Internet Addiction: Therapy
By: Kim T. Pham
Since our group did not address the possible therapies for
internet addiction disorder in our presentation, I want to make sure our
presentation is complete by addressing it. The current therapies available now
are the sessions created by Dr. Kimberly S. Young. She believes that the
approach of going “cold turkey” and not using the internet at all would be a disaster
in attempting to help someone who is suffering from internet addiction. There
are 8 therapy types: Practice the Opposite, Use External Stoppers, Abstain from
a Particular Application, Use Reminder Cards, Develop a Personal Inventory,
Enter a Support Group, and Family Therapy. I wanted to highlight a few of the
therapies in this blog.
“Practicing the Opposite” is exactly what the name implies.
Having an addicted person break a routine is probably one of the first steps to
helping someone with any type of addiction. The therapy suggests that if you
normally log-on to the internet the first thing in the morning, try to do other
things before hand, such as eat breakfast. The goal is to have the addicted
person re-adapt to another schedule that involves less time on the internet.
“External Stoppers”, this particular one was addressed in
our presentation during the remedies section. Having to go somewhere will
prompt a person to log-off because of a prior engagement. Try to schedule a
full day of quality appointments, such as lunch with a friend, walking the dog,
going to the gym, or even studying without a computer’s aid.
“Personal Inventory” tries to have the addicted person pit
the internet against other activities of value. Such as going to a baseball
game, going to the park and throwing the football, or spending time with a love
one. This particular therapy asks the person to value the activities on a
number scale relative to importance of the activities, hoping to trigger a
valuation inside of the person away from the internet. Once the addicted person
sees the “light”, maybe they will voluntarily make better choices with their
valuable time instead of being stuck on the internet.
I only highlighted a few of the therapies available, but if
you have to go “cold turkey” for a week (5 days), could you go without the use
of the internet? What would be an event
or situation that could trigger you to make such a change?
Contributing Sources:
These are very good therapy ideas. The idea of going "cold turkey" and trying NOT to go on the Internet for five days scares me a little. Not going on the Internet to me means not being able to send emails, play games that uses the Internet or data on your phones, research topics for class papers or presentations, pay bills online, videoconferencing, etc. These are just a few things I use the Internet for. I cannot imagine not being able to do all of these things for five days. My list of To-Do's on the Internet may be a smaller list than an Internet Addict's list so if I can't imagine not being able to do my small list of things To-Do, I wonder how an Internet Addict would survive those five days. Wait a minute, am I addicted to the Internet?
ReplyDeleteYes you are an Internet Addict. No I am just kidding, but to be able to consider your self an addict is a complected matter and to cure your self from this addiction is even more complex. The reason why its so difficult to determine if you are an addict or not is the definition of an Internet addiction differs between one person and the other. In my opinion, when you see your social life has decreased dramatically after the usage the Internet, you should think about the different therapies mentioned on this blog. Don't you agree?
ReplyDeleteI think making appointments to be at certain events at a particular time is a good way to ensure that you do not sit at home and waste your entire day/night online living a virtual life. It is crazy that people are willing to spend all day on Facebook but can't manage to meet up with friends to do anything social for an hour.
ReplyDeleteI could go cold turkey and not use the internet for a while (besides my school email, my personal email I could do without). I think the only hard thing about people not using the Internet is the simple fact that we are so connected to the Internet at all times that it seems abnormal to not be checking Twitter, Facebook, Emails etc.
I think these therapies are good for people who are addicted to the internet. For me, I could not go out without using internet, because my blackberry has service and internet and all the time on the blackberry messenger. For example, time Warner stopped my wireless because I did not pay the bill. I stayed at home without internet for two days, I was completely lost and the day was boring no YouTube no facebook no twitter. I think the first therapy is the best one as consider for others.
ReplyDelete