What is Pathological Internet Use? Pathological Internet Use or Internet Addiction is a type of impulse control disorder. (Holliday 10) Psychologists put it under this category because the effects of chemicals produced in the brain during Internet use haven't been properly documented. The addiction is similar to an obsessive compulsive disorder and is also often compared to alcoholism. "An estimated five to ten percent of people who use the Internet can be classified as having a problem." (Ross 2)More than 90 percent of addicts became addicted to two-way communications functions: chat rooms, MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons), news groups, and e-mail, says the author of Caught in the Net, Kimberly Young. Typically it's new users that become addicted, the unemployed, and people with low level jobs. (Schuman 1) In a short article, "Diary of a Mad Mousewife," Lea Goldman describes how her addiction started, "Six years ago a well-read, suburban bred college kid pulled me into a corner at the all-night library and showed me the Internet Relay Chat (IRC), the grand daddy of chat rooms. By sunrise I was still settled in that corner, illuminated by the blue glow of the monitor and the flicker of the chats scrolling down my screen."For many people their addiction started with just such an all-night occasion. Once contacts are made and you have "regular" chat sessions before you know it your spending all your time in front of the computer, even meals. Can Internet Addiction truly be considered an addiction from a psychological standpoint?Although psychologist have tried to group Internet Addiction with other addictions such as drug and alcohol abuse and even used the criteria for a compulsive gambler for a compulsive surfer it seems that this addiction is in a league of it's own. We know what the addiction feeds off of and the artificial feeling of connection that it offers but the largest problem for researchers is finding a way to classify the disord...
