There have been many cases where Internet users prefer their online lives to the extent that they begin to abandon their ‘real' lives and spend most of their waking hours online. This can cause serious problems in a child's growing up process.

Staples (2004) state that adolescents create pseudonyms that are older, cooler, and more socially powerful selves any time they wish. The ability to slip easily into a new, false self is tailor-made for emotionally fragile adolescents. Further adding, teenagers who spend most of their lives in front of a computer screen miss the socializing, the real-world experience that would allow them to leave adolescence behind and grow into adulthood. The virtual environment does not offer these experiences.

Neglecting ones real life to that of the cyberspace world is not just found in adolescents but it also affects many adults.

Doten and Staff (1999) wrote an article on a 25-year-old computer addict named Phil Dangler. He said he was spending 12 hours a day on the computer in chat rooms or virtual communities, not knowing he had a problem. Also mentioning that it was not uncommon to met people who were doing 36-hour stints. Dangler had no real grip of reality even forgetting about rent and food. Even shunning his real-life friends for virtual ones.

Above were some case studies that prove that Internet addiction is a serious problem in both adults and children. Because there are such a large number of people using the Internet worldwide theses days, Internet addiction is quite common and is now recognised as a serious disease.

References

Doten, G & Staff, A 1999 , ‘ When the net becomes a trap online addicts may be mired in a virtual world, leaving behind families, friends, and real lives', Boston Globe , 18 October, p. C.1.

Staples, B 2004, ‘What adolescents miss when we let them grow up in cyberspace', New York Times, 29 May, p. 14.