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Lourdes Sanchez

Professor Millstein

ENG 114B

May 09, 2018

Stuck Behind a Screen

The internet is great for many things like communicating, making friends, finding

information, and entertainment. People spend time out of their day just to go on to explore all the

many wonders of the web. However, no matter how many times you have tried to stay off it, you

just can’t. This is starting to become a problem among many folks. The internet has become an

addiction that is affecting the lives of many individuals. Internet addictions has ruined social

interactions, mental health, and physical well-being. Like any other addiction, people who abuse

the web may end up experiencing symptoms of withdrawal when they try to stop. For this

reason, internet addictions have become a huge issue among people around the world.

Communication is an important aspect in everyone’s daily life. Socially interacting helps

you to express ideas, feelings, and thoughts towards others. The internet has made it easier for

people to communicate to millions of other folks around the world just by the clicking of a few

buttons. However, this means that talking to one another off the internet is somewhat lost

because people are stuck behind their screens. Many people start to rely on the internet when

they want to interact with others. People start to choose socializing on the internet over a

conversation with someone in real life, especially since the web is very accessible. Some may

spend hours and sometimes the whole day talking to people through the internet. This starts to

affect an individual’s life because they start to choose the internet over their family, friends, and

loved ones, breaking all of their social interactions.

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Individuals who choose the internet over their loved ones usually end up in isolation.

They will isolate themselves from the world and continue to dig themselves deeper in the ocean

of the web. In the article, “Internet usage, depression, social isolation and loneliness amongst

adolescents” Avantika Puri and Ritu Sharma state, “Individuals suffering from Internet addiction

spend more time in solitary seclusion, spend less time with real people in their lives, and are

often viewed as socially awkward.” This shows how addiction to the internet can affect the lives

of users who are constantly isolated and away from social interactions.

Many people strive to live their life like the ones they see on the internet. They might see

someone living a great life on the internet and fall into depression because they are not living

with the same luxury. This leads people to compare themselves to others and this can often

damage their self-esteem. Instead of worrying about their own life, individuals are often

concerned with the life of those who are on the web. People who are hooked on the web often get

stuck in a vulnerable stage. Anything they see on the internet may give them anxiety, stress, or

depression.

Internet users can often lose sense of reality because they believe everything they see on

the internet. They might see someone with a perfect body shape and obsess over not having one

like that themselves. This can cause someone to stress and gain anxiety because it will lead them

to think that they are not good enough the way they are. In the article, “Internet addiction and

depression, anxiety, and stress”, it reads “According to path analysis results, depression, anxiety,

and stress were predicted positively by internet addiction.” This proves that mental health

disorders are automatically correlated with extreme usage of the internet. Consequently, the web

not only affects the state of mind but the physical state on an induvial as well.
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The internet can be a huge time consumer especially when one is addicted to it. Some

internet addicts will lose sleep, appetite, or gain excessive appetite, when hooked on the web.

People who spend hours on the internet tend to use it through the night. This may result in them

not getting enough hours of sleep. According to the article, “Internet Use and Its Impact on

Individual Physical Health” Zheng states, “There is evidence of sleep deprivation due to long

hours of Internet use” To proper functionally, humans need an average of eight to nine hours of

sleep at night. If these web users do not get enough sleep they will not function properly at work,

school, or even at home.

Over usage of the internet is also linked to loss of appetite. This could happen because

the induvial is co consumed in the web that they do not realize that their body needs nourishment

to keep operating. They believe that the internet is way more important than their physical

health. On the other hand, over using the internet may result in a huge gain in appetite. People

who are sitting in front of their electronics are more likely to stay on the internet for a long time

while binging on some junk food. This can lead to a huge amount of weight gain, especially

because they are too busy to go out and be physically active. Internet users tend to be less in

engaged in physical activities than non-Internet users. (Zheng) These factors can have a huge

influence on the physical well-being of these internet addicts.

Some may argue that the internet is not an addiction, they also believe that it has no effect

on people. However, this means that folks are in denial and are so captivated by the internet that

they do not realize that there is a problem. Even when web users do recognize that they have an

addiction to the internet, they do not make any attempt to stop it. According to “Internet

Addiction: A New Clinical Phenomenon and Its Consequences” it mentions, “Because addictions

serve a useful purpose to the addict, the attachment or sensation may grow to such proportions
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that it damages a person's life.” If this addiction is not stopped, it may harm the individual and

create psychological problems for them in the future.

To conclude, there are many ways to prevent an internet addiction from affecting and

individual’s life. One way to prevent the internet from becoming an addiction would be to limit

electronic usage. People can go out and find an extracurricular activity to do instead of wasting

that time on the web. Another way to stay away from the internet would be to spend time with

friends, family, and different people as much as possible. The more one stays away from the

internet the better. The internet is used for a couple of good things, but at the end it will become

an internet addiction if not used correctly. Internet addictions will result in negative affects to an

individual’s life if not controlled or maintained correctly.

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Works Cited

Puri, Avantika, and Ritu Sharma. “Internet Usage, Depression, Social Isolation and Loneliness

Amongst Adolescents.” Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing, 1 Oct. 2016, www.i-

scholar.in/index.php/ijhw/article/view/134348.Works Cited

Yao, Mike Z., and Zhi-Jin Zhong. “Loneliness, Social Contacts and Internet Addiction: A Cross-

Lagged Panel Study.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 30, 2014, pp. 164–170.,

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.08.007.

Young, Kimberly S. “Internet Addiction: A New Clinical Phenomenon and Its Consequences.”

American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 48, no. 4, 2004, pp. 402–415.,

doi:10.1177/0002764204270278.

Zheng, Yumei, et al. “Internet Use and Its Impact on Individual Physical Health.” IEEE Access,

vol. 4, 2016, pp. 5135–5142., doi:10.1109/access.2016.2602301.