Seattle, WA-- On Monday morning, The Centers For Disease Control, in Atlanta, GA, published a report in the New England Journal of Medicine that came as no surprise to residents of this trendy Northwest city: Internet addiction is very real, and its rates continue to soar."This is like one of those studies from Harvard that tell us that kids are drinking more [alcohol] in high school, isn't it?" says Harry Greely, as he sips a cappucino in one of the ubiquitous Starbucks that pepper the rainswept city. He gestures towards his open laptop, humming on the table. "If I happen to leave the house without this baby, here, I feel like I'm walking around naked. I need to go back to my apartment to get it. Hell, yeah, I'm addicted. What else is new?"
According to the study published, in the 25 to 35-year-old age group, 58% of the adults polled said that they were on the Internet at least 5 times a week, doing everything from checking their emails to surfing for highly-suggestive adult material. Internet usage was found to be even more prevelant amongst the 15 to 24-year-old age group, particularly in high school age teenagers.
"It's a real problem, it really is," says Regina Vanderwal, the principal at Ratahooga High School, in the suburb city of Hollah, 20 minutes southeast of Seattle. "People always talk about the dangers of underage drinking and smoking, but this is getting to be just as significant a problem. Whereas children used to go outside to play, now they spend inordinate amounts of time inside, on the Internet, either playing online games or checking their emails or screwing around with their MyPlace accounts. I tell you, if this continues, we're going to be a nation of multicolored slugs."
Slugs? Maybe. Maybe not. But a local doctor in Hollah agrees with the principal.
"Inactivity. That's what worries me," says Doctor Allen Pratfawk. "The time that people spend skating on the Internet--and I am really focusing on the children, here--by definition takes away from the time that they could be outside exercising, or playing, or at least soaking up the vitamin-rich rays of the Sun. And, as we all know, with inactivity, rates of other health problems soar, as well."
In 1998, the percentage of people with a home computer who had access to the Internet was 39%. Today that number is 78%. The numbers continue to climb.
"It's crazy," says Thom Thoom, a self-described computer illiterate. "We have all this natural beauty outside--the mountains, the lakes, the wildlife--and all some people seem to want to do is search for porn and look at emails and post naked pictures of themselves on the Web, for everyone and anyone to see. Crazy. Live a little, people! Don't let life pass you by."
3 comments:
I read Tom Thoom as Tom Thumb and got side-tracked, sorry.
Nice article, Adam!
Personally, I think the CDC is up in arms about nothing. I spend only one, no two, no three, hours a day perusing websites and whatnot.
Uh oh.
Ugh! I am Nanette. I am addicted to the internet. It all started about 7 months ago.....
My son spends a lot of time on his computer. My daughter would spend a lot more if I let her. It's not so much the inactivity that bothers me, it's the lack of face to face interactions and socialization. I have a friend whose 17 year old son sits in his room in the basement playing World of Warcraft and chatting with others online when he's not in school. He doesn't have any friends or do any activities outside of that other than going to school. He stays up all night on the weekends on the computer. When she talked to him about his lack of friends and socialization, he said he has friends in many different states that he talks to often. While being able to chat with others all over the U.S., heck all over the world, and do activities online with them, I don't think that should be the major source of a person's interactions and socialization with others. I think spending a lot of time on the computer removes a person from, to use the popular online term, real life. It can very much be an addiction and yes, I'm talking from experience.
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