Describe different types of addiction.
Online games
Online games are a common cause of computer addiction. Online games consist of multi-player games via the internet . This is where the player assumes a character in the game and plays against other people from all around the world. There are many internet games on the market and some of them have millions upon millions of players worldwide. The majority of the players involved enjoy just a casual game after school, work or at weekends. A minority, however, have become so addicted, and alarmingly so, that they are spending upwards of 12 hours per day playing the game they are addicted to. Reports have come in that some people have been playing around the clock and not eating or sleeping for days and days because they do not want to leave the computer and the character they are pretending to be.
List the symptoms of internet addiction.
Preoccupation with the Internet: User often thinks about the Internet while he or she is offline.
Loss of control: Addicted users feel unable or unwilling to get up from the computer and walk away. They sit down to check e-mail or look up a bit of information, and end up staying online for hours.
Inexplicable sadness or moodiness when not online: Dependency on any substance often causes mood-altering side effects when the addicted user is separated from the substance on which he or she depends.
Distraction (Using the Internet as an anti-depressant): One common symptom of many Internet addicts is the compulsion to cheer one's self up by surfing the Web.
What are the strategies to prevent internet addiction.
Disconnecting yourself from the Internet may be one of the hardest things you can do (especially if you spend most of your day on it). The simplest thing you can do to prevent that kind of Internet addiction is to pull out your ethernet cable, switch off your wireless or turn off your modem. Some routers also allow you to set a time when you can use the Internet. The trick here is make sure it is hard to turn it back on. Therefore, if you want to do something really quick like check your email, hopefully you have enough strength in yourself to not turn the internet back on for one little task. If you do turn it back on, you may get an email which may waste more of your time.
