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Too busy being online
There must be an equilibrium point where virtual world ends and the real world starts. In this digital age, it is getting increasingly difficult to tell where that point is. The boundaries between the two are getting blurred every day and many users who have access to the internet are captivated by an interactive online world. Some may not be aware but they are already addicted to the internet: surfing, chatting, gaming, blogging, and unsavoury substance found on the web.
Addiction, in general, is described as “the compulsive and overwhelming involvement with a specific activity”. Like drugs and other traditional snags of society, the internet is becoming another irresistible for some users. Internet addiction in the developed world is a hot topic for research and discussions aimed at addressing the issue in order to help those who are addicted (one 1999 study entitled “The nature of internet Addiction: Psychological Factors in Compulsive Internet Use” is found here: http://www.virtual-addiction.com/internetaddiction.htm). Several online services to help those who cannot handle the compulsive use (or abuse) of the internet at there own have also come up. There are so many quizzes for self assessment. Here it still is a non issue though. It is in this context that the internet users must be warned to be vigilant to avoid the risk of another kind: internet addiction.
Like any physical and psychological habit, levels of dependence on the internet are not easy to measure. Compulsive behaviours, such as losing track of time, neglecting other responsibilities or running away from them; and trying to take refuge in the glittering cyber word, sitting by the hooked up computer waiting for emails to come or thinking of life as an impossible without the internet are some of the variables of the internet addiction. These (and more) seemingly harmless online activities are likely to increase with the growth of the internet that by nature is impressionable and dispersed in control. Given time, any body can become victim but youngsters and shut-ins are more at risk to resist the drive to go online and easily fall prey.
Adolescents are socially inexpert. They are curious and eagerly want to learn every new thing that comes their way but it is not always easy to distinguish between what is good for them from what is bad. Parents who are computer illiterate, do not know English — language of the internet, or are too busy in fast lanes of their own lives buy computers and arrange the internet connections for their children for obvious benefits but they may not be available to have online experience with them. So kids mostly go online alone to chat with their friends, kill ennui, see the open world, follow the hot fad and have fun, expanding their social networks in the process. They enjoy doing all those things at the same time during their online sessions at multiple locations. In such situations, kids control much of what they do on the internet. Hence, the squalid edges of the internet can be all too easy to bump into. A stage may come when there is no turning back. Rationing out the internet time does not work sometime. Farid ud Din, father of a 15 year old son say, “I have done it for my son. But he keeps asking for more time to chat as a reward of doing any thing. Will you let me use the internet if I finish my homework? Will you increase my timings if I get good grade at school?”
Another segment of the population that is susceptible to the internet addiction is of shut-ins — people who live alone, having no company and no social interaction with the world outside their home. People who may be physically impaired with no one to help them get around are also shut-ins. Such people tend to fill the gaps in social life and start building a cyber social life by exchange emails, chatting, making friends with often name less and face less others online or indulging in covert actions. “This is my real world. I do not waste others’ time by calling on them when they are busy with their own lives. It is not a matter of what I achieve there. It is the sense of belonging that I have while being with my friends who listen to me. What is bad about using the internet at my home when ever I feel like,” says Nasim Shahis,” a retired bureaucrat who has cable net connection and is hardly offline. Quest for knowledge can be addictive as well. The internet has so much information out there and it would be impossible to absorb it all. But those who are addicted feel better when they busy online doing what they like.
Psychologist Dr Irfan Maqbool Chaudhary (his nick is IM Chaudhary that reads I am Chaudhary) runs a drug help centre in Lahore. He says, “Signs of the internet addiction have already started appearing every where. I believe that the dilemma is far more common and widespread only no one is conscious of it yet. Traditionally, people in our society hide their addictions due to shame or other societal compulsions or simply choose to disregard them thinking they can handle them anytime, paying no attention to them till they reach the critical stage and others start noticing. People here do not seek help even for drugs what to talk of the internet behaviours. Generally speaking, one has to set up limits for just how much is too much for any thing may it be heroin, alcohol, smoking or the spending time and money on the internet? The limits ought to be different for teenagers who only have to loaf around chat rooms all night when they should be preparing for the examination and for those who need to log on to the internet as a part of their vocation. But even working on the internet is no excuse to be to become Webaholics.”
The internet is an efficient tool for doing so many things. It is very encouraging that more people, young and old, male and female, use the information medium and take advantage of this in what ever they happen to be doing. No special training is required to use the internet. Any one can learn to use the browser, email or a chat programme.
A whole new world opens up when one starts using the internet. Initially, users search their fantasies and find what they have always been thinking (remember which key word you put in when you stared using the search engine for the first time) and earmark (read book mark) their favourite hang outs. Once on the Information Super Highway, those who do not have a clear destination or defined purpose in front of them find themselves roaming around aimlessly in a vast cyberspace and that is where addiction may start. “Given enough time, it becomes a problem and then, before they realize, it is hard for them to stay away from the computer monitor,” say Dr. Chaudhary. The new found liberty lacking any kind of restrictions becomes a compulsive obsession.
Every one says that the internet is here to stay for good. It is a part of our lives and certainly more integral part of our future. It is no more possible to live in digital Dark Age. The advantages brought about by the Web are noticeable, but attached to them are there increasing abuses and concealed risks? There is a whole world besides the Web world. How one manages the risks is really about balanced attitude towards life, work and use of the efficient medium of modern times. Dr Chaudhary says, “Any satisfying pursuits should have alternatives.” Moderation as advised by divine Islam is the key to avoid any sort of craving. Choice of course is our own.
The writer
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