Is it just a matter of time until we need to tailor a counselling service specifically for screen addiction?

A lot of time is spent using social media. Users find it highly competitive. There is continuous pressure and judgement on how many followers, or pictures that are posted. For many it has become an obsession to check up and see what other people are doing, rather than actually getting on real life. We have become totally attached to our phones, continually messaging each other and updating our life blogs. If we are away from it we run the danger of being left out.

In 2013, Internet Gaming Disorder was placed in the chief psychiatric guidebook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-5, as a diagnosis that needs more research before it’s officially accepted. However, it’s important to understand that the wheels of psychiatry turn slowly, e.g., gambling addiction was only recognized as a diagnosis in 2013. In contrast to the U.S. position, China, South Korea, and Japan recognize youth video game/Internet addiction as a diagnosis, consider it a serious public health problem, and China and South Korea have hundreds of treatment centers devoted to the problem. (Huffington Post READ MORE)

“Taken together, [studies show] internet addiction is associated with structural and functional changes in brain regions involving emotional processing, executive attention,decision making, and cognitive control.”  –research authors summarizing neuro-imaging findings in internet and gaming addiction (Lin & Zhou et al, 2012) Psychology Today  READ MORE