Psybersquare: Do You Have an Internet Addiction?

Do You Have an Internet Addiction?
by Mark Sichel, LCSW

In the information age, we now have another substance/activity with potentially addictive properties: the Internet. How much time is too much time on the Internet? How do you know if you're surfing or drowning?

Do YOU have an Internet addiction? Take the following quiz to find out:

Do you check your email obsessively and more often than necessary?

Do you check your email as an avoidance for difficult tasks you need to do?

Do you engage in secret surfing?

Have you made unnecessary purchases on-line and has your Internet purchasing gone beyond your usual budgetary restraints?

Do you try, often in vain, to regain control over your Internet browsing?

Do you hide your Internet usage bills from your spouse, parents, roommates?

Do you get "high" with excitement, palpitations, flushes, etc. when you go on the Internet?

Has your Internet habit diminished your social life?

Do you feel embarrassed to acknowledge your Internet habits?

Has your Internet usage adversely effected your love life, marriage, primary relationship?

Your results:

If you answered yes to one or two questions: You are probably an internet/email lover with no profound or significant addiction problem.

If you answered yes to three to six of these questions: You need to closely look at your surfing and on-line behaviors. You probably could benefit from using the Psybersquare Internet Addiction Monitor and perhaps you need to take further action. In any case, you have something to think about and need to monitor your behavior closely before you create a profound problem in your life.

If you answered yes to six or more questions: you are in the midst of a serious and potentially dangerous internet addiction. You should definitely be using the Internet Addiction Monitor and you should read the following recommendations:

There many effective treatments for addictions. The most effective by far, are the Twelve Step Programs. In the absence of Internet Addicts anonymous, how do we cope?

Any 12-step program meeting can generally help with any kind of addictive or obsessive compulsive problem. There are meetings throughout the country everyday. For more resources that help people to cope with addiction read Recovering from Addiction: 25 Selected Resources.
Recognition the mood and feeling states that lead you to Internet Addictive behaviors. Learn to say to yourself: Is this a good time for me to go on-line? Is this what I really need? Or am I tired? Needy? Hungry? Angry? Sexually frustrated? Fearful of people in my life? Fearful of my own emotions?
Try to self-regulate your habit. Learn to say to yourself, as you log on to the Internet: Why am I here? What do I need? How can I optimize my time on-line? What do I want to accomplish? Make a list of your goals when you go on-line and stick to your task list.
Create a desktop folder entitled INTERNET USAGE MONITOR. Leave notes in there regarding your Internet usage; evaluate yourself and how you are doing with the tasks and goals you are trying to achieve.

RECOMMENDED READING FROM THE PSYSTORE:

Addictionary: A Primer of Recovery Terms and Concepts from Abstinence to Withdrawal
by Jan R. Wilson, Judith A. Wilson
Our Price: $16.95

"Addictionary provides definitions and meanings to the words and phrases commonly used in recovery groups. Written for anyone interested in recovery from addiction to alcohol or other drugs, food, gambling, sex, tobacco, exercise, work, relationships, and other substances or behaviors." -- Book Description

For a selection of books on this topic, visit the Psystore.

** All prices subject to change without notice

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Judy Shepps Battle, widely known on AOL's Addiction & Recovery Forum for her expertise on recovery, is now promoting positive social change with her new website, Write Action.