UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, May 3, 1996
5A
Internet use: habit or hobby?
Continued from Page 1A.
thing, could actually creep into our lives and ruin them.
A Hundred Years of Solitude
Certainly the numbers show an explosion in the use of on-line services at the University of Kansas.
In February 1995, KU students, faculty and staff spent 31,370 hours (1,307 days or 3.6 years) on-line through systems run by the University. This February, the number of on-line hours mushroomed to 879,500 hours. That would be 36,645 days or 100.3 years of computer time in one month.
The number of terminal server lines, the connections allowing people to dial into the University's computer system, has grown from 56 in Fall 1994 to 256 this spring. The number of e-mail accounts on the Falcon system, primarily used by students, jumped from 2,252 in Fall 1994 to 13,690 this spring, according to statistics provided by the Computer Center.
But it doesn't stop there. Demand appears to be increasing.
Networking and Telecommunications Services, which sets up telephone lines and networks for the University, is considering yet another increase in the number of terminal server lines, said Wes Hubert, assistant director of academic computing services. How are these on-line hours affecting students? Is there a new and scary addiction growing out there in Cyberland? The answer requires a journey onto the 'Net in search of on-line junkies.
The Psychology of the Junkie
What would an on-line junkie be like? What would make one different from the thousands of people who log on to computer systems every day?
Linda Keeler, psychiatrist at Counseling and Psychological Services, said that an addiction was something that caused a disruption in normal functioning and continued its disruption until some outside force stopped it. Addictions disrupt personal lives, families and jobs. When an addiction isn't fed, there are withdrawal symptoms.
Keeler stopped short of saying it was possible to be "adducted" to the Internet but she didn't discount the possibility, even though she was not aware of any studies that connect Net abuse to addiction criteria.
"For some people the kinds of connections they get on the Internet and the sort of immediate stimulation that comes back in terms of interaction can be extremely reinforcing."Keeler said.
But she warned there may be other reasons for excessive use of on-line services besides an addiction.
"Folks that are shy or feel anxious about presenting themselves to other people in real life may be far more bold on the Internet," Keeler said.
The Internet allows shy people to choose communication partners carefully, she said. The risk is minimal because it is easy to cut off communication at any time. If someone is hurt or offended, it is simple to hang up and avoid the consequences.
For other people, Keeler said, the Internet may be a way of avoiding personal communication instead of not dealing with daily life, putting off other tasks and retreating from the world.
If overuse of on-line services is a real problem at the University of Kansas, Keeler has seen little evidence of it.
"I am not really in a position to comment about the other members of staff, but generally, we are not seeing people being hauled in here by significant others using that as a presenting complaint," Keeler said. "It may be something that we need to look at, however."
Are you an addict?
Kimberly Young, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, has been looking into the problems that online abuse may be causing. She has begun to do some of the research Keeler said was needed to classify excessive time on-line as an addiction.
Young became interested in the subject after a friend called her one night, distraught over her husband's use of America Online. "She was ready to divorce him. He was running up these bills and he wouldn't stop," Young said. But it wasn't long before Young discovered that no one had researched on-line abuse from a clinical standpoint.
She began to set up criteria for online addiction and screen the online users she met.
The addiction criteria she used were:
Loss of control, such as losing track of time while connected to the Internet
Compulsive use, such as getting up early in the morning to check e-mail
Allowing on-line use to become a central part of one's life
Continued use, despite problems arising from overusage
Depression when not on-line.
Young found a number of people who said they matched the criteria. However, getting a firm hold on the number of current and potential addicts is difficult.
"But even if you are only talking about 1 to 2 percent of on-line users, you are talking about thousands of people." Young said.
She has been convinced by her investigations that the Internet can be addictive. Although it may not do the physical damage chemical addictions can, it definitely does emotional damage.
"When you look at other addictions, you see problems in marriages, problems functioning at work, problems with a person being emotionally withdrawn," Young said, "Then when you look at this, you see people having marital problems, people getting fired from jobs because they played on the 'Net too much.'
And, like other addictions, Young said, an on-line addiction is socially isolating. "The only friends Internet addicts have are other addicts," Young said.
When Young first started her research, she met with skepticism from her professional colleagues. Now an excessive on-line syndrome is becoming accepted.
Young has spoken with numerous college students nationwide who are experiencing academic problems because they are on-line so much. She said it was easy for college students to get sucked into excessive on-line use because of the nature of their lives."They often have free and unlimited access to the Internet and they have an unstructured schedule, making it easy for them to use the computer," she said.
"We are not arguing about whether it is a problem," she said. "We are arguing about how to define the problem." she said.
in the meantime,Young has begun workshops for corporations experiencing decreased productivity from employees who spend too much time on-line and for campus counseling centers which are beginning to see students failing their course work because they are lost in cyberspace.
"A lot of times students are just in denial," Young said. "Even if they realize they have a problem, they
Gina Thornburg / KANSAN
Some researchers argue that the Internet is no more addictive than television.
Watson Library houses one of the many computer labs on campus in which students use the Internet. Many students use the Internet to e-mail and find information.
Location: http://
What's New? What's Cool? Handbook Net Search Net Directory Newsgroups
"For example," Raulin said, "There has always been a market for pornography, and I'm sure that there are some people that use the Internet for that purpose. Maybe before they were spending too much time in X-rated bookstores."
The Internet is like an electronic library, Raulin said. Many people are replacing reading in more traditional forms with time on the Internet.
I sit back for a few days and take all this information in. I know what an addict would be like, but I don't know if Weboholics are "addicts" in the truest sense of the word.
Connecteot: Host contacted. Waiting for...
think people will laugh at them.
Support groups can be helpful."
It's not just for 'geeks' anymore
Much ado about nothing
I think about my roommate.
Maybe she knows that I will be writing about her and is afraid that no one would understand.
Michael Raulin, administrative director of the Psychological Services Center at the University of New York at Buffalo, is not convinced.
She says she spends six nours a week on-line. It seems like more to me, but then I haven't clocked her. Is she in denial?
After all, she has several good reasons for spending so much time online. She is a graduate student and she does research on her computer. Is her computer any different than any other graduate student who spends all day in the library?
"I hate the term 'Internet addiction,' Raulin said. "It is popular to use the term 'addiction' with behavior, such as compulsive gambling, but behaviors are not the same as an addiction to drugs."
"But that is not to say that the behavior can't be very powerful," he said. "The Internet is an interesting place. It is a little bit like Sesame Street. You can jump from one place to the next. You don't get bored and it is easy to kill an hour."
Raulin said excessive on-line users were not likely to experience the same kind of withdrawal those with chemical addictions experience.
When video games first appeared, Raulin noted, experts began discussing the possibility that people could become addicted to them. Now such discussions have faded out.
More likely the Internet is simply replacing other compulsive behaviors rather than carving out a niche of its own.
I have noticed that her use of the Internet has declined since we first moved in together. She says she likes the idea of getting e-mail as opposed to "snail mail" because she doesn't have to have someone else read it to her.
Sounds fair to me.
"At first there was a stigma about the Internet," she tells me. "People assumed that you would have to be someone very lonely to want to sit down and type to people you didn't know. But now it is a question of being resourceful rather than lonely."
She tells me that when she first was on-line the thrill of being able to instantly access information independently was an incredible temptation, but now she is more selective.
"I do have to discipline myself," she says. "I miss it when I can't get it because I use it where other people might read the newspaper. It is an essential part of my life now."
The only thing she says has changed now is that television is less of a priority.
"It's a good trade-off," she says. "I would rather interact with people than a thing."
Seems reasonable.
But what about the people Kimberly Young has worked with? Are there any of those at KU?
Ask KU lab assistants if they know people who spend lots of time online and you will get wide smiles and affirmative nods.
Anybody out there?
Mike Palazzolo, Topeka senior, works at the computer lab in Ellsworth Hall. He grins and rolls his eyes when I tell him I am working on an Internet-addiction story.
"Yes," he said. "There are a few regulars here. I know a couple of people who spend a substantial amount of time here."
But Palazzalo doesn't speculate about the Internet's addictive qualities.
"I don't think it goes that far," he said. "I'd compare it to television."
I scout his lab for the "regulars." I don't have to look very hard.
Hemin Vaiday, Elmwood, New Jersey, junior, is so engrossed that it takes me several attempts to get his attention. Vaiday said he spent an average of six hours a week on-line, mostly looking for news and talking to friends.
"You don't have to watch TV anymore to find out what's going on," Vaida said. "You can do it whenever you have time instead of having to watch the 10 o'clock news."
Vaidya checks his e-mail three times a day; he says most of his online friends, who live in Lawrence, also check their e-mail frequently. It's how they stay in touch throughout the day.
He confessed that, on occasion, he had missed a class because he was talking on-line.
"It's usually been when I was talking to a friend at another university," he explained, "We don't usually get on the computer at the same time."
Are there addicts? Maybe. The experts don't agree.
Is it a problem? Definitely.
After visiting computer labs, posting to bulletin boards and visiting Internet-addict Web sites, I wonder if the symptoms aren't more important than the disease. Perhaps the symptoms may be the only thing that aren't disputable.
While 'Net abusers need the serenity to accept on-line services as a part of modern life, they also need to find the courage to use and not abuse them, and the wisdom to know the difference between a tool and an emotional trap.
You know you are hooked on the 'Net
when...
Jeff D, San Francisco, Calif.
Jeff D, San Francisco, Calif.
You find your selfarsting at your
"inbox" waiting for new e-mail to
arrive.
Alex K, New York City.
You think "surfing" is something you do on dry land.
You promise yourself that you'll only stay online for another 15 minutes at least once every hour.
Pam K. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
Tim P, Cambridge, Mass.
You cut classes or miss work so you can stay home and browse the Web.
You buy a paper so that family and friends that really need to get through can beep you to return their call.
Ed S, Corpus Cristi, Texas.
You purchase a laptop so you can surf while sitting on the can.
Tommy J, Vancouver Island,
British Columbia.
For more information about Internet addiction, check http://www.hkstar.com/-joewoo/hazard.html
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