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The Internet is a wild and wonderful place which has forever changed the way we live, learn, and work - but when a person can't find a balance between their time online and their time offline, it can mean problems for their mental health.

America is online

For some people, going online becomes an addiction

There is no one definition for internet addiction; however, it is generally agreed upon that people who are addicted to the Internet have trouble filling personal and professional obligations because of their online activities, and their use of the Internet causes strain on relationships with family and friends. People who are addicted to the Internet often experience negative emotions or withdrawal symptoms when their Internet access is restricted.

Internet Addiction may also be called computer addiction, compulsive Internet use, Problematic Internet Use (PIU), Internet dependence, or pathological Internet use. [5] Researchers estimate that 6% of people are addicted to the Internet. [6]

There are 5 types of Internet addiction [7]:

Why do people become addicted to the internet? [8]

Accessibility: Most Americans can get online easily and almost immediately, at any time of day or night.

Control: People can go online when they want and without other people knowing, causing them to feel in control.

Excitement: Going online gives people a sort of "high." The suspense of bidding in online auctions, gambling, or playing games can be especially thrilling.

The combination of accessibility, control, and excitement make the addicted person want to continue going online.

How is internet addiction related to mental illness?

Adults who are addicted to the Internet are also likely to have depression, anxiety, alochol problems, compulsive behaviors, sleep disorders, ADHD, anger issues, and/or dissociative experiences. [10]

Are you dealing with Internet addiction?

If you agree with most of the statements below, it may be time to seek help [15]:

I think about being online almost constantly. If I'm not online, I'm thinking about the next time I can be or that last time that I was.

I need to online longer and longer each time before I feel satisfied.

I have tried to control, reduce, or stop my internet use, but haven't been able to do so successfully.

I feel irritable or depressed when I try to reduce the amount of time that I am on the Internet or when I can't get online.

The way I use the Internet has threatened a relationship with someone I care about, my job, or my school work.

I lose track of time when I'm online.

I sometimes lie to important people in my life about the amount of time I spend, or the types of activities I participate in on the Internet.

Being online helps me to forget about my problems or improve my mood when I'm feeling sad, anxious, or lonely.

How is Internet addiction treated?

Take control of Internet use

Take breaks. For example, try to take a 15 minute break for every 45 minutes of Internet use.

Fill your free time activities that are physically intense or require a lot of concentration to distract you from thinking about going online.

Don't bring your smart phone or tablet with you when you leave the house.

Keep track of non-essential Internet use (use that isn't related to school or work) to see if you notice patterns. Do you go online when you are bored? Are you going online to relieve feelings of loneliness or depression?

Make a list of things of things that you enjoy doing or need to get done that don't include the Internet. If you feel tempted to go online, choose an activity from your list instead.

If you need help

Take a screen at mhascreening.org to determine if you are experiencing signs of an underlying mental illness. Use the results to start a conversation with your health care provider.

Seek specialized treatment. You can find treatment providers using the online SAMHSA Treatment Locator at findtreatment.samhsa.gov or by calling the SAMHSA 24/7 Treatment Referral Line 1-800-662-HELP(4357).

If you or a loved one is in a mental health crisis, please either visit your local Emergency Room, call 911, reach out to The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's 24 hour toll-free crisis hotline, 1.800.273.TALK (1.800.273.8255), or text "MHA" to 741741 to receive text-based crisis help.

Sources

[1] http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/us
[2,6]Cheng C, Yee-lam, LA. (2014). Internet Addiction Prevalence and Quality of (Real) Life: A Meta-Analysis of 31 Nations Across Seven World Regions. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 17(12): 755-760.
[3] http://www.nielsen.com/content/corporate/us/en/reports/2014/the-us-digital-consumer-report.html
[4] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/08/one-fifth-of-americans-report-going-online-almost-co...
[5] Cash H, Rae CD, Steel AH, and Winkler A. (2012). Internet Addiction: A Brief Summary of Research. Current Psychiatry Reviews. (8) 292-298. Accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3480687/pdf/CPSR-8-292.pdf
[7] Young, K. (1999). "The research and controversy surrounding internet addiction". Cyber Psychology and Behavior. 2 (5): 381-383.
[8] http://netaddictioncom/netcompulsions/
[9-11]Kuss DJ, Griffiths MD, Karila L and Billieux J. ( ). Internet Addiction: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Research for the Last Decade. Current Pharmaceutical Design. 20.
[12] Winker A, et. al. (2013) Treatment of internet addiction: a meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review. 33(2) :317-329.
[13] Petersen KU, Weymann N, Schelb Y, Thiel R, Thomasius R. (2009). Pathological Internet use - epidemiology, diagnostics, co-occurring disorders and treatment. Fortschritte Der Neurologie Psychiatrie.[Review]. 77(5): 263-71.
[14] Lanjun Z. (2009)The applications of group mental therapy and sports exercise prescriptions in the intervention of Internet addiction disorder. Psychological Science (China). 32(3): 738-741.
[15] Beard KW. (2005). Internet addiction: a review of current assessment techniques and potential assessment questions. CyberPsychology & Behavior. 8(1): 7-14.

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The Internet is a wild and wonderful place which has forever changed the way we live, learn, and work - but when a person can't find a balance between their time online and their time offline, it can mean problems for their mental health.

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Social Media Rehab

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Inside a social media addiction rehab facility

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For some users, social media sites can become a troubling obsession. Mireya Villarreal takes us to a rehab facility where young people are getting help for their social media addiction.

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Digital age addiction falls into five types - device addiction ( i.e., computer game addiction), information overload ( i.e., web surfing addiction), net compulsions ( i.e., online gambling or online shopping addiction), cybersexual addiction ( i.e., online pornography or online sex addiction), and cyber-relationship addiction ( i.e., an addiction to online relationships). A 2012 survey by Common Sense Media found that "[teens] are attached to their devices than to their social networking sites: 41% of cell phone owners say they would describe themselves as "addicted" to their phones, and 32% of iPad owners say the same. 20% of social networkers say they are "addicted" to their sites." Social networking already accounts for 28 percent of all media time spent online. 15 and 19 year olds spend at least 3 hours per day on average using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 18 percent of social media users check Facebook every four hours, and 28 percent of iPhone users check their Twitter feed before they get out of bed in the morning.

A possibly subtle cause for the absence of clear cut protocols to detect and classify social media overuse as an addiction is that unlike chemical dependency (alcohol, recreational drugs etc.), the Internet (and social media) is not entirely damaging. Furthermore, there are several benefits of social media and internet to the individual and society and hence it becomes difficult to label them as being "addictive". For social media use in particular, it is hard to know if the addiction is to the medium or to the interaction. Danah Boyd, author of It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, believes that " Most teens aren't addicted to social media; if anything, they're addicted to each other ". Besides, the withdrawal symptoms are not biological as are normally found with substance abuse and addiction. However, gaming-addiction, television addiction, gambling addiction etc. are already known in the psychiatric circles, and none of these involve characteristic withdrawal symptoms such as "liver cirrhosis" (alcohol), "stroke" (marijuana) etc. In the rest of this article, social-media dependence will be referred to as "compulsive use" rather than addiction until a clear definition of "addiction" evolves.

Neuroimaging studies have clearly shown the portions of the brain that are involved when engaged in social media. Social media engagement has been found to trigger three key networks in the brain - the "mentalizing network", the "the self-referential cognition network" and the "reward network".

The mentalizing network :dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), anterior temporal lobe (ATL), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC);

the self-referential cognition network: medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and PCC;

the reward network (ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), ventral striatum (VS), and ventral tegmental area (VTA)).

In 2015, a research team from UCLA published a paper in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, showing that when the human brain is not actively engaged in something, it tends to start focusing on other people to "see the world through a social lens," - a process called "mentalizing". In terms of neuroscience, the "dorsomedial prefrontal cortex", the part of the brain that engages in social interaction, creates empathy to other people's thoughts and feelings, and help us make judgements about other people. Such judgements are vital- the speed of judging if "the man with a spear will throw the spear at me" has been the reason we exist today, and any activity that engages the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex is perceived as being important and thus non-optional. The fact that social media sites engage the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex could be a reason for the natural proclivity to social media compulsive use.

For adolescents and teenagers, this very neuroscience of social media overuse can be dangerous. The adolescent brain is a work in progress, and neuroscientists have found that the prefrontal cortex, the area of decision making and social interactions, is still growing during adolescence. Given the plasticity of the neural connections of the human brain, the portions that are used constructively, continue to grow and develop, while those that are mis-used, would grow in unhealthy ways. While the use of the prefrontal cortex in creative endeavours would hardwire the cells and connections that are associated with creativity, passive social networking could result in loss of creativity.

"Self referencing" - thinking about oneself is important for self-appraisals, and social competitiveness. In fact, humans devote about 30-40% of all speech to talking about themselves, but this number spikes to about 80% of social media posts. The fact that social media participation triggers this survival instinct, could trigger its compulsive use.

The "reward network" is possibly the most important neurological reason or compulsive use of online social network among adolescents and teens. Teens have exaggerated activity in the nucleus accumbens area (part of the ventral striatum) of the brain, which is associated with reward. This explains why pleasure and pain are more intensely felt during teenage than any other time of their lives. The increased activity and size of the nucleus accumbens among adolescents is the reason for social approval and social outcomes administered by peers to be highly valued. It has been proven that an adolescent's decisions (good or bad) are certainly influenced by the opinons of their peers. This behavioral tendency has been associated with increased activity in the reward network of the brain. Social media provide the adolescent with a constant supply of social rewards in terms of peer recognition and approval, as can be seen from the triggering of the reward network, which can serve as a powerful attraction to continued social media use.

Dopamine has been traditionally considered the "pleasure chemical" of the brain, it is now understood to be a chemical that creates "want". It has been found that social media navigation is associated with a surge of dopamine; Dopamine is stimulated by unpredictability, by small bits of information, and by reward cues, all of which are characteristics of social media use. The release of dopamine during online social networking makes it much harder for people to resist the activity.

Even more compelling is the fact that online social media engagement causes a release of oxytoxin, the "cuddle chemical" of the brain. It has been shownt hat oxytocin levels can rise as much as 13% -a spike equivalent to the spike people get when they are getting married to their love.

Compulsive use of social media results from a combination of biological, psychological and social factors and there is still much research underway to understand the individual and combinatorial factors responsible for social media overuse among adolescents.
Writing credit: Co-authored by Lakshmi, a Mobicip writer & researcher who delves deep into the sociological and psychological repercussions of an internet-enabled life. Mobicip is the creator of the most powerful and extensive internet safety software for tablets, smartphones and computers in households today. Learn more at www.mobicip.com.

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Biological & Psychological Reasons for Social Media Addiction

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Digital age addiction falls into five types - device addiction ( i.e., computer game addiction), information overload ( i.e., web surfing addiction), net compulsions ( i.e., online gambling or online shopping addiction), cybersexual addiction ( i.e., online pornography or online sex addiction), and cyber-relationship addiction ( i.e., an addiction to online relationships).

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Depression

Dishonesty

Feelings of guilt

Anxiety

Feelings of Euphoria when using the Computer

Inability to Prioritize or Keep Schedules

Isolation

No Sense of Time

Defensiveness

Avoidance of Work

Agitation

Mood Swings

Fear

Loneliness

Boredom with Routine Tasks

Procrastination

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a chart shows the percentage of place teens suffer from cyberbully 

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a chart shows the percentage of place teens suffer from cyberbully 

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Minimum Age Requirement: 13

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Make sure nobody knows any of your passwords to any of your accounts.

Know the difference between a legit website or ad and a scam or a bug.

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Student hangs herself due to online bullying

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Student hangs herself due to online bullying

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Sadie Riggs was only 15 years old when she killed herself. Here is a quote from her mom as she describes how hard it is to stop bullying online.

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Minimum Age Requirement: 13

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a boy received an email about cyberbully

ask for help from parents or teacher if you get into this kind of situation

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Minimum Age Requirement: 13 years old

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Recognize someone who needs help, here is how!

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What can I do to help someone who may be suicidal?

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Nine things that will help; plus a list of Suicide Warning Signs.

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Depression is a complex medical condition. It can affect every aspect of a person's life, from their personal relationships to their physical health. And of course, it impacts mental wellbeing.

But being unhappy isn't the same as being depressed. Depression is a term often used loosely to describe how people feel after a bad week at work or when they're going through a breakup. Clinical depression, also known as major depressive disorder, is more than feeling blue. Specific symptoms differentiate depression from the type of generalized sadness all people sometimes experience.

In 2021, at least 8.3% of U.S. adults experienced a major depressive episode. Depression has become one of the most common mental health disorders in the country.

In this article we cover eight signs of depression.

The symptoms of depression tend to be more pervasive, severe, and debilitating for non-white individuals, who are more likely to be under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed when they have depression. Many do not get treated for the condition, and their symptoms grow even more intense as they get older.

Melissa Lee LIVING WITH DEPRESSION

suggests that American Indians, Native Americans and Alaska Natives are the most likely to develop psychiatric disorders, including depression. This group lives with an enormous amount of post-traumatic stress, and members are more likely to engage in substance use disorders than people in other communities. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people (ages 8 to 24) in this demographic.

Additional suggests that white people are more likely to experience depression during their lifetimes (17.9% prevalence) than African-American individuals (10.4%). ( counters this, and finds that the latter group is more likely to experience depression, especially as its members age.) Socioeconomic factors, interpersonal issues, and concerns about racism tend to be major drivers of mental health for Black individuals.

Depression is found to be less common among Asians, and more common among Hispanics and Latinx people.

The signs of depression may differ between racial and ethnic groups. Understanding these differences can help people and their healthcare professionals better identify and treat the condition.

Determining whether persistent dark feelings are the result of depression can be the first step toward healing and recovery. The following signs indicate that it's time to see a mental health professional.

People who are depressed often experience feelings of hopelessness, though this is not the same across all races and ethnicities.

Hispanic and Latino individuals are the most likely to report feeling hopeless "all or most of the time," followed by people of two or more races, according to a recent National Health Interview Survey.

Sometimes people who are depressed feel like they are worthless, a sentiment that the survey found most common among people of two or more races, as well as American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are most likely to feel like "everything is an effort, all the time," followed by Black or African-American individuals.

Some people who live with depression also experience inappropriate guilt. They may often think, "It's all my fault," or "What's the point?"

Loneliness and isolation are among the top three reasons people describe themselves as having poor mental health, as reported by more than 1 million people who screened themselves for depression and anxiety on Mental Health America's website in 2020. For Hispanic/Latinx people, it was cited as the biggest cause of mental health issues.

Depression can take the pleasure or enjoyment out of the things people love. A loss of interest in or withdrawal from activities that were previously looked forward to - sports, hobbies, going out with friends - is frequently a sign of major depression. In 2020, a whopping 90% of people who identified with more than one race reported symptoms of depression to Mental Health America.

Another study of 25,503 older Americans found that Black and Hispanic individuals were 1.5 to 2 times more likely than white people to experience sadness and a loss of interest in everyday life.

Losing interest is sex is common. Symptoms of major depression include a decreased sex drive and even impotence.

Part of the reason that people living with depression might stop doing things they enjoy is because they feel very tired. Depression often comes with a lack of energy and an overwhelming feeling of fatigue, which can be among its most debilitating symptoms. This can lead to excessive sleeping.

Asian and Pacific Islander people (particularly those from older age groups) may report feeling tired or sleepy rather than depressed, as the latter can be seen as less culturally acceptable. Because these symptoms can be attributed to other conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome, healthcare professionals may miss the true cause.

Depression is also linked to insomnia, and they can feed off each other. A lack of restful sleep may lead to anxiety.

Depression and anxiety often occur together. Symptoms of anxiety can include:

nervousness, restlessness, or a sense of tension

feelings of danger, panic, or dread

rapid heart rate

rapid breathing

increased or heavy sweating

trembling or muscle twitching

trouble focusing or thinking clearly about anything other than one central preoccupation

Native Americans and American Indians were most likely to report high levels of anxiety in Mental Health America's 2020 screenings. Their rate of moderate to severe depression also increased sharply after 2019.

Depression can affect the sexes differently. Research shows that men with depression may also experience irritability, escapist or risky behavior, substance abuse, or misplaced anger.

Overall, men are less likely than women to recognize depression or seek treatment for that condition. They are more likely to get help when their symptoms resemble " traditional" depression but may not identify their irritability or other strong feelings as something requiring treatment, according to a .

Women are about twice as likely to take antidepressant medication as men, with the most frequent users being those over 60, according to the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. White people are also far more likely to take antidepressants than Black, Hispanic, or Asian individuals.

Men, for their part, prefer medicine to talk therapy when they get treatment, a found.

Weight and appetite can fluctuate for people with depression. This experience may be different for each person. Some people will have an increased appetite and gain weight, while others won't be hungry and will lose weight.

One indication of whether dietary changes are related to depression is if they're intentional or not. If they're not, it may mean that they're caused by depression.

One moment it's an outburst of anger. The next, tears are flowing uncontrollably. Depression can cause mood swings that fluctuate wildly, and it has nothing to do with anything outside of the person experiencing them.

Depression is sometimes connected to suicide. In 2020, nearly 46,000 people died from suicide in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Black people are less likely to die by suicide than white people, but Black teenagers are more likely to attempt suicide than white teenagers.

Statisticians were to note a significant decrease in the number of people who died by suicide in 2019 and 2020, after years of increases. In 2020 alone, the number of white females who died by suicide dropped 10%, while the number of white males doing so decreased 3%. The number of Asian men dying by suicide also dropped in 2020.

At the same time, some groups saw increases. In 2020, the number of Hispanic men dying by suicide rose 5%, while the number of Black and American Indian men dying this way also rose.

According to the CDC, American Indian and Native American people are far more likely to die by suicide than any other group, followed by white people.

In Mental Health America's online screenings, 46% of American Indians and Native Americans reported thinking about suicide or self-harm in 2020, and the number of those having such thoughts increased 7.5% over 2019. This reflected the largest jump in suicidal ideation from any racial or ethnic group surveyed.

Those who die by suicide usually show symptoms of depression or mental health issues first. Often people will talk about it or make a first attempt before succeeding in ending their lives. When people are at immediate risk of self-harm or hurting others, those around them should:

Call 911 or a local emergency number.

Stay with the person until help arrives.

Remove any guns, knives, medications, or other potentially dangerous items.

Listen, but don't judge, argue, threaten, or yell

Depression affects millions of people, but there are myriad options available for treatment, from lifestyle changes to medications. No matter what path one follows, asking for professional help is a critical first step toward starting to feel better.

What that help looks like may differ across communities of color and other marginalized groups. Because "traditional" depression symptoms can vary by race and ethnicity - and some people are reluctant to report their symptoms - often, individuals in these communities go undiagnosed.

The reasons for anxiety and depression in each community also differ, and they are not static. In Mental Health America's 2020 screenings, white people said coronavirus played the biggest role in negatively affecting their mental health. But Black people cited financial matters as a primary concern, while Hispanic/Latinx people were deeply affected by loneliness/isolation, and Native Americans impacted by trauma, loss, and relationship issues (also a major concern for Asian or Pacific Islanders).

People in these racial and ethnic groups are typically less likely to be screened for depression and don't receive mental healthcare treatment as often as those who are white.

Healthcare professionals who work with people experiencing depression must tailor their approach to address differences among those of varying ethnicities and races. Using a cultural accommodation model(CAM) may help bridge the gap. CAM helps these professionals adjust their viewfinder when diagnosing and treating conditions, urging them to be more culturally appropriate and sensitive to the unique characteristics of these populations.

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Depression is a complex medical condition. It can affect every aspect of a person's life, from their personal relationships to their physical health. And of course, it impacts mental wellbeing. But being unhappy isn't the same as being depressed.

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Do Not share your personal information anywhere on the internet.

What can you share and what can you not share on the internet?

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Minimum Age Requirement: 13 years old

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What's the cause of suicide?

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Jordan Peterson - What is Causing the Suicide Epidemic?

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Minimum Age Requirement: 13 years old

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Gaston Day School