Webupon

The coming of the World Wide Web has brought a lot of new things. There is now what is called cyber fraud, cyber crime, cyber dating, and even cyber marriage. But I have never heard anyone talk about cyber addition yet, even though I think this kind of condition is now common.

What is cyber addiction?

I think this is just very simple. When you get hooked to the web for unusually long hours and you find it very difficult to get up to do other things, you might be suffering from cyber addiction. An addiction is getting used to something to the extent that leads to negative consequences and if that thing is withdrawn, you feel inadequate. Cyber addiction is very easy and all users of the internet are capable of developing it.

Factors responsible for cyber addiction

The greatest cause of cyber addiction is hyperlinks. When you visit a web site for a particular purpose, you are presented with other things through links. These links are created in a way to attract the visitor to click on them. Then you get to that site and there are other hyperlinks, and the process continues; by the time you realize you have visited many sites.

There are a lot of things now being offered online. You can shop, listen to music, watch movies and chat with friends. And the most interesting of it is that you can do even all this at the same time. This makes leaving the PC at times very difficult.

There are also pop-ups here and there. You are doing one thing and suddenly some window pops up and you follow and before you realize you are somewhere else.

Mailing lists and spam are other causes of cyber addition. If you joined a lot of lists, you may be receiving hundreds of mails a day. Reading all those mails might make you sit the whole day.

Effects of cyber addiction

Cyber addiction could lead to many serious consequences.

There are financial implications. Time spent browsing could be used on other productive activities. When you spend all the time on the net you will not work; and that means less income. You might be buying things that you don’t actually need. There are a lot of “buy-nows” and discounts online. By the time you realize your credit card is suffering.

Health problems can result from cyber addiction. When you get hooked on the web, you might sometimes forget to eat, or in order not to leave, you resort to eating junk food. You end up putting on weight or developing ulcers and some other lifestyle diseases.

Social and relationship problems also come about through cyber addiction. The more time you spend online, the less time you have for your family and loved ones. Those who can’t take it will leave you and by the time you realize, you are alone.

How to avoid cyber addiction

You can avoid cyber addiction by simply avoiding the factors that lead to it. In addition, before you go online, be sure of what you want to do and after doing it log off.  You can also determine the amount of time you spend online a day; once that time is over, log off.

Self discipline is the key in all these. If you can’t discipline yourself, you cannot get out of this problem.