases even cause road accidents while crossing the road while looking at the phone screen and chatting.

Internet addiction causes significant changes in the human brain. This change is similar to drug or alcohol consumption.

Recently a group of scientists observed this in a study.

A group of Chinese experts found such in the brains of 17 young Internet addicts.

Their research report has been published in the science journal Plos One. As a result of this observation, the relevant researchers think that it will open new horizons to understand the behavior of addicted people. Internet addiction is a type of health disorder. Uncontrolled internet usage can cause this impairment.

The research was conducted under the supervision of Professor Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Yuan, China. The research team scanned the brains of a total of 35 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 21.

17 of them were diagnosed with Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). And to understand this they were asked several simple questions whose answers were limited to yes or no. As they were asked, 'Do you often fail to control your Internet use, to get in the middle or to stop altogether?'

Specialized MRI brain scans showed changes in the white matter of their brains. The nerve fibers in that area are the hallmarks of Internet addiction. A normal brain does not have this.

There is evidence of a disruption in nerve fiber communication with the part of the brain associated with emotions, decision-making and self-control.

@Kawsarr

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