It has been made apparent that the United States is still debating over whether or not this is a true addiction or not. They try to apply reasons for why someone would want to be on the internet for prolonged periods of time, which is an approach that can be used for pretty much any addiction.
As stated in our presentation, the American Psychiatric Association, has yet to agree on including it in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They are currently considering to compromise on adding it in an appendix.
One study has shown that only 1% of college-level introductory and abnormal psychology books even make a reference to Internet addiction.[1]
A more shocking study revealed that while 84% of college counselors "agree" or "strongly agree" that Internet Addiction Disorder is legitimate, 93% have "some, but not sufficient training" or "no training" on diagnosing Internet Addiction Disorder, and 94% have "no training" or "some, but not sufficient training" on the treatment of Internet Addiction Disorder.[2]
So not only is the United States seemingly avoiding the issue and trying to blame other things, they hardly even try to provide any resources on helping people with a heavy dependence on the Internet for non-essential use.
[1], [2]
It is absolutely absurd that the US is still debating whether or not to address internet addiction when it is clearly a prevalent issue. In the end you can call it whatever you want, but it is a behavior that is inhibiting people’s lives. If people go searching for help from professionals that are unable to assist them, who are they supposed to turn to? With the use of the internet growing as it is, I think it is necessary to train professionals to treat this disorder before it becomes out of control.
ReplyDeleteI believe that internet addiction is a true addiction. It is typical for the US as a whole to deny our problems and blame them on everyone else so we don't have to admit that there is a problem. Kids these days are so obsessed with the internet and technology in general that it's only a matter of time until kids don't know how to physically interact with each other. It seems that if their Macbook dies or their blackberry has a low battery that they're life is pretty much over and won't know what to do if they don't have a charger near them. If that is not addiction, I don't know what is.
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