Research by the University of Hong Kong has revealed an impressive fact: 435.582 million people in the world are addicted to the Internet. But what does this mean? Simply put, that these people suffer from withdrawal-like symptoms when they do not have access to the web. Do you feel identified? Be careful, there is a life to enjoy in the real world!
It is incredible, but you should know that this disorder was formulated by a psychologist, and it was not that he conducted thousands of studies and invested a lot of time and money to get to talk about this term, well no. It was all thanks to a joke, a joke that was taken very seriously, there is even an exact date: March 16, 1995. That day, psychologist Ivan Goldberg, sent an e-mail message commenting in a sarcastic tone that he had discovered a new disorder, “internet addiction syndrome”.
But, what Goldberg never suspected was that his joke would turn into something real, when he discovered shortly thereafter that there were already clinics for the treatment of this new addiction.
Hyperconnectivity: thousands of benefits and millions of Internet addicts
According to research by the University of Hong Kong, 6 percent of the world’s population is addicted to the Internet. This means that 6 out of every 100 people in the world are under this condition.
In surveys conducted in 31 countries in different regions, except Africa, they asked people about the control they have when accessing the network and what symptoms they suffer when for some reason they do not have access to it. The results revealed that the area with the most Internet addicts is the Middle East, while the least addicted are people from Northern and Western Europe.
Also, that some of the most common symptoms are:
- Do not let go of the cell phone at any time.
- Anxiety.
- Abandoning other obligations to be on the network.
- Less sleep.
- Getting online is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night.
- Google yourself constantly.
The conclusion reached by the researchers is that pollution, stress, and a “lower perception of overall life satisfaction” are key aspects of people’s decision to spend more time online.
In addition, they stated that:
“Internet addiction is seen as a worrying disorder due to neural abnormalities such as atrophy of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a brain area that involves memory, attention and temporal planning, among others) and the associated cognitive dysfunctions”.
Don’t you find it scary to be addicted to the Internet? Enjoy everything around you, life is beautiful here too!
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