This site is devoted to Cyber-related issues and its purpose is to be the first consultation firm and virtual clinic for online addiction. The homepage has links to several different pages on specific topics along with a menu for seminars, clinics, events, forums, and resources. Dr. Kimberly Young is the founder and director of the site and offers links to her radio show online and links to purchase her books.

Dr. Young claims that Internet Addiction covers many behaviors and impulse-control problems. She lists the fives specific types of addiction as:

Cybersexual (adult chatrooms, cyberporn)

Cyber-relationship (cyber-affairs, online friendships that replace real life ones)

Net compulsions (online gambling, obsessive online trading or buying)

Information overload (compulsive web or database searching)

Computer Addiction (obsessive game-playing or programming)

Dr. Young lists eight warning signs to addiction and states that if you say yes to five or more you may be addicted. Click here if you want to view the warning signs.

Dr. Young claims that, according to her study, people who already suffer from depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, and low self-esteem are more vulnerable to addiction. In her case studies, people have admitted to seeking online activity as a temporary relief from reality. She doesn't share a great deal about the risk factors, but she sells her book for you to read more information. Click here if you are interested in viewing the original statements.

Dr. Young states that Internet Addicts tend to form emotional attachments to people and activities on the net. She claims that those who enjoy such activities as newgroups, chatrooms, games... use them as an escape from reality in order to seek out unmet emotional or psychological needs. She says that internet users, especially lonely or insecure people, use the anonymity of online life to express their feelings, desires, and secrets. She says that this limits them from seeking love in real relationships and sets them up for disappointment.

Dr. Young believes that alternate identities are harmful. "People who use such online personaes help build confidence, express repressed feelings, and cultivate a fantasy world..." (*Aren't these beneficial not harmful?) She goes on to say that these individuals suffer from low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy, or fear of disapproval. She explains alternate identities as "manipulated self-representations". For more information about her opinions on the question click here.

The first step is to admit there is a problem before treatment can be sought. An individual must identify what triggers the behavior and then seek ways to moderate use of the Internet to include real activities outside of virtual reality. Again she sells her book for a more in depth discussion of treatment. Click here to view her page on the question raised above.

*I wasn't sure what Dr. Young's purpose for including this section of her site and how it pertains to understanding Internet Addiction other than to reenforce stereotypes of gender differences* This is the only link on the site that offers more than just a brief description. She breaks down the gender activity on the net as a possible means for the reader to make conclusions about what motivates men and women to use the net. Men: sex, power, and porn. Women: support, acceptance, comfort, intimacy, and to hide real appearance. Click here if you want to read up on some more information of Dr. Young opinions on gender.

She offers three tests, available on-line, for anyone to take and assess her/his addiction: Internet Addiction Test, Test for Spouses/Partners, Test for Parents. Here they are!

*I visited the site on February 12, 1998, so information and links may have been altered.

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Q: (Monica Chen) Did Dr. Young talk about rehabilitations from Internet Addiction? And if so, what kind of help can a person get for it? (Mariyln Ortal) How do you treat it?

A: She explains that a person must not be in denial and she/he must observe her/his own Internet behavior in order to understand why it is addictive. The rest of her advise on treatment is available in her book and was not offered on the site. She has a virtual clinic and forum for people to visit.

Q: (Jason Thompson) What kind of research has she done to support her hypotheses?

A: She claims to have done case studies and collected surveys on the topics, but she does not list specific statistical data. Personally I felt that she had a few biased assumptions about individuals who use the net to communicate--an over exageration of stereotypes and a limited view of the positive aspects of social activity, but then again I haven't read her book.

Q: (Candra Newsham) Why is Online Addiction seen so negatively, can't it be seen as another hobby?

A: I agree. It could be a hobby and very useful in terms of self-esteem. I think the one thing that separates the Net as a harmful tool and a beneficial one is that some people may neglect other equally important activities--moderation I guess is the key, like so many other things in life.

Q: (Juliet Baptista) Do you think her test for Internet Addiction is accurate or should she have more information before making the her conclusions?

A: To view her tests click here. I can only say that I can see some items and assumptions she makes that I don't think are valid, but that is strictly my opinion. For example, excessive time on the net could be a problem because of slow web searching--we all know this takes a lot of time--and people's tendency to follow link after link, which I think is due to curiousity about the net more so than an emotional need to keep searching for something I am not getting in real life. Check them out and decide how valid you think they are!

Q: (Man, Wing Kin) Is Computer addiction the main cause for some individual's depression, or are there other factors which cause the psychological disorder?

A: As she states in her site, people who suffer from depression or other psychological disorder have a tendency to use the net as a way to relieve themselves from reality. Sherry Turkle, in our text for this course Life on the Screen, states that the net can be a transitional place for people to gain personal growth and then extend to real life. It is those who continue to perpetuate the same negative or harmful behaviors on the Net without resolution that continue to suffer from disorders like depression. Depression can have confounding variables that coincide with Net use, so to say that one thing causes the depression is to ignore so many other factors.

Q: (Pun, Won Chong) What is your opinion of Internet Addiction? (Dr.Leon James) Is there such a thing as Internet Addiction?

A: My opinion is that addiction means something different to each individual. Sure there may be trends or similarities for why people become addicted, but if we focus on them too much we may ignore other possibilities for what appears to be addiction. Right now we may be making too many restrictions as to what Internet Addiction is and the negativity behind a "new" technology. People spend countless hours watching T.V., but because it can be done with other people around it doesn't seem so harmful compared to the "lonely" activity of the Net. Some people may benefit from countless hours in front of a screen, I did doing my reports!

Q: (Cindy Hisley) How do you define Online Addiction?

A: I can't say that I could even begin to define it because I haven't read enough valid information on it. I can say that I our text offers a more complete view of the negative and positive aspects of the Net, as opposed to the Dr.Young website. I guess we can apply some features of other addictions to Online addiction, but it has to be treated as a distinct disorder and not over generalized.

Q: (Shehla Korff) How do you feel about Online Addiction with respect to it opening up new job opportunities i.e. cyberstalker lawyers?

A: I think that the Net, since it is a community, will have "bad" citizens who will need to be repremanded for behavior that violates or injures another--especially if it extends into real life danger. The jobs will be created as the behavior warrants attention and monitoring. Deviant behavior can exist without addiction, but these are issues Dr. Young does not cover in her site. She makes no reference to malicious activity, but rather focuses on sexuality as deviant.

Q: (Dr. Leon James) Is Cybersex normal sexual activity or abnormal and addictive?

A: I think that cybersex can be a normal activity if a person uses it as a harmless means to experiment or express themselves sexually. I think it may become abnormal or addictive if this is the only activity that an individual does while on the Internet and it becomes the focus of her/his life. Who am I to say what is enough or what is appropriate for anyone but myself? This is a tough question because sexuality means so many different things to different people. For someone who can't experience physical sexuality in real life, the sex on the Net may provide some psychological need. It may sound perverse to accept sex as a normal activity through an inanimate object like the computer, but if it depends on whether it provides personal growth or perpetuation of abnormal "real" problems.

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 Juliet Baptista reported on a website called Note on Method. Her report was shorter, but straight to the point. Good for a quick synopsis!

Cindy Hisley reported on a site entitled Computers and Brains. Very interesting topics. She combined her questions and answers to cut down on repeating herself--good idea!

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My class didn't have to do this last semester (Fall 1998) and I think that is why it was so difficult to get discussions going after the presentation. By forcing us to come up with questions, we have to internalize the information--valuable stuff because it all relates to what we are learning in our reports. So I think this is good practice in bringing what we learn in class to the on-line community stuff we are doing. Think of it as showing others what your doing at UH in a Cyberpsychology class and maybe it won't seem like more work to do.

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Dr. Leon James E-mail

Class Homepages

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If you want to know where I found the background for this webpage click here. Backgrounds by Marie