Internet Addiction

Across the United States, multiple studies have set out to expose the possibility of internet addiction and the true effect that it has on our society. Technology has become more common, especially for the younger generations who have grown up with it or who have been exposed to it for the majority of their lives.

It’s seen as a major advancement in our society, and despite having experienced potential negative symptoms, we continue to use it in toxic amounts. Studies continue to show evidence that these tools of technology are much less beneficial to society as we may think. There are many effects people suffering from the overuse of technology experience:

• Lack of sleep or possible insomnia
• Consistent procrastination
• Self-isolation
• Distraction/inability to focus

Source

The extent of these symptoms has led to the opening of 4 recovery centers in the U.S. that provide residential treatment for, in simpler words, internet detox. It is not yet considered an actual addiction and currently is just a theory.

A psychiatrist at Yale, Marc Potenza, has treated addiction for over two decades. He seems to believe that there is in fact a connection related to these new technological advancements and addiction in itself. From his experience with actual addicts, Potenza sees the parallels between "technology addicts" and real ones.

"What people don’t realize is that their smartphone is shaping them, it’s conditioning them…As a culture we have crossed the tipping point of overusing the technology.” - Dr. David Greenfield from "Half of teens 'feel addicted' to Smartphones. What's to be done?"

However, this doesn’t mean that everyone has an addiction to it. It does mean that we need to avoid the addictive behavior, though. Addictions transform into much worse things over time, and we’ve already seen it happening.

If you look around, and maybe even in the mirror, the majority of people spend their majority of time on their phones. At school, work, events, it doesn’t matter what it is, at least one person will have their phone out. We’ve built our lives around this thing we call the internet, and come to the point where millions of people wouldn’t know how to live without it.

Additional Sources:

CNBC