When the Internet came into our world, it was really exciting.
We could literally find everything at the tip of our fingers. It is literally no exaggeration that the Internet played a great deal in the lives of people, especially the ones who are ardent learners.
But slowly, the negativities began to reflect themselves with the advent of online video games and other means of the environment.
All means of entertainment terribly affected the academic people. The last thing that remained was Social Media. People got addicted to the Internet and started to spend a whopping 8-11 hours on the Internet.
Slowly, the viral effect of social media began to manifest itself, and people complained of stress, anxiety, and unrest. As a result, mental health complexities compounded with each passing year globally.
The present article will look at the Impact Internet Addiction Effects have on increasing Mental Health-related complexities.
Internet Addiction And Mental Health: Basic Overview
Internet Addiction is characterized by people spending their time searching the Internet for information. It seems their curiosity seems to have no end in seeking new knowledge.
They also devote maximum time on Social Media observing the status of other people. They actually indulge in a vain effort of connecting with people on virtual platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and others.
It reaches the point of addiction where they are not able to restrict and recede themselves back to normalcy.
Mental Health, according to the definition of the World Health Organisation, is a state of well-being where one could easily identify and understand one’s potentialities and abilities.
One would be able to cope with the problems and stress of life without any external assistance. An individual could work fruitfully and productively, integrating with people.
Finally, a strong-willed person will be able to contribute to his or her society in some ways.
Facts And Data On Internet Addiction And Mental Health
There are certain facts that are striking enough related to both Internet Addiction as well as Mental Health. If you want to check the facts, you can do so with the help of a holistic addiction treatment center Ocean Recovery.
Internet Addiction
- An average person around the world spends around 6 hours on the Internet daily.
- Around 77% of the People around the Works search the Internet every day.
- 43% of the Internet Users in the US go Online several Times a day.
- Around 8% of Internet Users go online once a day.
- Children between 8 to 10 spend a whopping 8 hours on average on Internet searching.
- According to recent data, the rate of Internet Addiction ranges from 1.5 % to around 8%.
In general, around 307.34 million people use the Internet. These figures are highly concerning and appalling, to say the least. Internet Addiction is getting increased with every passing day.
Now let’s take a sneak peek into some figures on mental health and then try to draw the Intersection between the two variables.
Mental Health
According to one report 1 out of 5 Americans are suffering from some sort of mental health issue.
In the case of Children, the number is the same as 1 out of every 5.
In terms of Percentile value around 21% of U.S. adults are experiencing mental health issues and this number stands around 52.9 million people.
Therefore, the Intersection between both sections of Statistics shows that around 19.26 % of Internet Users in the US are suffering from mental health issues. Simplified, around 1 out of every 5 Internet users are suffering from mental health.
Therefore, the highly negative impact Internet Addiction has on increasing Mental Health Complexities could be easily perceived here.
Types Of Internet Addiction
Internet Addiction could be broadly classified into five categories and they include:
Cybersex Addiction
Under Cybersex Addiction, people are involved more in Online Pornography, Sexual Fantasy, xxx Webcam service. An obsession with these increases stress and anxiety in the long run.
Net Compulsion
Under this, the population of the age group between 18 to 45 has been relentlessly indulged in Gambling, Online Shopping, Stock Trading. These habits dissociate them from job duties. Consequently, they end up affecting their mental state.
Cyber Relational Addiction
This is one addiction where people are perceived to be busy passing time on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Compulsion Internet Seeking
Under this addiction, people basically, student groups seek the internet to search for new knowledge. This search goes to the level of insanity.
Computer and Gaming Addiction
The young generation is observed to pass their idle time indulging in Video games. They encounter situations that are highly aggressive. Scholastic studies say that these groups of people find themselves grappled with some sort of addiction.
Impact Of Internet Addiction On Mental Health
In the year 2018, a descriptive study was conducted on around 447 students (232 males and 215 females) enrolled in one of the Universities in Iran. It was revealed that Internet Addiction has a positive correlation with depression and mental retardation.
In general conversation, it could be observed that spending excess time on the internet dissociates instead alienates an individual from the present world in which they live.
An individual is always searching for the ideal, and the Internet world now has the capacity to offer anything…whatever he could possibly deserve. However, this belief that fruition of needs in the virtual platform is possible and not in the real world sticks them to the former.
The person ends up ripping off all kinds of relations with the present world and indulges in a sort of make-believe world. In the name of Connectivity, they unknowingly drag themselves into the reign of utter desolation and psychological vacuity, and destitution.
Conclusion
Internet Addiction has veritably conquered the minds of the youth of today.
Initiated the journey in the name of knowledge and Information; the Internet, like a bug, is affecting and decaying the mental capacity of an individual, especially the students’ community, for good !!!
There must be some sort of censorship that needs to be built around to prevent youth from becoming psychologically bankrupt.
A consensus needs to be built on this so that the Internet could only be used for building, not disrupting our TOMORROW.
