are you an addict?

[ada]

Stanford University researchers have found that more than one in eight Americans have at least one sign of problematic internet use.

This includes a compulsive need to check emails, make blog entries or frequent chat rooms.

The researchers reckon an increasing number of people are approaching their doctors about their net addiction and they've compared the condition to substance abuse and obsessive compulsive disorder.

The lead researcher, Elias Aboujaude, says the most concerning thing is that many people hide their excessive internet use  or use the internet to make themselves feel better,  just like an alcoholic might use alcohol.

If this is you, you might have a problem. Do you:

find it hard to stay away from the internet for several days at a time?
stay online longer than you intended?
conceal non-essential internet use from family, friends and employers?
use the net to escape problems or low moods?
feel your relationships have suffered as a result of your internet use?

Hope you find  this public service notice useful 

[henrah]

hahaha there's an advert at the bottom of the topic about Heroin and Methadone - what a coincidence!!!

[zheer]

 well you know i used to never go near a computer,hated the net and the e mail and still dont play computer games.Then i discoverd pianostreet.com, it has forced me to learn how to use the e mail and other basic things,but to be honest if this forum was'nt about music, it would have been a different story.
   yes it is easy to see why one can get addicted, in china recently a teenager died after using the net for too long, so they have a serious issue,reason whay the government are forcing them out of the home and into military style training camps and rehab institution. Doctors believe that these teenager are escaping life and find comfort in the virtual world.

[lau]

yes it is easy to see why one can get addicted, in china recently a teenager died after using the net for too long

how did he die? did he forget to eat...(not saying it couldn't be a she)   

[henrah]

I think that was because he wouldn't give someone in-game a sword or something special, so that guy visited his house and stabbed him multiple times.

Unless what you were regarding Zheer was a different case...

[zheer]

I think that was because he wouldn't give someone in-game a sword or something special, so that guy visited his house and stabbed him multiple times.

  No thats a different case, this guy that died, just did'nt sleep or eat for some time,duhh.

[henrah]

What a nonce, he must've been really addicted!

Then again, when the Nintendo Wii comes about and I don't show my face around here anymore, presume the worst

[ted]

I visit only three sites regularly, all forums, of which this is one. I also use the net sporadically to find answers to questions I have about all sorts of things, but the question always comes first, not the need to browse. I mostly use computers at home and at work for programming. Visiting sites such as Pianostreet and Pianoforum has been approved by my employer.

The truth is that I am getting a bit tired of computers after programming them for twenty-five years. I'd like to develop some more algorithmic composition code but that's more a positive intense interest rather than a negative compulsion. I definitely went through a phase of addiction to programming, especially in the Amiga days, but internet ? No, I don't think so.

[Bob]

Addict?  Of course not.  I can stop anytime I want.  I just have a few more things to check on first.  Then I'll stop.

[lagin]

OKAY, OKAY!!  Hi, I'm Laura, and I'm an internet a holic..............   

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

To the extent of my knowledge, internet is the most time consuming activity that Americans indulge in throughout the day.