Kathryn Vercillo - Internet Addiction

Concussions

William Paul Meehan III

Drug Resistance

Sarah E. Boslaugh

Work-Life Balance

Janice Arenofsky

The Body Size and Health Debate

Christine L. B. Selby

Obesity, Second Edition

Evelyn B. Kelly

Infertility Treatments

Janice Arenofsky

Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities

Denis K. Anson

Transgender Health Issues

Sarah Boslaugh

The Vaccine Debate

Tish Davidson

Stem Cells, Second Edition

Evelyn B. Kelly

Prescription Drug Abuse

Robert L. Bryant and Howard L. Forman

Universal Healthcare

Claudio Buttic

Genetic Testing

Sarah Boslaugh

Health and Medical Issues Today

Copyright 2020 by ABC-CLIO, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2019917717

ISBN: 978-1-4408-6606-7 (print)
978-1-4408-6607-4 (ebook)

242322212012345

This book is also available as an eBook.

Greenwood
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC

ABC-CLIO, LLC

147 Castilian Drive

Santa Barbara, California 93117

www.abc-clio.com

This book is printed on acid-free paper

Manufactured in the United States of America

This book discusses treatments (including types of medication and mental health therapies), diagnostic tests for various symptoms and mental health disorders, and organizations. The author has made every effort to present accurate and up-to-date information. However, the information in this book is not intended to recommend or endorse particular treatments or organizations, or substitute for the care or medical advice of a qualified health professional, or used to alter any medical therapy without a medical doctors advice. Specific situations may require specific therapeutic approaches not included in this book. For those reasons, we recommend that readers follow the advice of qualified health-care professionals directly involved in their care. Readers who suspect they may have specific medical problems should consult a physician about any suggestions made in this book.

This book is dedicated to my brother and sister, who not only are my best friends but also provide me with some of the best examples in my real life of how to put the devices down and truly engage with the life thats right in front of me.

Every day, the public is bombarded with information on developments in medicine and health care. Whether it is on the latest techniques in treatment or research, or on concerns over public health threats, this information directly affects the lives of people more than almost any other issue. Although there are many sources for understanding these topicsfrom Web sites and blogs to newspapers and magazinesstudents and ordinary citizens often need one resource that makes sense of the complex health and medical issues affecting their daily lives.

The Health and Medical Issues Today series provides just such a one-stop resource for obtaining a solid overview of the most controversial areas of health care in the twenty-first century. Each volume addresses one topic and provides a balanced summary of what is known. These volumes provide an excellent first step for students and lay people interested in understanding how health care works in our society today.

Each volume is broken into several parts to provide readers and researchers with easy access to the information they need:

• provides overview chapters on background informationincluding chapters on such areas as the historical, scientific, medical, social, and legal issues involvedthat a citizen needs to intelligently understand the topic.
• provides capsule examinations of the most heated contemporary issues and debates, and analyzes in a balanced manner the viewpoints held by various advocates in the debates.
• provides case studies that show examples of the concepts discussed in the previous parts.

A selection of reference material, such as a timeline of important events, a directory of organizations, and a bibliography, serves as the best next step in learning about the topic at hand.

The Health and Medical Issues Today series strives to provide readers with all the information needed to begin making sense of some of the most important debates going on in the world today. The series includes volumes on such topics as stem-cell research, obesity, gene therapy, alternative medicine, organ transplantation, mental health, and more.

We as a society increasingly recognize that there are problems, including those that potentially cause serious harm to our brains, that come along with this new world of being constantly connected to our screens and devices. One of the problems is the risk of Internet addiction. This is a controversial label, which, as well see in this text, we are still learning how to define. As fast as studies come out to help us better understand the issue, technologies change and the effects they have on us change as well. Its hard to keep up, both from a consumer perspective and from a research point of view. This book is designed to help people understand what we know so far about Internet addiction.

This book is written for an undergraduate audience studying across diverse topic areas because it is an issue that will affect people in a variety of fields from education to neuroscience. This book is also of relevance and interest to the average reader who wants to learn more about what constant Internet use is doing to our minds, bodies, and social lives. Parents who are concerned about raising children in this tech-heavy world, therapists and doctors who increasingly see clients who present symptoms related to Internet addiction, and individuals who are struggling with their own use may all gain insight and information from reading this book.

The book presumes that, though some argue against it (and we do discuss that debate), there is such a thing as Internet addiction. It exists on the spectrum, and the book addresses that spectrum, but primarily it is about what happens for people who are on the side of the spectrum where full-blown addiction does occur. Throughout ), we discuss some of the more controversial aspects of the topic, including treatment options, why some people dont consider Internet addiction a true diagnosis because of the variety of complicating factors, how the Internet can also be a mental health benefit (not just a detriment), and who might bear some responsibility for addressing this issue further in the years to come.

If youve ever felt like youre spending more time than you want on your phone, your gaming system, or your social media, then this book can help you gain a solid understanding of the basics underlying this issue. Furthermore, it can get you thinking and talking about ways to maximize the benefits of the Internet, including emerging technologies like virtual reality, while mitigating the harms.