Addiction online

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The Internet makes our life a lot easier. He also creates an illusion. The illusion that you are living a full life that flows on the monitor. And you can get hooked on this illusion.

Tanya, 28 years old, Moscow:

- In my free time, I was not tempted to turn on the Internet. But when Grisha left, I suddenly became interested in online communication. It all started with a dating service. I wanted to quickly find a new friend. I placed the questionnaire and waited. Messages appeared immediately. I didn’t answer superficial phrases, I waited. I started to correspond with one man. I liked him, although, in fact, I did not know anything about him. Our frequent conversations became more and more frank. I was not afraid to write to him about my loneliness and fears. I knew that Mr. X was unlikely to see me alive. He once offered me cyber sex. He began to describe what he was doing to me. I felt embarrassed. I laughed it off, wrote cynical comments. And then she got involved. We started doing this every day. As soon as I opened the computer, it was already waiting for me. It felt like free love. Ephemeral, fragile relationships. But still a relationship. Then I started an online diary. I wrote down every thought: fear of being a spinster and conflicts with my boss. Sales in malls and betrayal of friends. Mother's reproaches and old childhood grievances. And, of course, sex. Everything that I have experienced, everything that I have tried. I can't say that I have a graphomaniac need, no. I enjoyed writing to get a reaction. Share. Feel yourself inside a society, surrounded by dozens of like-minded people. Absolutely strangers. On the Internet, I became who I wanted to be. And the correspondence continued.

Further it gets worse. Girlfriends bored me. With colleagues, with whom I was used to being aloof and courteous, I had no strength to communicate. And I didn't want to meet men.

It seemed that I already had someone. As if I was faithful to a person who does not exist in reality. You know, some teenage girls fall in love with rock stars. So it was with me. X from the Internet turned into my dream. I invented for him those qualities that I dreamed of seeing in men. Didn't ask what he was doing. I came up with everything myself. If I was much younger, perhaps the whole phenomenon was normal. But I'm a grown woman, independent and experienced. I felt ashamed. I couldn't understand myself.

My apartment has changed. Having sprinkled the coffee, I was in no hurry to put it away. If I used to cook a full-fledged dinner, now I just threw dumplings into boiling water. I was too lazy to go to the store. I stopped scrubbing the floors and hired a cleaning lady. She entered the kitchen, where the dishes barely fit in the sink. Flies flew around. There was a month old sausage in the refrigerator. And at work, I tried to hold on. She put on clean clothes (which she found with difficulty), painted herself. But soon I was laid off. The choice fell on me because of the lateness. I started sending out my resume. I’ll turn on my computer and start filling out the questionnaires. And laziness. Then I take it and switch to my diary or to my "gentleman".

I ended up filling out my resume at about three in the morning. And fell asleep in what she was in. I forgot to wash my face and brush my teeth. I could barely remember what my own entrance looked like. I ate leftovers. She turned off her mobile phone during the day. And she plunged.

It was necessary to urgently take action. The money was running out. I was ashamed to borrow. As a result, I moved in with my parents. It was they who discovered the disease. My mother is a teacher, she understands psychology. I was referred to a specialist. It turned out that it was the real addiction online … Like drugs or gambling.

Marina, 24 years old, Moscow:

A year ago, I began to actively correspond on the social network. With friends and strangers. I was looking for the pages of former young people. I tracked everything that concerned men I knew: who wrote to them, who was listed in the "friends" section. I kept an eye on everyone all the time. Coming home, I immediately sat down at the computer. I had no idea about the beginning of addiction. However, it was noticeable how much network information affects my well-being. If I found something new, they wrote me messages, then I was happy. If nothing changed for three hours, I felt melancholy. I have set up a social networking function in my cell phone. Now I was on the Internet almost around the clock. Every beep that heralded a new message delighted me. Several times a day I checked my page. And then one day I came across an article about Internet addiction. It turns out that it can be of several types: from pornography, from gambling and strategy games, from communication and from the flow of information. And judging by the symptoms, I was just beginning to online addiction … It scared me. I began to watch myself. Indeed, without the Internet, a void arose. Then I forbade myself to open sites. I began to read more.

After two months, I learned to control myself. I set myself a limit - not to sit at the computer for more than an hour a day. Probably, many will find this impossible. But a person whose mood is changing because of the Internet needs to take action. I managed to heal myself because I stopped in time.

Do you have signs of internet addiction?

	Yes, it looks like it's time for me to see a psychologist.
	There are some.
	No! No addiction!

Comments of psychologist Mikhail Labkovsky:

Most often, Internet addiction manifests itself in the need to communicate. This is a double-edged sword: the more time a person spends on the Internet, the more he isolates himself from society. Isolation itself aggravates the person's need to communicate online and creates the appearance of a fulfilling life. By the way, people who have communication problems are at risk of getting hooked on the Internet - it is difficult for them to establish live contact. The red light in such cases is a constant need to go online, mood swings due to the Internet, as well as a state in which more time is spent on the Internet than other areas of life. If you notice signs of online dependencies, consult a psychologist.