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April 28, 2004
Crippling Addictions
New York 1 featured a shocking shocking! - report this morning on a debilitating mental illness: Internet addiction. This terrible condition, which Dr. Eric Hollander of Mt. Sinai Medical Center likens to cocaine addiction, can cost victims their family, friends, and even jobs. Its interesting to note that Internet addiction, compulsive shopping, and other Impulse Control Disorders are defined as the failure to resist an impulsive act, which I do at least once an hour.
Dont worry, there may be help. Thanks to "a regimen of antidepressants, mood stabilizers and anti-seizure medication", addicts like Quame Prescod (who lost his job due to the disorder) can reduce their internet surfing from a high of 48 straight hours to a mere 11 hours per day.
Dr. Hollander, maybe the real disorder is that we just have too damn much time on our hands. The whole thing sort of makes me long for the days when humans lived in caves, and suffered from honest disorders like eaten by bears or freezing to death.
If you think you suffer from compulsive Internet use, check out the symptoms here. For the record, I exhibit at least four of them. Doctor, quick! Get me some Zoloft!
