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INTERNET ADDICTION
What is Internet Addiction?
The internet is the most widely used and cheapest tool for learning and exchanging information. While it allows access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, it also provides access to very negative sites (pornographic, violent, bomb-making, etc.) and computer games. Internet use can become addictive.
Studies have shown that internet use for two years or more, especially among boys and those who are aggressive, increases the risk of addiction.
Looking at the signs of addiction, activities outside the internet gradually cease to give them pleasure, and they begin to feel very empty without the internet. When they cannot access the internet, they exhibit very restless and aggressive behavior. Although they may have thoughts of cutting back on excessive internet use on their own, they cannot put them into action. As time progresses, there is a decline in academic performance and social interaction with school, friends, and family.
Internet addiction is seen in 2% to 20% of adolescents who use the internet. Internet addiction is also considered a type of drug addiction, but it starts at a much earlier age. Internet addicts spend 40-80 hours a week on the internet. This situation creates a negative physical, social, and psychological impact. Psychiatric disorders seen in internet addicts include depression, Attention Deficit Disorder, Impulse and Behavioral Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Sleep Disorders, Eating Disorders, Drug Use, and Epilepsy (Seizure Disorder).
Adolescents who do not receive sufficient emotional and psychological support from their families have a higher risk of internet addiction.
Internet addiction affects the part of the brain known as the reward center, responsible for pleasure, increasing the release of dopamine. Increased dopamine leads to increased release of morphine and other substances. Over time, this increase becomes insufficient, tolerance develops, and longer brain stimulation is required to achieve a greater increase in dopamine and morphine, leading to an inability to quit the internet. Like other addictions, internet addiction affects the nucleus accumbens, the deep brain region responsible for dopamine release.
Everything addictive is recorded through the frontal lobe and amygdala connection, while the hypothalamus, responsible for memory, records it. A person develops a desire when they see or think about something, or when they are stressed. The nucleus accumbens, the center of the brain's reward system, becomes oversaturated with dopamine. The hippocampus briefly remembers this pleasurable event, and the amygdala registers it through conditioning. This overstimulates dopaminergic regions, and the dopamine center in the nucleus accumbens is activated. The brain compulsively turns to the addictive substance.
How is Internet Addiction Treated?
Children and adolescents need extensive education on how to protect themselves from social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. It's known that girls, in particular, whose Facebook pages are publicly accessible, are at increased risk of sexual harassment by malicious individuals. It shouldn't be forgotten that some virtual friendships formed online can lead to serious problems later in life.
We also read in the news that Twitter use put some people in very difficult situations during the Gezi Park protests.
It's also true that many families don't know how to use internet technology as well as their children. We can recommend that families limit their children's internet use to 1-2 hours a day, and that families learn how to use the internet themselves. This way, they can monitor where and how to control their children's internet use, identify potential dangers, and track their computer activities.
Furthermore, it's known that psychological and pharmacological treatments are beneficial in addressing internet addiction. Families seeking a drug-free treatment method with no side effects can benefit from biofeedback, which the American Academy of Pediatrics (AOC) considers highly effective in treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), for the treatment of internet addiction. Furthermore, since the effectiveness of biofeedback has been proven in drug treatment, anxiety disorders, and SAR (Seizure Disorder), it is also effective in treating psychiatric illnesses related to internet addiction.
What are the reasons behind virtual gaming addiction?
What is the underlying reason for the addiction to virtual gaming, played by people of all ages, from children to young adults?
The neurotransmitter dopamine, which directs the primitive life mechanisms crucial for survival and is particularly related to motivation and well-being, is found in the brain's reward pathways. It is directly connected to the pleasure centers. Increased dopamine levels lead to increased stimulation of the reward system and enhance pleasure. Dopamine production is also increased and affected in alcohol and drug addiction. To increase dopamine, the individual turns to more drugs and alcohol. By playing virtual games on the computer for hours every day, dopamine levels increase further, leading to addiction and a compulsive, repetitive urge to play games persistently. This becomes ingrained in the person's brain and transforms into an automatic, unconscious action.
When the person cannot play the virtual game, they may experience tension and become very aggressive, symptoms of withdrawal syndrome seen in addiction. If dopamine release suddenly decreases, it triggers withdrawal syndrome, prompting the person to act to increase dopamine even more. It's as if it says, "Go ahead and do it."
What kind of mental health problems does addiction to virtual games cause?
Dopamine is renewed in our brain while we sleep. If there is enough dopamine and it is renewed, we feel happy when we wake up in the morning, seeing the sun and the rooster's crow. If this amount of dopamine is less than normal, then we may feel restless and unhappy. If we have a problem with our sleep, we feel unhappy when we wake up in the morning. Therefore, we need to get enough sleep so that dopamine renewal can occur in the brain. Since this system will start to work outside of normal, our sleep will be disrupted. We know from scientific studies and observations in my clinic that the brain maturation of children is delayed.
Sleep disorders, attention and memory problems may begin to appear. They may become aggressive, impatient and impulsive. Their motivation decreases in their work, academic, home and social life and begins to negatively affect them. It can cause financial problems. Internet, alcohol and gambling addiction may develop to a level requiring treatment. Depression and panic attacks may occur.
What is the connection between feelings of loneliness and virtual games?
Many studies link loneliness and the development of internet addiction, but emotional loneliness is more prominent than social loneliness. For addiction to develop, the brain's dopamine levels decrease, and the brain, trying to increase it and experience pleasure, automatically directs the individual towards virtual games. Entering a vicious cycle of self-treatment, the brain begins to harm itself.
How does it distance individuals from each other and damage interpersonal relationships?
Family members preoccupied with playing virtual games begin to neglect spending quality time together. Because families don't express their feelings to each other within the virtual game environment, it contributes to the upbringing of a generation that doesn't learn about emotions and exhibits repetitive behavior. In interpersonal relationships, verbal self-expression decreases, and a generation develops that doesn't follow each other's feelings and behaviors, or makes little or no eye contact. It negatively impacts children's brain development. It harms the development of their intelligence, attention, memory, and motor functions according to their age group.
Is there a treatment?
If it reaches an addiction level, it must be treated. Multiple treatment methods can be used. Biofeedback is a drug-free treatment method we use most often and it is quite effective. It teaches the brain to change its records, preventing the brain from engaging in repetitive behavior. Psychiatric medications, cognitive and behavioral therapies can be used. Along with biofeedback, we use therapeutic games played with cards to increase family communication. We see that it is quite effective when used with families.
Are there any positive aspects that virtual habits bring to the individual, and if so, what are they?
Just as there are structural changes in the brain when reading, playing the piano, or using a navigation system, virtual video games cause similar changes in the brain. The commands in the games can increase their ability to follow instructions. They can improve problem-solving skills, hand-eye coordination, and motor skills, or help them understand abstract concepts of space; they can help them understand the importance of planning, resource utilization, and logistics, and improve their ability to multitask. It can enable quick thinking, quick analysis, and quick decision-making, and it can also improve the accuracy rate of the decisions made. Tactics, foresight, increased awareness in that environment (soldiers during close combat), increased endurance and patience (if they lose in the game, they will keep trying until they win), repeatedly playing the game to follow the correct logic.
Virtual games can help children learn through play and develop teamwork skills when playing with others.
However, it's important for families to know that virtual games can have positive effects if the content and duration of the game are appropriate for the age group. Generally, daily virtual game usage should be limited to 30 minutes to 1-2 hours, depending on the age group.
Biofeedback, using virtual games to recondition the brain and achieve all the positive developments mentioned above, is also used to improve attention, concentration, memory, and performance, especially in children, adults, and the elderly.
Screen addiction is like drugs.
