Hello Professor and Classmates, The topic that I have selected to speak about is Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). Smart phones are basically hand-held computers that allow each of us the ability to carry our virtual reality addictions from location to location as we go about our daily activities. I know that this is a mouth full, but it is true, and I have this addiction as well. I am aware that there are several benefits of having a smart phone. There are businesses that use smart phones to keep clients informed when there is a change in scheduling or to find a location of a residence when providing a service such as lawn and cable services. There is also the chance that there may be an emergency afoot that requires medical assistance or law enforcement. All of the aforementioned situations fall within the parameters of what is considered to be normal use of a smart phone. I will add that certain businesses such as a day trader for a stock broker will likely look up trends or watch the rise and fall of stocks as a means to advice their clients, for these purposes the constant use of a smart phone does not constitute addictive behavior. Addictive behavior does not include constant use of a cellular phone for livelihood, I want to make that clear in this post up front. The Negative: When smart phones become your social life, there are issues that should likely be addressed. I am a bit old fashioned and believe in face-to-face contact with human beings for social stimulation. While smart phones provide much assistance in planning activities or giving guidance, they should not be a person’s sole go-to for social stimulation. Application games, what’s App, Text Messaging, Facebook, and other applications are very trendy and many individuals cannot part ways with their smart phone as a result of an addiction to the internet while using their smart phone. The same occurs when using laptops and desktop computer systems. One statistic states that over 40 percent of the world’s population uses the internet and that there is no pathway from adaptive to pathological internet use, there is no widely used accepted diagnosis criteria (Carli V., Durkee T., Wasserman D., 2013). When you research IAD is the DSM-5 you will find that it is listed as a disorder that needs more research (American Psychiatric Association., 2013)). IAD is gaining traction but all of the details have not been worked out regarding IAD. A person is said to have an addiction once their use of the internet interferes with their lifestyle. Discussion: While eating at Applebee’s I witnessed a woman and a child eating at a table. The child had the typical coloring and crossword diagram that is usually handed to children by the restaurant’s staff. The child tried to show the mother her work but was ignored multiple times. The mother sat at the table with her smartphone in her hand and I thought to myself, what is the point of taking your child to dinner if you are not going to use the ...

1. Hello Professor and Classmates,
The topic that I have selected to speak about is Internet
Addiction Disorder (IAD). Smart phones are basically hand-held
computers that allow each of us the ability to carry our virtual
reality addictions from location to location as we go about our
daily activities. I know that this is a mouth full, but it is true,
and I have this addiction as well. I am aware that there are
several benefits of having a smart phone. There are businesses
that use smart phones to keep clients informed when there is a
change in scheduling or to find a location of a residence when
providing a service such as lawn and cable services. There is
also the chance that there may be an emergency afoot that
requires medical assistance or law enforcement. All of the
aforementioned situations fall within the parameters of what is
considered to be normal use of a smart phone. I will add that
certain businesses such as a day trader for a stock broker will
likely look up trends or watch the rise and fall of stocks as a
means to advice their clients, for these purposes the constant
use of a smart phone does not constitute addictive behavior.
Addictive behavior does not include constant use of a cellular
phone for livelihood, I want to make that clear in this post up
front.
The Negative: When smart phones become your social life,
there are issues that should likely be addressed. I am a bit old
fashioned and believe in face-to-face contact with human beings
for social stimulation. While smart phones provide much
assistance in planning activities or giving guidance, they should
not be a person’s sole go-to for social stimulation. Application
games, what’s App, Text Messaging, Facebook, and other
applications are very trendy and many individuals cannot part
ways with their smart phone as a result of an addiction to the

2. internet while using their smart phone. The same occurs when
using laptops and desktop computer systems. One statistic states
that over 40 percent of the world’s population uses the internet
and that there is no pathway from adaptive to pathological
internet use, there is no widely used accepted diagnosis criteria
(Carli V., Durkee T., Wasserman D., 2013). When you research
IAD is the DSM-5 you will find that it is listed as a disorder
that needs more research (American Psychiatric Association.,
2013)). IAD is gaining traction but all of the details have not
been worked out regarding IAD. A person is said to have an
addiction once their use of the internet interferes with their
lifestyle.
Discussion: While eating at Applebee’s I witnessed a woman
and a child eating at a table. The child had the typical coloring
and crossword diagram that is usually handed to children by the
restaurant’s staff. The child tried to show the mother her work
but was ignored multiple times. The mother sat at the table with
her smartphone in her hand and I thought to myself, what is the
point of taking your child to dinner if you are not going to use
the opportunity for a bit of parental bonding. From where I sat,
I could see that the mother was browsing repeatedly between
facebook and Instagram. Could the mother be addicted to the
internet and social media or is she simply within what is
considered to be the norm for internet usage. I would argue that
social media is not a part of family dinner unless it is being
used in a family type of setting and every member associates
what is occurring on social media to their dinner. I believe
social media can enhance family gatherings but if you use it to
the point of ignoring immediate family members such as your
children then it may be time to take a break from it.
Social Stigma: There is definitely social stigma associated with
internet addiction. There is a very popular argument that is
made regarding the youth particularly here in the United States.
The older population states that the younger population depend

3. far too much on their electronics, to include their smartphones.
They believe these “millennials” are weak and lack good old
fashioned morals. While I understand exactly where the
dinosaurs (older population, myself included) of American
citizens are coming from, I believe we push the social stigma
that continual use of the internet leaves no room for physical
interaction, at least not in the regard that way we experienced it
growing up. In some cases addictions are not bad, I am sure
some people have had a spike in interest by using the internet
and they were able to acquire enough interest in it that they
became program developers. Some people also believe that to
become extremely good at anything, you must have some sort of
obsession, while obsession and addiction appear the same they
are completely two different things. Addiction is said to help a
person escape reality while obsession becomes a part of their
daily lives. Should we call this internet business an obsession or
an addiction? If we call it an addiction then this means that the
person uses the internet to escape reality, if we use the
aforementioned definition. This would be more appropriate for
video gamers in my opinion and not for people who use social
media sites like facebook and Instagram. These sites typically
use factual information from other individual’s lives and allows
the user to publish real time live adventures. The line appears
somewhat thin when talking obsession versus addiction. In any
case there is much social stigma associated with each of these.
Positive points of addiction: If a person is addicted to working
out their body then this is likely not a bad addiction to have.
The upside of it is that the individual may lead a healthy
lifestyle with would likely promote longevity. A person who is
addicted to video games may find the need to create their own.
In this instance their addiction to video games would have
sparked an interest enough to drive a creative mindset in the
individual that they can use as a form of lively hood. The
chances of developing a social media platform such as facebook
or Instagram is likely slim to none so I do not believe

4. addictions to these websites can lead to anything that would be
beneficial. A person may find the need to promote their
business and in this case their addiction to social media would
supplement their income because they will likely know the ins-
and-outs of where to go on social media to pull in the targeted
crowd of people needed to sustain their business. Addictions
can be vises but they can also be a way to enhance our lifestyles
particularly and internet addiction.
V/R
Carl D. Nelson Jr.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013).
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
(5th ed.). Retrieved from
http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/book.aspx?bookid=556Links to
an external site.
Carli V., Durkee T., Wasserman D. (2013). The association
between pathological Internet use and comorbid
psychopathology: asystematic review. Psychopathology 46(1),1-
13