Taipei Times: What are the views of psychologists or psychiatrists on the Internet -- a technology that has only been with us for less than 20 years? The Internet must have been unthinkable to psychological pioneers like Sigmund Freud. Is the phenomenon of Internet interpretable by the theories of psychology ?
Dr. Wang Hao-wei (
From what I can see, the Internet provides new opportunities for communication, a new form to read and to learn new information and a new style of recreation, such as computer games, which are similar to television, but with a stronger interaction with other people. In fact, even the three functions I just mentioned are not enough to fully describe Internet.
When people talk about Internet addiction, the addicted are often young adults. In fact, the way these youngsters become addicted to the Internet is the same way as middle-aged people become addicted to the TV. They turn on their TV when they reach home and sit in front of the TV for the whole evening, watching programs while dozing off.
People are addicted to TV because they feel tired of working and worn out by the stress from their daily lives. They try to escape their problems by watching TV. It's the same with online addiction. When you go online or start to watch TV, your brain will become pre-occupied and you will forget about your weariness or problems temporarily.
This questionnaire, to help determine whether you are addicted to the Internet, was designed by American cyber-psychologist Kimberly Young. According to Young, those who answer "yes" to five or more questions may be at risk of having an Internet addiction.
1. Do you feel preoccupied with the Internet (think about previous on-line activity or anticipate next on-line session)?
2. Do you feel the need to use the Internet with increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction?
3. Have you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, ot stop Internet use?
4. Do you feel restless, moody, depressed or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop Internet use?
5. Do you stay on-line longer than originally intended?
6. Have you jeopardized or risked the loss of significant relationship, job, education or career opportunity because of the Internet?
7. Have you lied to family members, therapists or others to conceal the extent of involvement with the Internet?
8. Do you use the Internet as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a dysphoric mood (eg, feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, depression)?
If you can answer "yes" to five or more of the questions, then ylou may suffer from Internet addiction.
In our society, I think TV addiction is more serious than Internet addiction. In many families, family members sit in front of TV together without making conversation.
Moreover, some people blame the Internet for cyber-porn addiction. I do not think this is really a problem. Without the Internet, pornography would still exist in other media. However the Internet has made pornography more available to "potential porn-lovers" -- those who enjoy pornography but used to be too shy to watch it on TV or read it in the magazines.
Thus, although we have to admit that pornography becomes more available with the prevalence of the Internet, I doubt whether the population of those who enjoy pornography has increased just because the Internet serves as one of the channels where people can obtain pornography.
TT: Since there are different kinds of addictions, such as TV addiction, tobacco addiction or drug addictions, which seems to be more serious, why has Internet addiction become an issue?
Wang: The reason for that is a political-economy issue, in which the standard for what is good or what is bad is determined by multinational conglomerates. Tobacco hazards are a good example.
The hazard to human health brought by smoking cigarettes could be much greater than smoking marijuana. However, marijuana has been banned for years while cigarette smokers are only "encouraged" to give up smoking for health reasons.
Nowadays, TV is the most popular form of home recreation. Imagine what the TV companies will do if the medical experts say that TV addiction is a kind of mental illness.
TT: "Disorder" seems to be a vague term whether compared to "disease." How do psychologists or psychiatrists define when a person has a "disorder?"
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