I’ve made no secret of the fact that I believe the Internet to be the lifeblood of modern society. Virtually everything we do nowadays- from our jobs, to our interactions, to our leisure time- involves the ‘net in some way, shape, or form. It’s almost unheard of for someone in the first world to go even a single day without going online even once, and the world wide web presents us with such a wide array of information and entertainment materials that it’s easy to forget oneself and waste one’s life away in front of an LCD screen.

That’s precisely what a lot of people end up doing.

Most of us are able to tell when enough is enough. We’ve got friends and family, jobs and commitments. We’ve got to take care of our bodies, our spouses, our children. We need to keep our house looking clean and our person looking presentable. Most of us don’t qualify as addicts, right?

Well, now that you mention it…

Technically, I qualify as an Internet addict, if you’re basing the definition solely on how many hours one spends logged in. Since my job requires me to be wired in to the ‘net, I’m online in excess of eight hours a day. It’s what I do. I log in, I write, and the rest of the world kind of fades out for a while. But I’ve still got a life outside of blogging. I still take part in activities that don’t require or involve a computer.

We’ll be clear here- ‘overuse’ doesn’t define ‘addiction.’ Most of us have probably stayed up too late now and then browsing Reddit, or lost track of time looking up videos on YouTube. It’s sort of an accepted element of our society these days – people waste time online instead of taking part in constructive activities.

The problem arises when it starts to interfere with your day to day life in a big way. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I use the Internet to escape or forget about my problems?

Without getting too pseudo-psychological on all of you, this is something known as ‘self-medicating.’ While going online to unwind after a bad day at work isn’t necessarily an unhealthy thing, when you start running to your computer every time you’re feeling a bit down…maybe you’ve got a problem.

2. Do I ignore or forego other commitments to spend more time online?

This one doesn’t really bear much explanation. Are you skipping out on friends and family, or worse – work – in order to browse around?

3. How excessively do I use the Internet? What am I doing online?

Time spent online isn’t the only factor in determining an addict. If you’re just wasting time and avoiding commitments, well…that’s problematic. If you’re working or doing research, ‘excessive’ Internet use may not necessarily be a problem -after all, you’re furthering yourself/earning money, right?

4. Am I experiencing health problems because of the time spent online?

Again, this isn’t one that really needs to be explained at great length. Is your health starting to fail as a result of the time you spend on your computer? Are you gaining copious amounts of weight? Eating food that’s horrible for you? Not practicing proper hygiene? Missing out on sleep?

5. Am I unhappy or anxious when I’m offline?

How do you feel when you’re not wired in? If being offline makes you feel anxious, unhappy, or nervous, you have a problem.

That’s…pretty much all there is to it.

Image Credits: Olap

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