The new research, whether it's imaging research or genetic research or other kinds of research, [is] pointing to a biological disposition, something in our biology that makes it easy for us to fall in love with a video game or with the Internet. And for a proportion of us, this love affair can start looking like an addiction,” said Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, who runs Stanford University’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Clinic and Impulse Control Disorders Clinic and recently completed one of the largest studies to examine how common problematic Internet use is in the United States.
“When we talk about problematic Internet use, one common complaint is that there's nothing really different about it, that it's similar to, you know, when radio first came around or TV or even novels,” Aboujaoude said. “But I really do believe the Internet is different. It's different in that it engages you a lot more. You're immersed in it. It talks back to you. It's also different in terms of its penetrance, how incredibly common it is and how much access we have to it.”
Aboujaoude's research found that up to 13 percent of Americans experience some degree of negative impact from overuse of the Internet.
“Examples of this negative impact include things like damage to their personal lives because of their online patterns of use or feeling, that they cannot go for an extended period of time without logging in and that in and of itself has negative consequences,” he said, adding that other countries, such as China, have made the study of excessive use of electronic media a priority.
Chinese researchers recently compared the brain scans of average Internet users to the brain scans of Internet obsessives. The small study found changes in the areas responsible for decision-making, emotions, and self-control – the same areas that are affected in substance abusers.