Meanwhile, other countries are busy acting to curb this growing problem. In China the government is giving parents the power to control their child’s use of gaming. According to the AFP by March 1st, 2011 “parents will be able to put daily or weekly restrictions” on time spent playing online games. Also, gaming companies are ordered to “comply with the new guidelines.” While this sort of overreaching might be counterproductive, there is still something that can be learned. The parents have an active role to play in any young person’s life, and internet addiction is no exception.
Addiction and dependence go hand in hand, so is it an addiction if your dependant on the internet for school, business, or any information that is used for your daily routine? A casual observer might point to how one copes with the prolonged absence of the internet. In one county in northern Virginia internet service was cut off for 33 hours due to recent weather. Needless to say customers were less than happy. The disgruntled customers expressed their discontent in local newspapers’, and blogs’ comments section online. While most were not acceptable to be quoted, they all had the same message. We cannot survive a day without the internet. Basically a grey area exists in internet addiction and casual, albeit necessary use in our daily lives.
If you want to see if your addicted to the internet visit: IAD Test
I scored a respectable 25 which puts me in the lowest of a three tier system that classifies the level of addiction.
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