🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <wlang-3005980828380001@van-bc7-05.netcom.ca> of groups 
can.infobahn,can.politics,soc.culture.canada,van.general, w lang writes:

> Interesting...I felt I was addicted for a few years, when I first got
> online, and yes, most of it was around IRC, too. My family suffered
> as I "surfed" the net. I was up till the wee hours of the morning,
> trying to learn as much as I could. But if this was an addiction at
> one time.. why would I be able to continue to use the Internet, and
> use it an appropriate amount of time now? I thought if you had an
> addiction to something, you had to quit it completely, to stop the
> addiction?

First off, to clear some things up there are two types of addictions, 
physical and psycological. You can be psycologically addicted to any 
activity, the way to determine such is by the harm it causes other parts 
of your life. So if you are spending so much time on-line that it's 
destroying your marriage you can be classified as addicted. If you stay 
up to the wee hours "surfing" even though you know you have to get up 
early in the morning for work, you can be classified as addicted. The 
level of addiction would be determined by the frequency and severity of 
such "side effects".

So yes, you can be addicted to the internet, you can be addicted to 
anything. The "cure" is to recognise the addiction and reprioritize your 
activities. There are studies that show a genetic disposition to 
adiction, an "addictive personality", such people are more likely to 
become addicted. If the addiction is severe a person can experience 
psycologically based physical withdrawl symptoms. Whether a person can 
continue a previously addicted activity in a non-addicted state depends 
of the individual -- some poeple will quickly lose control and others 
won't.

Physical addiction is a very different. Cigarettes are physically 
addicting and when someone quits they experience physical withdrawl 
symptoms. Note that most people addicted to cigarettes are also 
psycologically addicted to them. Well past the time the physical 
addiction has been cured (i.e. the withdrawl symptoms have ceased) the 
phycological addiction can still exist.

-- 
 ... of course that�s just my opinion. I could be wrong."
                                --  Dennis Miller
          gordonm(at)portal.ca