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INTERNET ADDICTION: DISCONNECTION OF REALITY The movie Existing is set in the near future where virtual reality games are the main choice of entertainment for the population. These virtual reality games are able to emulate reality by interfacing the game user via bio-port installed in the back of their spine. A connection of players is totally submerged into a virtual world that is so real it cannot be distinguished from reality. A large population of people is addicted to these games to the point that the game designers are worshipped as gods and many people would rather be playing a game than living in the real world. In fact those that do not participate in these games are ridiculed for their non-conformance.
However there exists a segment of society who recognizes the harmful impacts of this is wide spread game addiction. This movie raises some interesting questions about our relationship with computers and technology. We are submerged in the technology to the extent that we lose sight of ourselves (Jackson, 2002). I know for myself that when I first got the Internet in my home, I was most definitely an addict. I was addicted to the chatrooms and Instant Messenger. It was fascinating to me; meeting people from other parts of the world and learning what their city or country were like.
There were the people that wanted me to meet them in person and offered to pay for the visit. Now being the person that I am who is a shy and timid person is frightened to death of meeting people that I talk to from Internet. I have seen too many people on the news being killed or children being molested from meeting people online. I have made a few friends on the Internet and we have been friends for a while but we have never met each other. The good thing about my friendship with those few people is the fact that they are not pressuring me to meet them. Through frequent phone call conversations and Internet contact.
I have learned a lot about my Internet friends, and we have in a sense become close friends. However none of us are in a rush to actually meet in person, because they understand how I feel about meeting people from Internet. They have also respected my wishes and chose to wait until I feel more comfortable. Even though we talk and I have gotten to know them through information that we exchanged about one another, I still dont know if they are those psychopaths that a lot of people encounter on the Internet. In a sense I am still addicted to the Internet. I dont go into chat rooms anymore because after years of using the Internet frequently, I have outgrown the immature conversation that goes on the chatrooms.
However, I still do communicate with Instant Messenger, but its only related to work or with my friends that I have been talking to for a while. I just mainly use my computer for work and school. To someone that has never been on the Internet or used a computer, it is unimaginable why anyone would spend so much of his / her time alone in front of a flickering screen. Many people today have difficulties interacting in the society that is physically located around them (Jackson, 2002). The only place that they can find comfort is with people is on the Internet. This is often present in the extreme case when someone is spending a good portion of their waking hours online (Jackson, 2002).
In some cases the most users of the Internet are casual users who use the technology sparingly. It is used to the extent where it complements their daily lives instead of consuming it. To break this down even further every person has three places that inhibit their daily lives. They are: places they work, the place they live and the place they go to get away from these other two places.
Some people must live on the Internet, not because they choose to, but because their work and profession requires them to do so (Jackson, 2002). At the high end of the scale some worker chose to work from home and in a profession that demands a high level of communication the Internet is a logical choice for sharing information. These types of workers only interact with their co-workers over the Internet and spend much of their day physically isolated from the rest of the world. On the low end of the scale a worker maybe expected to integrate the use of Internet into their daily activities around the office as an information-gathering tool (Jackson, 2002). Now when I speak of the second place that inhibits our lives I am talking about our home and love life.
Over the past few years there has been an extreme explosion of Internet marriages. These marriages are initiated by meeting someone online and from purely information they chose to share with their prospective mate, a relationship is born and possibly marriage based on their online personas (Jackson, 2002). Not all Internet relationships go to this extreme but everyday millions of people make these personal connections over the Internet. (Kunzru 1997) The last place that we go to get away from it all is usually a place where we can sit back, relax and enjoy company of those we chose to call our friends. This is evident on the Internet in the hug profusion of chat rooms and other online communities.
These communities provide a place for us to escape from out everyday lives and relax. A person can get all of their needs for work, love and friendship satisfied in some way on the Internet (Jackson, 2002). To some people living online has become so second natured it is completely natural to them. To other people there is a sense of horror to spending their entire lives before a computer screen cut off from real people and real surroundings (Jackson, 2002).
The most common effects of Internet addiction is described as a psychophysical disorder involving tolerance; withdrawal symptoms; affective disturbances and interruption of social relationships. This is presenting a problem that is becoming bore common in society as on-line usage increases by the day (Offman 2000). This disorder of addiction has some of the same harmful effects of drug and alcohol addiction. As the Internet continues to expand and have more users connected to it everyday, the harmful effects will begin to come more to the attention of society.
The use of the Internet is not just a tool to help us with our lives, but it can become an all-consuming world to some of its users. The fact that you can find virtually anything online allows individuals to totally submerge themselves in a virtual world, ignoring what the world around them. This brings us to the issue if how people can become disconnected from reality (Jackson, 2002). An example of this is would be using the Internet to email a colleague whose office is just up the hall from yours. Why wouldnt you just walk up the hall to the door of his / her office and go and have face-to-face conversation? Or just pick up the phone and have a telephone conversation?
My answer for these questions is that we have been indoctrinated by the Internet age society to communicate over our computers (Jackson, 2002). It is a proven fact that our communication is conveyed through the use of body language, which is of course absent from the Internet communication. (Kunzru 1997). Which brings me to the point of harmful effects of living on the Internet. In the far past, during the evolution of the human species, we lived in a primarily natural world without the constraints of buildings and computers.
How can it be physically healthy for is to spend so many hours hunched over a flickering screen? My answer to that is, it is not healthy for us to spend hours over a flickering screen. This can be rectified in two ways spend less time on your computer and more time appreciating the beauty of Mother Nature. The first is to take a walk in the park, swim at the beach or the ocean and appreciate what is the greatest miracle of life.
The second is integrate information technology more naturally into our surroundings this can be done via concepts of computing where we dont go out there looking actively searching information, but the information comes to us (Jackson, 2002). Currently computing has made our lives more complicated rather than easier. Until such a time that computer technology is better integrated into our lives, let us take a break from the Internet and computers and appreciate the other things that life has to offer. In 1995 a New York psychiatrist Ivan K Goldberg facetiously warned of Internet addiction disorder, he stated that it is an affliction involving voluntary and involuntary typing movements of the fingers. He believed that is was a joke and one of several mental heath experts seriously pushed that fact that Internet addiction is a problem amongst society (Orzack 2000).
Many of us feel it would be help if it were recognized as an impulse control disorder (Orzack 2000). Net addiction is a behavioral based addiction like gambling, drinking and drugs there are nearly 11 million Internet users that are addicts. That is nearly 6 percent of people online. Net addiction closes down crucial questions as to why people go online to work out their personal problems while others use the Internet to act out their fantasies. Physiologists are still researching for a cure for Internet addiction. There can be a more positive way to contribute to societies intellectual and emotional growth.
Works Cited Kunzru, H (1997 February) You Are Cyborg: We are already assimilated WIRED 5. 02 Retrieved on March 15, 2002 from the World Wide Web. web Offman, C, (2000 July). The Net Addiction: Internet addiction disorder, WIRED. 8. 07 Retrieved on March 15, 2002 from the World Wide Web web
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Research essay sample on Harmful Effects Internet Addiction
