Internet addiction amongst Indians is alarmingly on the rise.
An increasing number of people are seeking help from health professionals to get over their (or their children’s) obsession with the cyber world. The net addicts are not only children and adolescents hooked on to Orkut and various porn sites for six to eight hours a day, but also middle-aged people who are addicted to various social networking, gambling, gaming and pornographic websites.
There are an estimated 50 million Internet users in India. In fact India boasts of being the fifth largest country in the world in terms of the number of Internet users.
The increasing online frenzy has raised fears of a growing population of Internet addicts in India. China, where this addiction has become a serious issue, has over 2 million addicts, according to China’s Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC). Alarmed by the increasing number of Internet-related suicides of youngsters, the Indian government has officially started Internet addiction clinics. Recently, the renowned Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai banned Internet in many of its hostels from 11.30 pm to 12.30 pm, because a large number of students had become addicted to gaming, blogging, file-sharing and online movies and showed up late for classes.
What exactly is Internet addiction and what are its symptoms? Internet addiction is not about long hours spent on the Net, but a compulsive desire to log on without any purpose. It is purposeless surfing on the Net which adversely affects a person’s personal, professional and social life.
People with a fixation on the Net tend to get restless when they have no access to it and they have this compelling desire to use the Net without any necessity.
One of the reasons why young people have an increasing obsession with the cyber world is that it provides them with a global social milieu where they are forging all sorts of relationships. It allows them to express emotions and feelings in a way they cannot do in real life. So the Net has a cathartic value.
According to experts, symptoms of internet addiction include a disregard for health, insomnia, lack of physical activity and declining desire for social interaction. It results in strained relationships, as those hooked on to the Internet tend to ignore their families and friends.
These days, many youngsters travelling on trains are so busy with their laptops that they do not have time to look at people sitting next to them throughout the journey. Those contacting health professionals for help include worried parents of children living in college hostels who are online for as many as eight hours when they go home during vacations. The laptop is their constant companion.
