How Online Addiction Affects Education and Career Development
According to scientists, about 5-10% of users suffer from Internet addiction, and it especially refers to computer games lovers, who may become so absorbed with them that they literally forget about one’s own basic needs.
Interesting fact: Since January 1, 2022, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), excessive passion for computer games, which has grown into game addiction, officially received the status of a disease and entered into the ICD-11 classification of diseases next to gambling, alcoholism and drug addiction.
At the same time, WHO experts do not recommend that people diagnose themselves or their loved ones with this disease, leaving this prerogative to medical professionals.
At the heart of almost every addiction, whether to nicotine, alcohol or computers, real-life problems lie that people want to avoid. Difficulties in social interaction and lack of self-confidence drive millions of people around the world to seek salvation in cyberspace. A person seeks a constant online presence and prefers virtual communication to real one, which inevitably affects family and social relationships.
The attachment to the smartphone also has a negative impact on a person's cognitive abilities - it becomes more difficult to remember information, the ability to analyze decreases, primitive thinking prevails. The process itself is depicted in the Russian cartoon Brain Eaters. The fact that online addiction changes brain structures has been confirmed by Chinese scientists’ research. They used magnetic resonance imaging to detect abnormalities in the brains of people who spend many hours on the Internet. They scanned the brains of adults with Internet addiction and compared the results with those of healthy people. The results revealed lesions in the white matter of the brain in areas responsible for emotional processing, decision-making and cognitive control. Interestingly, exactly the same changes were found in the brains of people addicted to alcohol and drugs.
Online addiction can affect any adult, but it's even more frightening when a child becomes a victim of the Internet. Teenagers now spend hours in front of screens, immersed in the virtual worlds of social media and video games. Without proper supervision and a balance between online and offline activities, children risk getting lost in the digital maze, losing important real-life socialization skills.
"But to be interested in the Internet does not mean to be addicted to it," says Henrietta Jones, a consultant psychiatrist at Imperial College London, who heads the UK's only Clinic for Internet and Gaming Addiction. With wise use of computer technology and a balance between the virtual and real worlds, children can develop skills that will benefit them in the future. For example, E-literacy is essential and can be the basis for a successful career in programming or web design. Therefore, it is important for parents to observe their children - is he or she just showing interest in computer technology or does the Internet really cause an unhealthy addiction? To prevent possible negative consequences, it is enough to be aware of potential risks and to strive for a reasonable balance between online and offline activities.