Internet and Computer Addiction

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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by StarBound »

I am addicted to the smell of freshly electrified silicon.
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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by hamin_aus »

KALSTER wrote:Is it not obvious that there are TWO types of addiction: physical and psychological?
Wrong.
All addictions are in-part psychological. At least learn the basics before bandying terms like ignorant about.

The types of addiction are substance and behavioural.

Read up on them and get back to me with some opinions on how "the internet" fits into either of these categories
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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by StarPhoenix »

B.K. Alexander wrote: History of The Word "Addiction"

The Latin verb addico signifies "giving over" either in a negative or a positive sense. In Roman law, for example, an addictus was a person given over as a bond slave to a creditor. In its positive uses, addico suggested devotion, as in senatus, cui me semper addixi ("the senate, to which I am always devoted") or agros omnes addixit deae ("he dedicated the fields entirely to the goddess") (Lewis & Short, 1879).

The traditional English meaning of "addiction" is similar. The 1933 Oxford English Dictionary defines addiction as: "… a formal giving over or delivery by sentence of court. Hence, a surrender or dedication of any one to a master … The state of being (self-) addicted or given to a habit or pursuit; devotion" (Murray, Bradley, Cragie, & Onions, 1933, p. 104). A similar definition appears in Webster's original American dictionary (Webster, 1828/1970).

Uses of "addiction" over several centuries compiled in the Oxford English Dictionary show that, as in Latin, "addiction" could be used in a favorable sense ("His own proper Industry and Addiction to Books") and an unfavourable sense ("A man who causes grief to his family by his addiction to bad habits"). Our reading of the uses of "addiction" in Shakespeare, Hobbes, and Gibbon suggests that the unfavourable sense was less common than favourable or neutral usage. Prior to the nineteenth century, "addiction" was rarely associated with drugs. Although opium had been well known from earliest recorded history, references connecting it to addiction, or any synonym for addiction, were unusual prior to the 19th century (Parssinen & Kerner, 1980). In pre-19th century Europe, opium was usually referred to as a medicine (Sonnedecker, 1962). The word was generally not applied to alcohol use either. Sometimes, though rarely, habitual drunkards were said to be "addicted to intemperance" (Levine, 1978).

The restrictive usage of "addiction" emerged in language of the 19th century temperance and anti-opium movements (Berridge & Edwards, 1981, chap. 13; Levine, 1978; 1984; Sonnedecker, 1963, pp. 30–31). "Addiction" came to replace terms like "intemperance" or "inebriety" for excessive alcohol and opium use. In the process, the traditional meaning of "addiction" was narrowed in at least three ways. The new usage linked "addiction" tightly to drugs, especially alcohol and opium, gave addiction an invariably harmful connotation as an illness or vice, and identified addiction with the presence of withdrawal symptoms and tolerance.
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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by KALSTER »

A bit on the war path I see.
Jamin wrote:Wrong.
All addictions are in-part psychological.
Agreed
The types of addiction are substance and behavioural.
Agreed, that is what I meant. Thanks for the correction, though you seem to have understood what I meant.
At least learn the basics before bandying terms like ignorant about.
I used the word to describe the out of hand dismissal of internet addiction and the fallacious comparison with a substance addiction. The arguments against it I saw seemed to either ignore or was ignorant of the fact that more than one type of addiction exists,....
....as per your words:
Jamin wrote:Oh yes there is a problem, but to call it an addiction is to belittle everyone who actually has a real addiction and may be working to overcome it.
Imagine sitting in a rehab meting with recovering alcoholics who have to live with the knowledge they destroyed their families, or heroin addicts who used to prostitute themselves for drug money....

...I'm not saying some addictions are worse than others here. I'm saying that branding every trifling time waste that people get caught up in as an addiction is not only wrong, but it is dishonest and insulting.
It's just a way for psychologists (IE people with ZERO medical knowledge) to keep themselves relevant.
Shame on you for happily palming off peoples lack of self control in these matters as an addiction and expecting people to fall all over themselves about this 'condition'
You raised two objections:

1) Despite the first line of the second paragraph, the tone of the first paragraph seems to depend on the idea that some addictions are more severe/destructive than others. I agree with that, but fail to understand why the existence of less severe addictions would belittle the struggles of those suffering from more severe ones. Sure, you will inevitably get people who just love to jump at the chance of playing the poor patient and putting themselves into the same category as more severe addictions, but that doesn't influence the legitimacy of less severe addictions, it only highlights the pettiness of some people. I agree with that.

2) You also lament a tendency of "psychologists (IE people with ZERO medical knowledge) to keep themselves relevant", by "branding every trifling time waste that people get caught up in as an addiction". While this certainly does happen now and again, you seem to poopoo the whole field because of the conduct of a few individuals. Psychology is not a precise science. This is granted. But it is a legitimate attempt at classifying and describing various aspects of human behaviour and psychological goings on.

In this case, it does not concern a mere "trifling time waste that people get caught up in", but a degree of which that seriously affects people's ability to interact normally with others etc. I don't understand why a destructive, irresistible compulsion for internet and computer related activities should not be called an addiction. In SP's second link in the OP, a description of the type of behaviours that could point towards an addiction is given, as defined by a Phd holder. Can you describe what it is you find particularly wrong with that?

Don't automatically conflate the running of sensationalised media stories with a general tendency among psychologists to come up with all manner of nonsense merely to seem relevant.
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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by hamin_aus »

In SP's second link in the OP, a description of the type of behaviours that could point towards an addiction is given, as defined by a Phd holder. Can you describe what it is you find particularly wrong with that?
I was working on a really long reply to your post until I got to this...

I hope you are trolling me, because the alternative would be truly very sad.

Either way, we are done here.
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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by KALSTER »

jamin_za wrote:
In SP's second link in the OP, a description of the type of behaviours that could point towards an addiction is given, as defined by a Phd holder. Can you describe what it is you find particularly wrong with that?
I was working on a really long reply to your post until I got to this...

I hope you are trolling me, because the alternative would be truly very sad.

Either way, we are done here.
Well, now I can only guess what problems you had with what I said.

Is it because I mentioned that it is a Phd holder? Yes, I know that doesn't mean it is necessarily legit and I know that well, thank you. I am not in the habit of swallowing everything someone with superficial authority says and I am not doing that now. Is there something that makes you think I do? I merely mentioned it, because there was a list of possible signs provided by an apparently qualified practitioner. There is some debate about the veracity of the disorder among psychologists, as is the case with numerous others as well.

What exactly is the problem here? Can someone not develop serious problems related to an overuse of internet/computer related things by your estimation? I specifically said "I am not necessarily advocating for the existence of internet/computer psychological addiction". My problem is merely with the immediate dismissal of it.
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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by hamin_aus »

You are not seeing the forest because of all the tree's.
Back in the day when people were unwilling or unable to interact with other people, it was an antisocial or dissociative condition - now we are focussing on the medium they are using to feed their psychosis and not the root cause of the problem.
If someone enjoys killing people with a hammer, should we focus on the hammer for our diagnosis? That is the direction your vaunted "science" is heading
Everyone is a victim, no-ones truly to blame for all their problems. Your not an antisocial delusional farkwit, you've got an addiction, there there!
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Re: Internet and Computer Addiction

Post by StarPhoenix »

@jamin: :thumbup:

I guess what you are saying is that I should take responsibility for the way I respond to external stimuli.
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