Is Internet addiction real ?

Is Internet addiction Real? [pic 1][pic 2]

• Introduction –

In the last few years, technological and computer science breakthroughs have increased dramatically. Every year, new smartphones appear on the market. This phenomenon is problematic; indeed, there are lots of people, who become hoocked to the new technologies.

These problems affect especially the young teenagers. During the adolescence it’s a main refuge of young peoples who not arrive has be understood by their parents or others.

However, there are lots of violent and inappropriate contents on the Net, which are not appropriated for young people and that can shock them. It’s a topical issue, as for example, videos on Charlie hebdo’s attack in Paris in 2015 as for the aggression of two policemen last January in a suburb of Paris.

Moreover, the addiction to screens and Internet can happen very quickly, nowadays, people pass lots of times in front smartphones or laptops’ screens. According to a study of the figaro, people from 16 to 30 years old pass on average 3,2 hours per days in front on their screens, that is a day per week.

There are many scientists speaking about addiction. And as for addictions there are treatments and fatal effects for the users and for his circle of acquaintances.

Is « Internet addiction » real?

• Summary –

 1) So what we have here is a dialog which comes from the US’ TV channel NPR. It talks about Internet addiction and the journalist tells the story of a young woman, Naomi, which becomes hooked to YouTube.

The TV newscaster crosses the office to an another on-line journalist who tells the story of Naomi, which contains her testimonies and testimonies of her mum.

2) First, she tells how she became hooked. Before that, Naomi was a pretty girl, she had always been a kind of nerd with a few close friends. She was good at school too. But she wanted to be popular, and in the school all children talked about YouTube.

She started by watching few videos, and then after some times she became an addict, she spent her all time in front of her computer’s screen.

She lived no more than for YouTube; she spent whole time on the site. After school she’d race home and curl up for hours. She saw her parents just for the dinner, during which her parents reprimanded her. For the first time in her life, it was difficult to keep up with school. She felt worse and worse, and a day she downed a bottle of Tylenol to die.

3) After her suicide attempt, Naomi was treated in a center for depression and compulsively watching YouTube. She was with other teens, which were in the same case, and she played lots of music like drums, rattles or triangles.

For the specialist the goal is to help students to release pent up feelings in a safe space. Jeff Nalin (co funder of Paradigm) said that in the last year or two, people have really come to identify that as an issue.

He explains that the Internet is stimulating the feel-good brain chemical dopamine. So tolerance to the Internet builds just like it would do hard drugs. People needing more and more time on Internet to get the same kind of euphoric feeling.

• Commentary –

Well, this article raises few questions, which I would like to develop now:

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