The University of Montreal says one of its researchers is looking into a “new addiction” — Internet addiction.
Well, maybe it’s new in Canada. People have been talking about Internet addiction around here for more than 10 years. (See old Chronicle articles here, here, and here.) The idea generated some buzz back then, but now people seem more or less inured to the notion of spending countless, pointless hours checking their e-mail, playing games, and watching videos of shark attacks and newscaster flubs on YouTube.
Certainly, the press release from the University of Montreal has an arresting passage: “We know of serious cases in which teenagers don’t leave the house, don’t have interpersonal relationships, and have been isolated in front of their computer screens for the past two or three years, and only speak in the language of the characters they play with in network video games,” says Louise Nadeau, a professor in the university’s psychology department.
Yeah, I knew that guy when I was 14 — he worked at the comic-book store. As an article in The Chronicle pointed out, Internet addiction may not be an affliction all on its own, but a sign of deeper problems.
Hey, you, in there. What are you doing? Go outside. Get some sun. —Scott Carlson
