Daily News: Internet "Addiction" Linked to Depression
Posted 02/08/2010
The longer you spend surfing the Web, the more unhappy you’re likely to be, says a new study from Great Britain that shows that Internet “addicts” are more likely to be depressed.
Researchers analyzed Internet use and depression levels in more than 1,000 British residents between the ages of 16 and 51. Some 1.2 percent were labeled “Internet addicted” by researchers at Leeds University.
These addicts tended to spend more time browsing sexually gratifying Web sites, online communities and online gaming sites, according to the study’s lead author, Catriona Morrison, who wrote an article on the subject in the journal Psychopathology.
“There was a high correspondence between the amount of time spent on the Internet and levels of depression,” she told the Daily Mail. “If you look at how dependent people feel they are on the Internet, that is likely to correspond with how happy or sad they feel.”
Certain hard-core Internet users might have already been depressed before they started spending hours online, says Jean Cirillo, a Long Island psychologist.
“Some people go online because they’re depressed and they want immediate relief,” she says. “It takes a lot of energy to go out and meet people, and there is always the fear of rejection.
"When you go online, you have the illusion of having interacted with someone. The person gets a high and feels better temporarily but then there’s a big letdown.”
Morrison also points out that it’s hard to know whether the Internet causes depression or whether those who are depressed are simply drawn to the Internet.
“What is clear is that for a small subset of people, excessive use of the Internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies,” she told the Daily Mail.
For certain individuals, the Internet is an easy way of satisfying social needs, Cirillo says. “But it also gives false gratification because there isn’t any connection or followup or social interaction, so there’s a letdown,” she says. “For some people, the Internet is just a fantasy connection.”
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