Internet addiction is increasingly being called a disease, and not just a bad habit like smoking or gluttony. We can't find the strength to tear ourselves away from the tape social networks and every 10-15 minutes we check updates on Instagram (and at the same time on Twitter and Facebook). And we don’t even suspect that innocent scrolling is gradually turning into a vital necessity. The statistics leave much to be desired: 96.2% of the young population of megacities suffer from intermediate Internet addiction, and a serious form of online disease is observed in 2.7% of users. Details are in the FederalPress article.

The symptoms of this addiction are the same for all people: a constant desire to pick up the phone, scroll aimlessly through the feed, check who wrote a thousand times in 10 minutes, “get stuck” on photo collections and videos. But the reasons for leaving the real world for the virtual world are different for everyone. According to statistics, 54% of users spend most of their lives on the Internet due to long-term depression, and 34% - due to a constant state of anxiety and psychological worries.

Anna: there wasn’t enough “dullness”

Our heroine Anna is not characterized by depression. At the age of 30, she managed to travel half the world, move to Poland for permanent residence and become a guide in Warsaw for Russian tourists. However, the first year in a new place was not easy for her: she had to improve her language skills, improve her everyday life, and look for new friends. After such an active period of formation in the Polish capital, Anna felt that she wanted to relax. “I am an active person and am interested in many things. But in certain moment I realized that I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want anything intellectual, so I went online,” says the girl.

But one day in a cafe the cashier began to smile at Anna and ask about what was going on in the world: they say, you’re always on your phone, which means you’re reading the news. After this incident, Anna began to notice that she really practically never parted with the gadget. “For example, when I wrote on a blog or in a magazine, I was often interrupted by my phone. I go online for 5 minutes, then I write an article again, and then I use my gadget again,” admits Anna. – Writing articles, which took me four hours, began to take six. I unlocked my phone 200 times a day - this was shown on my electronic watch. It was difficult to unlearn it.”

The girl came to her senses in time. “Time spent on the phone can be compared to sitting in a bar. I kept this analogy in my head. “Drinking in the middle of the workday!” – that’s how I made fun of myself when I looked at my phone again. I started spending more time on one task than before. I looked around. I realized that I couldn’t manage my life like before. I didn’t want to be ineffective, and I decided that I needed to get rid of the addiction,” says Anna.

She began to take technical and strategic measures. I put a password on my phone, deleted social networks from quick access, put the phone out of sight while working and before going to bed. But it wasn’t easy to completely give up online habits, so Anna decided to introduce new, “healthy” habits to replace the old ones. Instead of a phone, a glass of water appeared on Anna’s nightstand, which she now reaches for every morning, and instead of an Instagram icon, there was a link to an electronic library. “I taught myself to read, albeit not the most intellectual literature, but texts whose meaning was not contained in two paragraphs. I re-read a bunch of books, and a change occurred,” the girl admits.

“After the “cure” I regained the feeling that I was more in control of my life, I became less anxious, and there was more calm and concentration,” continues Anna. – It is important to make yourself understand why you are on the Internet. It’s incredibly cool that it exists, but you have to be able to extract the real benefits from it. I believe that Internet addiction can be a system of social anxiety and isolation, as well as a system of superficial connections. Many people, especially in Europe, begin to perceive connections superficially. Fewer and fewer people want to go deeper. This trend scares me."

Yulia: “it’s calmer with a phone in your hands”

By the way, about trends. Fashion and trends today are one of the most common causes of Internet addiction among young people. Thus, twenty-year-old Yulia Kapitonova, who is now studying to become a director, began to “hang out” on Instagram precisely because of the desire to become a cool blogger. “The main motive was the newfangled blog trend that took over the Internet. Initially, you sit on Instagram, post photos for yourself, and then you start looking at the profiles of various bloggers and try to follow them,” says Yulia.

The girl compared surfing the Internet to laziness and procrastination, which she still cannot overcome: she says that “you seem to go online for a short time, but in the end you spend an unforgivably long time there, and things remain undone - and so on day after day.”

Due to active virtual life Julia often conflicts with her parents and friends. More and more often they ask her to put away her phone and pay more attention to her family and business. But both Yulia and her younger sister find it difficult to follow the advice of adults - the desire to always be in touch usually turns out to be stronger, and they somehow feel calmer with a phone in their hand.

However, Yulia notices that it’s time to get away from this addiction: looking at her younger sister, who is even more susceptible to online influence, she understands that “it’s terrible, ugly, it’s wrong to spend so much time on the phone.” “I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to go to a psychologist right now. In any case, you must first try to take the first steps yourself. It’s to minimize and rationalize the time I spend on the Internet,” Yulia concludes. “Fortunately, my addiction is limited only to the fact that I am trying to convert it into work. I have an addiction not so much to online communication as to the desire to create the perfect page that I and people will like, and also generate profit. Therefore, all the energy and time are invested there. I prefer communication in life. I’m glad that everything is not so bad: I want and love to communicate with people in reality.”

Angelina: “if you’re not VK, you’re not cool”

But not everyone manages to find a balance between real and virtual communication. Angelina Milchenko is studying journalism and dreams of becoming a television correspondent, because for her news is something “that will never become boring.” However, she has been suffering from Internet addiction for seven years. “When I was in 7-8 grade, I still didn’t have any hobby. I just started using VKontakte. It was mainstream: if you are not on VK, then you are not cool. Everyone went to VK in droves, and so did I,” says the girl.

As a 13-year-old teenager, Angelina could not get close to her classmates, so she often sat on social networks. “I hung out there for days, hours, nights,” the heroine shares. “I could just watch the public.” I was wasting my time. And now nothing has changed. I can scroll through my Instagram feed for hours. At the same time, when I look at photos of friends, my mood worsens. I understand that I need to change my life, but I can’t do it.”

The girl began to feel her addiction acutely in her senior year, when social networks began to interfere with her studies.

It was on the Internet that Angelina first met a guy. “And here another problem of social networks appeared - that you are not sure whether the person likes you. We met and he said a lot of hurtful words to me. After that, I didn’t talk to guys at all for some time. This problem still remains. I don't understand if others like me. If I start communicating with a person on the Internet and understand that I feel comfortable with him, then communication in reality does not always end well. Usually everything is good on the Internet, but in reality everything is bad. That is, one or two meetings and “Goodbye!” Lately I haven’t wanted to start communicating on social networks because I don’t want to get used to people. I don’t want to withdraw into myself,” the girl admits.

Angelina is aware of her addiction, and for the sake of an experiment, she recently gave up the Internet for a month. On the third day, she had an obsession: “what if they wrote something important to me?” But when it turned out that no one had sent her messages, she was terribly upset. The girl even turned to a psychologist with this question, who at the same time helped her overcome stress after entering university and addiction to social networks. Angelina even limited her Internet access special application, because she really wanted to live in reality, but does not yet know how to achieve this. The girl strives to overcome conflicts with loved ones and make communication with other people truly alive. “I’m not afraid of people,” the heroine concluded. “I’m ready to communicate with people in reality, but often this doesn’t work out.”

Illness or innocent habit?

The phenomenon of Internet addiction was commented for FederalPress by a candidate of psychological sciences, a researcher at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University psychologist Artem Kovalev:

“The main indicators of Internet addiction, as in the case of other non-chemical types of addictions, are behavioral indicators - time spent in the Internet environment, frequency of use of devices with Internet access, a pronounced decrease or increase in emotional stress in conditions of inability to use the Internet.

Adolescents are primarily at risk because... a significant part of interpersonal communication with peers (and this is the main leading activity of this age group) has been transferred to the Internet. The Internet also provides more opportunities for self-expression and quick access to information.

However, in addition to teenagers, older people may also be at risk, primarily those who have difficulties with normal communication and interaction with others. In general, the causes of Internet addiction can be different: from the presence of a hereditary predisposition to mental disorders, to life events that contribute to a decrease in the amount of normal interaction with real people. This is the dependence of those who already have the initial prerequisites for maladaptation.

As in the case of other types of addictions, the dangers are as follows: severe withdrawal syndrome - disruption of a person’s functioning, performance of social and personal functions in the absence of access to the Internet; decreased function of attention and memory.

The most effective methods The only way to get rid of Internet addiction is to change your environment and gently give up the Internet.”

Photo: Natalya Seliverstova / RIA Novosti, personal photos provided by Anna, Angelina and Yulia

You low speed Internet and you want to increase it? Then read this article and find out how to increase your Internet speed.

I won’t reveal a terrible secret if I say that Internet speed depends on only two factors: your Internet provider and you. You may ask: what does this have to do with me? Fine. I answer in order.

Factor one: Your provider.

It provides Internet connection and is fully responsible for the serviceability and speed of the Internet connection. Often providers are dishonest in their responsibilities and do not pay due attention to the development and maintenance of in working condition their communication lines and equipment. This leads to overloaded lines, and as a result, a decrease in Internet speed. As a rule, this situation can be observed during peak loads, in the evening.

Factor two: You. Or rather, not you, but your skill, and most importantly the desire to correctly configure that part of the Internet, the responsibility for which lies with you. Because, as a rule, most of the problems that prevent normal operation of the network arise not on the provider’s side, but on the user’s side.

Low Internet speed is affected by many factors that you can change

The first, the most obvious, and the most common. Antivirus

Antivirus is truly a double-edged sword. It’s bad without him, and not very good with him. Do you have an antivirus on your computer? Then conduct a simple experiment: check the Internet speed with the antivirus turned on (you can check it with any). Take not one, but at least 10 online tests. Calculate the average of incoming and outgoing traffic.

What can be done?
Of course, the easiest option is to disable the antivirus completely. But it’s probably not worth doing this. You never know... It's better to carefully delve into its settings and change the traffic scanning mode to a softer one. Different antiviruses do this differently. Some have this opportunity, while others do not. This must be looked at in a specific case.

Second: There may be low Internet speed through the router (if you have one, of course)

Do it. Then connect directly, bypassing the router, and run the test again. The results may surprise you! If this is the case, then try, first, re-flash the router new firmware. If it doesn't help, buy a new one.

Third: Modem

The situation is similar to the router, but testing is more difficult. Since for the test you need to borrow a similar modem from someone and make test measurements of the Internet speed. And this is not always possible. Therefore, as a rule, the modem is left alone.

Fourth: Computer and its performance

Check your computer for viruses. You may have plenty of them, even if you have a “cool” antivirus. Check third party programs or utilities. Not with your antivirus! He already sent all sorts of crap onto your computer. Recommended list free utilities is in the article

We need to overcome this craving.

Very often the Internet interferes with our lives.
Of course, he helps me in some matters, but I began to notice that I had an increasing craving for online communication, games, and so on.
And this craving and sitting at the computer often became and is the reason for unfulfilled housework.
Is this a familiar picture?

From the well-known encyclopedia it is clear
Internet addiction (or Internet addiction) is an obsessive desire to connect to the Internet and a painful inability to disconnect from the Internet in time. Internet addiction is a widely discussed issue, but its status as a mental disorder is not formally established, and it is not included in the DSM-IV and ICD-10 disease classifiers.
…
Origin of the problem

Information for a person is of great importance. Computer and Internet is powerful tool processing and exchange of information, in addition, thanks to the computer, different kinds information. This is considered the root cause of computer or Internet addiction, since in a certain sense they suffer from a violation of the processes of information exchange.
The problem of Internet addiction has emerged with the increasing popularity of the Internet. Some people have become so carried away by the virtual space that they began to prefer the Internet to reality, spending up to 18 hours a day at the computer. Abrupt refusal of the Internet causes anxiety and emotional agitation in such people. Psychiatrists see similarities between this addiction and excessive gambling...

Do you want to know how Internet addicted you are?

You need to answer the truth and only the truth and nothing but the truth.
Write your result in the comments.

My result:
Your number of points: 58

You have some problems associated with excessive use of the Internet. If you don’t pay attention to them now, they can fill your whole life in the future.

I agree with the test result.

Of course, I won’t be able to cut everything off right away.
But I will try.

Today I will force myself to fall asleep at 23:00 maximum, and not at 1 or 1:30 am.

I began to suffer from headaches from constant lack of sleep and in the morning when my alarm clock set me off at 7:30 I couldn’t get up.
So it was these reasons that made me wonder if it was worth it.

The test itself can be taken here ------http://www.psyhelp.ru/internet/test.php