Internet Addiction

I am not a technology person.

My first I-didn't-just-look-at-it-I-also-pressed-some-buttons contact with computers was at 17, when, once per week, I would go to a net cafe and chat, in an effort to practice english. It was fun, until someone I had already chatted a few times with, suddenly pretended he didn't know me and started swearing. Whatever.

I got my first computer at 19 and didn't really dare touch it. The first time I had a problem, I pressed Help and typed a well-structured, coherent question to the little devil that inhabited inside the machine and made it work. Then, a friend of mine -student of Informatics- informed me that there is no button one can press and make it explode. With that valuable piece of information, I started experimenting. Soon, not only did I get used to it, but my parents got the impression I am some kind of technology guru (I wasn't, it's just that they were even worse than me).

I knew the terms Computer Addiction and Internet Addiction, but never really cared, until my mother came to visit us about 2 weeks ago. She complained that I spend far too much time in front of the screen. I didn't believe her but I decided to check (online! - Info here, here, here and here) what the symptoms of Internet Addiction are. I share my new knowledge with you:

• Using online services everyday without any skipping.
• Increasing amount of time spent online.
• Losing track of time when online.
• Feeling happy when online, craving for more time, feeling restless when not online.
• Feeling guilty and lying about the amount of time spent online.
• Neglecting friends and family.
• Others complaining about the time spent online.
• Computer use interfering with job performance.
• Headaches, bachaches, changes of sleeping pattern.
  

Should I add that I had almost all of them? And that some of my friends had them too? Only thing left to do: Just log off. Real life is so much better.