To Part II

In my own article on "addictions" to the Palace, a graphical MOO/chat environment (see link below), I cited the criteria that psychologists often use in defining ANY type of addiction. It's clear that the attempts to define computer and internet addiction draw on these patterns that are perhaps common to addictions of all types - patterns that perhaps point to deeper, universal causes of addiction:

	Are you neglecting important things in your life because of this behavior?
	Is this behavior disrupting your relationships with important people in your life?
	Do important people in your life get annoyed or disappointed with you about this behavior?
	Do you get defensive or irritable when people criticize this behavior?
	Do you ever feel guilty or anxious about what you are doing?
	Have you ever found yourself being secretive about or trying to "cover up" this behavior?
	Have you ever tried to cut down, but were unable to?
	If you were honest with yourself, do you feel there is a another hidden need that drives this behavior?

If you're getting a bit confused or overwhelmed by all these criteria, that's understandable. This is precisely the dilemma faced by psychologists in the painstaking process of defining and validating a new diagnostic category. On the lighter side, consider some of the more humorous attempts to define internet addiction.

Top 10 Signs You're Addicted to the Net

	You wake up at 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom and stop and check your e-mail on the way back to bed.
	You get a tattoo that reads "This body best viewed with Netscape Navigator 1.1 or higher."
	You name your children Eudora, Mozilla and Dotcom.
	You turn off your modem and get this awful empty feeling, like you just pulled the plug on a loved one.
	You spend half of the plane trip with your laptop on your lap...and your child in the overhead compartment.
	You decide to stay in college for an additional year or two, just for the free Internet access.
	You laugh at people with 2400-baud modems.
	You start using smileys in your snail mail.
	The last mate you picked up was a JPEG.
	Your hard drive crashes. You haven't logged in for two hours. You start to twitch. You pick up the phone and manually dial your ISP's access number. You try to hum to communicate with the modem. You succeed.

Lastly, comes the intriguing epistemological dilemma concerning the researchers who study cyberspace addictons. Are they addicted too? If they indeed are a bit preoccupied with their computers, does this make them less capable of being objective, and therefore less accurate in their conclusions? Or does their involvement give them valuable insights? There's no simple answer to these questions.

See Also:

Why is This Thing Eating My Life? - An article that examines the healthy and unhealthy aspects of "addictions" to the Palace, a multimedia chat environment.

Mom, Dad, Computer (Transference Reactions to Computers) - One reason why some people become so attached to their computer is that it satisfies intense (and often unconscious) interpersonal needs from their past.

Cyberspace as Dream World: Illusion and Reality at the Palace - Some people may be drawn to cyberspace because it fulfills the need for an altered state of consciousness, similar to dreams. This may be especially true of the highly visual and fantasy-based MOO environments like the Palace.

To Part I

John Suler, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Rider University and a practicing clinical psychologist. He has published on psychotherapy, mental imagery, and eastern philosophy. He currently maintains several web sites.