Page 35 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August/September 2017

Internet Addiction 35

Internet Addiction: When

How Much Is Too Much?

by Anu Bhambhani

Uncontrollable urge to be constantly hooked to
internet via smartphone, laptop, tablet and other
gadgets is one of the signs of internet addiction
disorder, something we need to save our
children from.
I am a first time parent to a 19 month old
girl, working from home. As a stay at home
parent, I have managed to instil in her love for
reading books. Her vocabulary is more than
double for toddlers her age. However, in times
of real deadline pressures and exasperation of
her demanding my attention all the time, I am
also guilty of introducing her to the iPad. Since
past one month, she is hooked to watching
‘Jingle bells…’ online. Her screen time is a
good 30 minutes without blinking her eyes. She
knows how to change the tracks online, even lot of time in front of the computer. Having said
waits for the first five seconds for the that, it really depends on what they are looking
advertisement in the YouTube video before at online which is the deciding factor. In case of
asking me to tap ‘skip the ad’ tab. Needless to children, parents can always spot an addict early
mention, cries inconsolably when I take it away on. Here’s a checklist.
from her. And, she is only 19 months old.
Wonder what parents of grown up kids
go through. Kids older than five are already • Does your child have a lot of online friends
aware of how technology works. They know with whom s/he likes to talk in chat rooms
how downloading, streaming, buffering, or through messaging, more than the real
browsing, etc., works and this is just the basic friends?
tech vocabulary. Their screen time extends • Does s/he compulsively reach out for the PARANORMAL STAKEOUT
hours. Parental control comes in the form of cellphone, tablet or laptop to check with
them getting scolded, grounded and even locked messages, calls, updates all the time even
in their rooms, but no matter what their love for when it is not required making the person a LARRY LAWSON
technology doesn’t seem to end. For parents social recluse? Investigating and Research Ghosts,
today, it has become a challenge to curtail • Does s/he spend hours on social networking Hauntings, and things that go “BUMP” in
screen time of their kids. While some parents do sites which makes it impossible to the night using Police Investigative
allow it for practical reasons, it is really concentrate on study or work, leading to fall Techniques to Solve the Paranormal.
important to know when how much is too much in productivity in studies and at work?
so that it doesn’t turn into what is known as • Are the child’s online activities dominated To contact Larry Lawson - Email -
internet addiction disorder. by online games, visiting inappropriate larrylawson@xzbn.net
sites, e-commerce sites, etc?
What is Internet Addiction Disorder? www.XZBN.net
If you ticked all of these factors, then your child
Remember that Spice Girls Song “Too much of might be suffering from internet addiction
something is bad enough…”? Well, when disorder or may be bordering on it. It is
talking about screen time for the kids, there is a extremely important to offer help to your child
limit that must be set lest they get addicted to when there is still time. I too suffered from it
the internet. Browse the web and you will read temporarily and paid a price for it with my
Wikipedia listing synonyms of Internet health. []
Addiction Disorder as Problematic Internet Use
(PIU) or Compulsive Internet Use (CIU). Some From the Pages of “Did You Know?”
also refer to it as Internet Compulsivity and
by Rob McConnell:
Internet Dependency. When one’s use of
internet starts to affect his or daily activities and
social relationships with family and friends, DYK: Leading cause of death in Papua, New
that’s a sure sign of internet addiction disorder. Guinea is falling trees. KNOW THE NAME,
What’s a matter of concern is that with growing DYK...Humphrey Bogart’s first line as an KNOW THE GENIUS IN YOU
fondness for gadgets and related technology, the actor was “Tennis anyone?”
young generation is increasingly falling for it. DYK...Honolulu is Hawaiian for “sheltered with SHARON LYNN WYETH
harbor.” From the creator of NEIMOLOGY,
How to recognise Internet Addiction DYK...A cremnophobeis someone who is Sharon Lynn Wyeth interviews and discovers
afraid of falling down stairs.
Disorder? the genius in the name of her guests and will
DYK...Chili comes from an Aztec word that tell listeners how they can find out what their
means “bowl of red.” names tells them about their inner genius. To
There are many telltale signs of a person being
DYK...Woodrow Wilson was the last contact Sharon Lynn Wyeth - Email -
addicted to the internet. And, screen time is not president to type all his own letters.
necessarily the biggest one of all. These days, knowthename@xzbn.net
schools and colleges too insist their students to
Available at
do projects for which they have to do a lot of www.XZBN.net
www.robmcconnell.ca
online research, so they may end up spending a