Hooked to the Net

By Sam Watermeier

The computer is like electronic cocaine.

While that may seem like the kind of hyperbolic intro a college student like me would write to grab attention, it is actually the exact description of cyberspace uttered by Peter Whybrow, the director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

Experts like Whybrow assert that the Internet is infecting us like an addictive drug, "fueling cycles of mania followed by depressive stretches."

While these cycles are certainly visible, most people probably wouldn't take them seriously, treating the notion of Internet addiction the same as the one that TV rots our brains.

Apparently, though, there is actually proof out there that the Internet is changing our brain matter. In a study published last year (and cited in this article), Chinese researchers linked Internet addiction to "structural abnormalities in gray matter," specifically shrinkage of 10 to 20 percent of the brain responsible for processing of speech, memory, motor control, emotion, sensory, and other information. And the more time the surveyed brains engaged with the Internet, the more they showed signs of shrinkage.

Studies like this are still in the chicken-or-the-egg phase in the sense that brain scans don't reveal which came first — the Internet abuse or the brain changes. But many clinicians contend that a link exists between Internet use and impulsive behavior and also that the rise in OCD and ADHD diagnosis is positively correlated to technology use.

A 1998 Carnegie Mellon study linked Internet use over a two-year period to loneliness and depression. Skeptics of the study complained about its lack of range and diversity, specifically the fact that all the subjects lived in Pittsburgh. In the years since that study, numerous other studies have duplicated the Carnegie Mellon findings and expanded them, showing that the more people go online to find comfort, the worse they will feel, as the web displaces sleep, exercise, and face-to-face interaction — all of which contribute to our well-being. Scholars at Case Western Reserve University even correlated heavy social-media use to suicidal thinking. (Isn't that reflective of drug use — something with an initial mood-elevating appeal leading to self-destruction?)

As stated in the hyperlinked article above, "if Internet use is unhealthy, it's clear that many Americans don't want to be well." Most of us stare at a screen for at least eight hours a day. Considering one of the early flags for addiction was spending more than 38 hours a week online, we are all addicts now.

If the Internet is a drug, everyone is doing it. Internet use is encouraged. We're on the Internet right now! The trick is to avoid abusing it. 

Be sure to tune in to 91.3 this Saturday from 11 to noon when Media Matters will further explore the implications of Internet use.