If you poke around on geeky blogs, you may have seen some reference to the editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry talking about "internet addiction." I thought it might be a fun side note to Mary's post about the "harmful effects" of media.
Here's the actual editorial:
Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction
Jerald J. Block, M.D.
Am J Psychiatry 165:306-307, March 2008
How do the techies respond?
There are some entertaining comments on this post:
Push To Classify Internet Addiction As a Mental Disorder
Duncan Riley, Techcrunch.com, March 17, 2008
This isn't a new issue: as the editorial notes, it's already been widely discussed in Japan, Korea, and China, where high-tech entertainment options are more sophisticated than the are in the U.S. My friends who love Manga & lots of other Japanese entertainment turned an envious shade of chartreuse when they read this:
In Tokyo, the New Trend Is 'Media Immersion Pods'
By Virginia Heffernan, NY Times, May 14, 2006
So, what do you think? Is this another example of the APA "problematizing" any behavior or personality trait that strays too far beyond "the norm"? Or is it a real problem?
Examples? Counter-examples?
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