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What is Internet Addiction ? If you want to know about it, please answer these questions : Are you addicted to your online connection? Are you one of those crazy folks that can’t wait to read the email with your morning coffee?

Doctors are calling it serious addiction combined with: Cybersexual Addiction, Computer Addiction and Cyber-Relational Addiction. They even managed to stamp the cool names for it, like Internet Addictive Disorder (IAD) or the Internet Overuse Syndrome (IOS).  According to Kimberly S. Young, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh, in Bradford, Pennsylvania, has defined Internet addiction, based on criteria from the DSM-IV for pathological gambling, as having 5 or more of the following symptoms: preoccupation with the Internet, a need to spend more time online to get the same satisfaction, unsuccessful attempts to decrease use, feeling restless or irritable when attempting to cut back, often staying online much longer than intended, secretive behavior/lying about online pursuits, distress or dysfunction as a result of this behavior, or use of the Internet to self-medicate (eg, to overcome depression).

Choosehelp.com said that there are 6 signs of internet addiction :

1. Excessive thinking about the internet when not online – Thinking about what you will do when next online, and what you have done recently.
2. Lying to others about how much time you spend online. A sign of most addictions, if you need to lie, then you have something to hide.
3. Using the internet as a way to escape from problems or negative emotions – Soothing yourself after a hard day with online time, is a dangerous habit.
4. Experiencing any significant work or school performance detriments, or relationship harms out of your online habits. If you find yourself staying up very late at night and missing work or class, for example, this could be indicative of a problem.
5. Observing the development of a tolerance – If you find that you need ever longer periods of time online to achieve satisfaction, you are developing a tolerance to the internet.
6. Cravings to use and withdrawal symptoms are a telltale sign of a problem. If you get anxious or irritable when you cannot get online, when your PDA battery dies or when you get interrupted online, you may be showing withdrawal symptoms.

Based on the latest research and simple human reasoning. Internet addiction should not be labeled as addiction like gambling or drug addiction. There should be a strict line that distances other addictions from the “internet addiction”. Staying in touch with your friends or watching funny YouTube videos is not a destructive behavior which usually characterizes major addictions.

If you gamble on the internet then you are not addicted to the internet, but online gambling. Internet is a wonderful tool, but like everything else in this Universe there is the sunny side and the dark side of the pyramid of life.

Be Positive and Stay Positive!