Students sometimes attach to their computers emotionally and form a distorted view of social interactions, notes psychologist Linda Tipton, PhD, a colleague of Kandell's at Maryland. They spend the evening with their computer instead of going out and meeting people, she said.

Logging off

Scherer drew a bigger audience for a workshop she hosted at the University of Texas with her husband, computer scientist Jacob Kornerup. Sixteen people, both faculty and students, attended the session, and learned how to control the amount of time they play online, for instance, by stopping their subscriptions to the online services they find most addictive (see sidebar on page 38).

Attendees informally told Scherer that the workshop helped, and some pursued counseling for their addiction. To determine the extent of the problem at the University of Texas, Scherer and psychologist Jane Morgan Bost, PhD, assistant director of the counseling and mental health center, are conducting a study of 1,000 students, some who use the Internet and some who don't. They want to determine the forms the disorder takes and how best they can help afflicted students.

For example, some students may prefer online support services to counseling or workshops, said Scherer. Already the Internet Addiction Support Group, an Internet service recently established by psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg, MD, has begun attracting subscribers. Users of the service own up to their addiction and swap ways to tackle it.

Once addicts can say 'enough is enough,' and deliberately switch the computer off without regret, they're on the way to recovery, said Scherer.

'There are a lot of valuable and not-so-valuable resources on the Internet,' she said. 'To manage your use, you have to know the difference in value and know yourself.

Source: APA Monitor

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