Health In the News: Stress, Depression and Suicide

Internet addicts more likely to develop depression
By Tan Ee Lyn
Hong Kong/ Mon Aug 2, 2010 4:01 pm EDT


Summary
A recent study in China has found that teenagers who spend excessive amounts of time on the Internet are 1.5 times more likely to develop depression than moderate internet users. Researcher Lawrence Lam has described that the three main signs of exessive use of internet; spending at least 5-10 hours a day on the web, agitation when one is away from the computer, and loss of interest in social interaction leads to lack of sleep and stress from competitive online games, which are the causes of depression.

Big Meaning
Thanks to the advancement of technology, our communication with others has become faster and more international. However there are downsides to the impressive internet. Internet addicts. A recent study has shown that teenage internet addicts are more likely to develop depression, which affects them physically, socially and emotionally. Instead of going outside to play sports, or to hang out with friends or spending quality time with their family, internet addicts tends to spend long, long unhealthy hours of time alone, isolated from the rest of the world, which causes lack of sleep, and stress due to competitive online games which are the two main causes of depression. It is crucial for them to receive counseling and treatment as soon as possible.

Personal Meaning
It is important to me as internet addiction has become one of the major problems among teenagers. I see a lot of people around me who, although not an addict, spends an equal amount of time on the internet, leaving no time to spend with their friends or family. And the age group of internet addicts is getting more younger as time passes, which is a serious problem because for young teenagers, spending time outside exercising and hanging out with friends is important since it is that period of time they mature both physically and mentally into a young adult. It is that time when they figure out themselves and develop a sense of values of life. But if that time is spent on online games, chatting with strangers, downloading illegal music and movies, etc,. it is going to be hard for them to be realize their way back to reality.
My friend's brother has once caused a scene when I was back in Korea. Instead of going to school, he went to an online game room, where you pay money to play internet games for a certain amount of time. The teacher contacted his mom since he was absent, and his mom called the police because she thought he might have been kidnapped. It wasn't a very pleasant
What I learned from this article is that there are growing amount of teenagers who are internet addicts, and they are more likely to develop depression. I also realized that there are quite a lot of people around me who spends more than enough time on the internet. I should try to spend time with those people outside exercising or socializing with others before it's too late.