The Saga of an Internet Junkie

The internet is full of information and anything goes.

It is a giant market place where people network, date,

plays games, buy and sell, and much more. It brings

the whole world together by way of the fingertip.

The
internet is widely available and inexpensive and

because of this many people become addicted to it.

When people become addicted to the internet, they can

be on there for several hours at a time. At times

they will go without eating, sleeping, and even

bathing, just so they can keep their fix going.

People who have a compulsive nature use the internet

as a way to hide their compulsions from others and end

up neglecting the essentials of life. These people

are called internet junkies. They fall into four

categories: The compulsive buyer, the information

hunter, the online dater, and the gamer.


The Compulsive Buyer


According to The American Psychological Association's

Monitor (Mjoseth 1997), perhaps fifteen million

Americans have little control over how much they spend

or what they buy. That was 10 years ago. Imagine how

many more millions of compulsive buyers are out there

today online with their credit cards in hand. These

people can now hide their addictions by shopping

online. These people are very secretive with their

buying habits, extremely materialistic, so in order to

feel good about themselves they shop. These people

spend so much money every month that they end up

refinancing their homes just so that they can have

more buying power.


EBay is one of their favorite places to shop online.

A compulsive buyer loves EBay because they can buy

anything they desire, new or used from all over the

world by just clicking a finger. This is their fantasy

marketplace that has become a reality. They love the

fact that they don’t even have to leave the house.

They search all the internet stores and malls. When

they find something that they want, they type in their

credit card numbers and wait for their treasure to

come knocking at the door. The Fed Ex guy becomes

their best friend. He knows more about them than

anyone else just by delivering their continuous

orders. Their house is so cluttered with stuff that

they bought, not even the walls can be seen.


The information hunter

One example of an information hunter is the obsessed
genealogist.

The genealogists are people who dedicate
their entire lives investigating and tracing their
family trees.

Before the internet was available,
these people had to rely solely on Mormon or Catholic
Church databases on microfiche.

The internet now makes
it easier and faster to find a person’s family line.

A genealogist spends several hours on the internet.

These people are so curious about their family tree

and they will stop at nothing to find out exactly who

they are and where they came from. They do this

because they feel that their whole identity relies on

it. They spend thousands of dollars each year on web

sites like ancestry.com and census records. They often

get their children involved in the search as well

other family and friends. Genealogy is always on their minds, and consumes much of their time.
They are online researching their family tree so much that they deprive themselves of food, chores,

and even sleep. They often stay up until the wee hours of

the morning and not even know where the time went.

When they find something interesting, they call

everyone in their life, spreading the exciting news.



The online dater

The obsessed online dater often hangs out in chat

rooms. The online daters spend hours making online

profiles of themselves that are exaggerated and often

out right false about themselves. Many of these

people put pictures on these profiles that are not of

themselves, or a younger and more attractive picture

of themselves. They do this because they are trying

to be discreet about their online relationships and

fantasies, for many of them are already married or in

respectable employment, and don’t want to get caught.

An online dater can spend hours in front of their

computer screen chatting with people they don’t know

in hopes of finding their soul mate or a sexual

encounter. Some can go days only stopping to use the

bathroom and heating up their TV dinner. They often

have food and beverage containers all over the place.

If they smoke, there are cigarette butts and ashes

floating in old coffee mugs, pop cans and bottles. A

lot of them have web cams that they unfortunately use

inappropriately. Some of them send nude photos of

themselves or of someone they know to get a rise out

of the other person. These people become role-players

in a game-like world.

The online dater can become desensitized by their

constant need for pc relationships and often put their

guard down. Often times people start relationships

online and then when they get comfortable enough, they

start talking on the phone, and then they meet in

person. Sometimes this works out, but most of the

time the date or relationship that was conceived

online takes turn for the worse.



The gamer

A lot of internet games make the gamer feel as if they

are in another universe altogether. This universe lets

the gamer play as real characters along with and

against other people around the world. Many times the

gamer is so engulfed in the game that they start

believing that the game world is the real world.

Often times these people become irritated and upset if

they can’t play the game that they like. For example,

a person that was on a Talk show almost died

because they couldn’t break free from the game world.

He started wearing a diaper because he didn’t want to

be pulled away from the game, and then he stopped

eating and drinking on a regular basis, and finally he

passed out. He was found by his mother, and she

dialed 911. The guy had to be put in the hospital for

excessive dehydration and had to go through a

psychiatric evaluation, just because he became

obsessed with the games he played online.


Anyone can be an internet junkie. A lot of times they

look and act normal, but as their obsessions increase

they begin showing the signs. This is a growing

disease. If an internet junkie is not treated they

could end up with serious physical, mental, emotional,

and sexual problems or even death. The internet is

supposed to be a healthy, safe, and fun environment

where people can unwind, search for information, make

friends, and often find a soulmate. When the internet

becomes an obsession, it is no longer a healthy, safe,

or fun environment. When a person uses the internet,
t
hey should be aware that they themselves or someone

they love can become an internet junkie.