NEWS: You Might be a Web Addict if...

CULTURE: You Might be a Web Addict if...

As you read this from the comfort of wherever it is that you go online, some kid in Mokcheon, South Korea is running an obstacle course at the Jump Up Internet Rescue School in order to kick his web addiction.

I was snooping around on some message boards to see how other people were responding to the idea of a boot camp for web addicts.

One person wrote:

I disagree. I absolutely think there is web addiction just like there is food, sex and shopping addiction. I think addiction is a personality type and has nothing to do with a chemical imbalance created by drugs. There’s research out there that will back this up.

There was this episode of A&E's "Intervention" where this kid was addicted to video games. He had a consistently crazed look in his eyes. He was unable to return the affections of his female friend because he was suicidal and gaming was the only thing that made him happy. And unlike most of the addicts on Intervention, rehab didn’t help him. Every one I know that saw that episode argued with me that gaming didn’t count as addiction because gamers and web addicts can stop anytime they want to.

According to the New York Times article about 2.4 million people in Korea are at risk of becoming Internet addicts.

Researchers in Korea have developed the K-Scale, a test that determines if a person’s web habits are under control or headed into compulsive territory.

The K-Scale has not been published on line yet but this test comes pretty close (and it’s fun to take! It’s like a little game!)

How did you score? I scored 25. That means that I’m a normal web-user.

While I agree that web addiction is real, I’m not sure how tried and true the methods of rehabilitating these addicts are. Anything to do with an obstacle course and/or harnesses and pulleys sends a shiver down my spine. It reminds me of forced interaction with jerks in my gym class or my Girl Scout Troop. But climbing all over a wet obstacle course seems to be working for little Chang-hoon:

Uh-oh. I don’t know if you should teach vulnerable loners that it’s socially acceptable to scream from trees, “I love my parents!” Are these kids lives being saved only to get their ass kicked by bullies once they’re back at school? However, if a bully challenges Chang-hoon to a trapeze-off, this kid could end up a hero.

i scored 40 - still average.
I love the image they have in the title bar of that quiz....good ol istock images, I think ive used that for a few clients

52
You are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because of the Internet. You should consider their full impact on your life.
I have internet in my room and Before I was normal.

I'm a web designer and a gamer and I don't think I've ever put in 17 hours online.

62. Most of that is spent here...

39

still average but it's true that I've tried to cut back my online, or at least my pc, time but hasn't worked. And while right now I'm jobless, even when I had a job, pretty much all of my free time was spent here, in front of a pc...

33, so I'm not too bad. Also, whoever thought that addiction doesn't apply to things like gaming and the internet or anything that isn't a drug was completely wrong. I used to have a roommate who was addicted to LARPing. I actually took her to the grocery store once where she declined to buy food, despite desperately needing it, so she would be able to afford her LARP event that weekend. Anything that provides people with an escape has addictive potential.

41. I honestly can't believe I scored that high. Almost everyone I know spends significantly more time online than I do.

33. That test is broken, I'm a much bigger nerd.

30 good score if you ask me

33

I suck at the internet

33 as well.

I'm more of a shopping addict anyway.

29
Yay for me!

25. I have never spent more than 3 or 4 hours sitting here. I always get up and find something to do around the house for a while. I get antsy just sitting.

35 for me. I would have been a LOT higher before I quit playing World of Warcraft. I was never addicted to WoW like many of the people I played with though. Yes, I spent most of my free time playing it but whenever something social was happening I never chose WoW over socialising and when I quit playing I didn't experience any separation anxiety. I missed the daily contact I had with the friends I'd made on there but I didn't miss the game.

Whoever says that the internet/gaming isn't addictive CLEARLY hasn't played WoW. I knew people who could easily sit down and put in an 18 hour session, sleep for 6 hours then get up and do it again. And they were neglecting their real lives to do it.

Anyone who says the internet isn't brain altering hasn't taken a psychology class in thirty years. It doesn't matter what you are doing, if something provides the chemical cue to your brain that you desire, then it's a fucking addiction. If we are going by chemistry that I could say I'm chemically dependent on Water, Food, and Air!

I scored 30...but I think that a) if you are forming relationships with new people online that really alright...I mean, you are interacting with society...sort of.

52, no surprise there.

What is LARPing?

43. "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."

Whew! I think what saved me is that, while when I'm at home I can screw around on the internet for hours on end, I will pretty much never pick the internet over going out with friends in real life.

Oh, man.

It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but the whole world is your game grid.

27 here. I'm trying to become a sex addict, just hard to do alone

I only got a 23

28. Honestly surprised its not higher.