The surf is up!

My husband cut this out of the paper this morning and left it for me. I wonder why?

Warning: Web surfing can be addictive and hazardous to your health

Too much Internet use can harm your mental health, a new medical study suggests.

Research published in yesterday�s Canadian Journal pf Psychiatry supports a growing body of evidence that the interactive and dynamic nature of the Internet, from virtual gaming and chat rooms to news groups and music downloading, is associated with serious handicaps to the personalities of people who overuse it.

There is no official diagnostic classification for a pathological preoccupation with the Internet, but many medical professionals have dubbed the phenomenon �Internet addiction�, a psychological dependence akin to a gambling addiction.

The latest study, by researchers at Korea�s Dong-A University College of Medicine and the Harvard Medical School, now links the addiction to hostility, obsessive-compulsiveness and other adverse psychiatric symptoms.

But big unanswered questions remain: Are the adverse psychiatric conditions a consequence of excessive Internet use or do they precede it? And does a person�s personality predispose them to Internet addiction?

The Korean-U.S. research team ranked 328 senior Korean high school students in terms of their weekly Internet use in the previous month. Sixteen students were classified as excessive users, logging-on an average of about 19 hours a week. Fifty-nine students reported no Internet use. Male students significantly outnumbered female students in both the moderate and excessive user groups.

In addition to hostility and obsessive-compulsive behaviours, the excessive Internet users were found to experience more paranoia, depression, irritability, impulsiveness, anxiety, phobias, and somatization, a chronic condition in which numerous physical complaints are caused by psychological problems and for which no underlying physical problem can be identified.

The study also found the students who made excessive use of the Internet appeared to have personality traits distinctive from the students with modest and minimal Internet use.

Though that conclusion was far from definitive--the study had limitations, including a small sample size and use of questionnaires rather than direct interviews--it concludes the Internet �may be a tonic for people with inner conflicts. Students with such traits may use the Internet to counteract psychological distress rooted in their personality.�

That supports at least one previous study that found the Internet is used by some people already experiencing poor social relationships.

Ian MacLeod
Canwest News Service

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