Psychological symptoms of computer addiction are when you have a sense of well-being or excitement while at the computer, powerless to stop the activity, desperately seeking more and more time at the computer, ignoring family and friends, having problems with school or work. Also lying to employers and family about your activities, feeling empty, depressed, and irritable when not at the computer.
Recently I read a case study about seventeen years old boy named as Brian. He has some similar symptoms I just have mentioned above. Brian has played his elder brother play station and x-box for years. In his previous year he has been playing grand theft auto almost nonstop. If sometimes he misses a day or has not been to his computer to play for some reasons he begins to feel frustrated and aggressive which lead to him getting into fights.
Last year he had to move school due to being bullied and because of this fact he didn’t really make many friends at his new school. He prefers to stay home with in the virtual reality “playing games” than the real thing “going out and socializing with others”.
His parents are really worried about him, they noticed that after spending long period on computer games he is unbale to hold a conversation with anyone and they think that he is addicted. If I compare Brian’s conditions with Psychological symptoms of computer addiction I can confidently say that he has become computer addicted and he should seek advice.
In another case study I have found that a divorced mother named as Lucy of two young children become computer addicted. At the start she began using computer as a way to release stress by playing solitaire for hours or by chatting with people. As time passed she started to use the computer more and more and recently the hour she is spending on the computer has gain duration of more than ten hours. She is anxious if her husband finds out about her behaviour, he may question whether she is neglecting the children and can inform social services.
If I carefully analyse Lucy’s daily life, I can find that as a divorced mother of two children she has to spend most of her time at home. She does not have anyone to speak to, she gets bored and over stressed etc... All these circumstances force her to use the computer, due to the only available activity at home which relief her stress and lead to a situation where she has become a computer addict.
My last case study is about a married woman, known as Paula who began playing poker online as she was unable to get night out at bingo. She began betting small amounts but after a large win of £2000, she is beginning to find it ever more difficult to stop. Her habit causing argument between her and her husband and she has also began hiding credit card statements so he doesn’t know how much she is spending on the poker site.
In my opinion she is not computer addicted but she has more of the gambling problem, her gambling addiction can be assumed by the effort she made playing using computer after being unable to attend bingo nights.
To this point as I have discussed psychological symptoms of computer addiction with the example case studies, now I would like to point out the physical symptoms of computer addiction.
In physical symptoms a computer addicted person suffered from dry eyes, migraine headaches, Carpal tunnel disease, back aches, sleep disturbances such as changes in sleep pattern, eating irregularities such as skipping meals and failure to attend to personal hygiene.
In today’s society computer is being used in each field of life. Today technology has developed so much that it is almost crucial to have electronic devices at home. Our life has gotten so used to having technology around us that we can’t imagine our lives without them. However, while having electronic devices at home could be comfortable and handy at times but it has produced negative effect on children, especially on teenagers. Parents usually buy computers for their children’s educational resource, but teenagers who always seek fun activities around them use computer to play games, chat with friends and to catch up with the latest gossip on celebrities. Before they know it they become addicted to computer. Computer can cause physically and mentally diseases and the more time a person spends on computer, the more they loses time to focus on academic or job work and also they get less time to spend with their family.
The computer addiction treatment began by making addicted people to recognizing that there is a problem and by making uses of other available solutions such as generating a behavior modification plan in which they plan a daily schedule, set time for computer usage, keep a log moods when they go online and match time spent online with time spent socializing face to face and taking part in non computer related activities. Addicted people should seek advice focusing on other areas for needed skill development such as problem solving, assertiveness, social skills, overcoming shyness and anger control, and also the medical treatment for other disorders like depression or anxiety.
The other people such as relatives or friends should be a good role model for the addicted person by well managing the computer use in their own life. They can help them by introducing to some other people who handles their computer use sensibly, getting them involved in some other fun activities, talking about the concerns with their computer use, supporting their desire for change if they think they have a problem and encouraging them to seek professional counseling.
Through researching computer addiction my views are mostly changed now. I have found that there are some Physical symptoms and many Psychological symptoms which make Computer Addiction a matter which needs serious attention.
