The document discusses whether internet addiction should be classified as a mental illness. It provides examples of extreme internet addiction negatively impacting people's health and relationships. Researchers have found internet addiction affects brain areas related to decision making and self-control. While more research is still needed, experts argue internet addiction shares characteristics with substance abuse and should be included in the DSM-V. However, others worry the classification could be overused and more work needs to be done to clearly define internet addiction as a mental illness.

1. Is Internet Addiction A Mental
Illness Or A Social Problem?
By Kritika Pramod Kulshrestha

2. A disease called Internet
• A 3-month old child died in South Korea in 2010 when her
parents, obsessed with marathon online gaming sessions, fed
her only once a day leaving her to die a slow death.
• This incident is only one of the many negative consequences
of internet addiction.
• This isn’t the story of just one child. There are many such
cases all around the world.

3. Not just a disorder, Experts say
• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or
DSM-IV have decided that internet addiction needs to be
designated as a serious mental illness in its May 2013 edition.
• While researchers state the need for more research into the
ways and means of accurately diagnosing internet addiction,
the American Psychiatric Association is already comparing
the symptoms of Internet Use Disorder (IUD) to substance
abuse.
• Psychologists are also pushing for broadening the diagnosis
of IUD to include much more than online gaming addictions.

4. Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones speaks
• Web addiction, indeed, affects the white matter of the brain
that contains nerve fibres.
• Researchers have found that excessive internet use does
affect the fibres impacting a person’s emotions, self-control,
and decision-making abilities.
• As told to BBC by Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones, “white matter
abnormalities in the orbito-frontal cortex and other truly
significant brain areas are present not only in addictions where
substances are involved but also in behavioral ones such as
internet addiction”.

5. Internet, as harmful as substance
usage
• World over, kids obsessed with internet games and social
media are slowly and steadily distancing themselves from the
real world.
• Without access to their emails even for a few minutes these
children experience frustration, anxiety, depression and
irritability.
• According to psychologists, these are deemed as withdrawal
symptoms; the same as those observed in substance abuse.
• Nearly 70 % of the kids being treated at addiction-treatment
clinics in Sydney are unable to focus without their smart
phones.
• They struggle to pry themselves away from their IPads and
their tablet computers.

6. UIS is a mental illness and here is why!
• For children in South Korea, sleeping with a smart phone
instead of a teddy bear is not a new phenomenon.
• Nearly 160,000 children between the ages of five and nine
are addicted to the internet.
• In the race to be constantly ‘wired in’, children forget to eat
lunch, ignore sports and other physical activities, forgo going
to the toilet and end up being nervous and distracted when
their smart devices are taken away from them.
• Nearly 2.55 million people in South Korea are affected.
• With children as young as the age of 3 being addicted to the
internet and technology, the inclusion of IUD in the DSM – V
is justified.

7. Who is guilty?
• Internet use needs to be monitored and the youth must learn
to balance technology with other activities.
• When the darker side of internet addiction is exposed
through display of violence, tantrums, and outrage then it
becomes a serious problem; it can even be termed as a
mental illness.
• In the last couple of years, we have been exposed to
situations where the line between addiction and insanity has
been blurred.

8. How often is too often?
• The inclusion of internet-addiction in the DSM-V could
actually be misused.
• To avoid this, there will need to be reforms and amendments
to the existing laws of a country.
• Only then is it feasible to classify internet addiction as a
mental illness.
• Many of us use the internet, especially social media, to stay
updated on current news and world stories. Often, we check
our emails more than 30 times per hour.
• Are all of us affected with IUD?

9. ASAP! That’s what is needed
• As the debate rages on among researchers, medical
practitioners, health officials and the millions of users; we
need to understand that only classifying IUD as a mental
illness is not enough.
• We need to amend laws and conduct in-depth research into
the symptoms and extent of IUD.
• Once research shows that IUD can indeed be classified as a
mental illness and laws are amended to incorporate IUD and
its consequences, we must take steps to include IUD in the
DSM – V.
• Technology and the internet is taking over our lives rapidly
and we need to control them before everything is destroyed
– humanity, emotions, and societal structure.

10. • Read more on Youth Ki Awaaz at http://bit.ly/V1ge7n