Study links excessive Internet use to depression

[Sigrid]

Study links excessive Internet use to depression

LONDON - People who spend a lot of time surfing the Internet are more likely to show signs of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday.

But it is not clear whether the Internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.

Psychologists from Leeds University found what they said was "striking" evidence that some avid net users develop compulsive Internet habits in which they replace real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites.

[...]

Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35207840/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/?gt1=43001)

[Goidelic]

Study links excessive Internet use to depression

LONDON - People who spend a lot of time surfing the Internet are more likely to show signs of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday.

But it is not clear whether the Internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.

Psychologists from Leeds University found what they said was "striking" evidence that some avid net users develop compulsive Internet habits in which they replace real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites.

[...]

Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35207840/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/?gt1=43001)

Interesting there may be some truth to this. However, once all work is done and I'm invited to a friend's house have some epic drinks on the weekend, blast some epic music, and then I'm anti-depressed for a solid week. ;)

[Eldritch]

But it is not clear whether the Internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.

Intuitively, I'd say it's most likely the latter.

[Poltergeist]

It is vicious circle. Goes both ways.

[Skandi]

I expect that depressed people spend more time on the net, as they don't have to do anything to be there, and don't have to interact with rl people.

[Agrippa]

The whole issue being closely related to the current Western society as a whole and its social structures and "values".

Basically it has a lot to do with the lack of traditions and extended family bonds too, this problem being explained from the historical perspective here:
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/search.php?searchid=457306

As a rule, schizothymic people in general and the rather low-energy and hypersensitive variants, the very introverted ones in particular tend to be in social relations rather structure than personal related.

Thats part of the reason why Westerners are so weak without the state, because they lack the extended kinship, they are not automatically in a greater social network. F.e. in most traditional societies, no matter how shy or whatever you were, you were in any case "family" and this not just for your parents and siblings, but a much larger group of people. I might just refer to the popular image of the mafia movies as some sort of reference. "Family is family."

Now this schizothymic, structure oriented people, tend to, without such bonds, structures and rules, automatic networks, to not invest too much in social relationships, they also concentrate on special interest issues more often and are shy, especially in young years. Progressive variants in general have a longer maturation, which means they are statistically always late bloomers in comparison to the world average and tropical people in particular.

So this means, somewhere in there teen years, they were not particularly successful in social networking, but even if, whether or not, they might be more "special interest" related, so if they havent had the luck to come in a group with "shared interests" for their particular individualist way of life in some sort of subculture or the like, they will have to search for it and there will be no natural social network around them, as this doesnt exist any more in the traditional sense in most of the West.

Now they can begin to search and obviously the world wide web is just made for them, because it seems controllable, offers a lot of options, reduces incalculable risks, offers a lot of niches and ways of getting "steam off".

The main problem is, their personality is finally, like that of all people, made to be biologically successful - if ignoring the very extreme and abnormal variants - just for conditions which dont exist any more. The internet can solve certain problems and satisify some needs, but most not fully and not on the longer run, so without a solution to their basic problems in life, it will make them only dependent and depressive, if they weren't depressive from the start.

The WWW freak is as such not different from the career or consumer oriented, peer group lost-subcultural etc. postmodern being, just a specific aspect of this individualised life concept building which works with commercialised surrogates.

As for the personality types and depression, one has to distinguish between endogenous and exogenous forms of depression, even though I know the borderline is not as clear, it makes a big difference in this case.

Because especially the typical schizothymic personalities become depressive in situations. To say someone was depressive before becoming an excessive internet user or getting depressive afterwards is in fact just the start, because one has to analyse why for some people the internet is such an attractive mean in their life.

As a rule it has, for more or less normal variants, a lot to do with real or perceived options and alternatives.

If f.e. getting a partner via some virtual means is a more convenient variant for a specific type of personality, its just logical it will use it. Probably in another social environment, the very same individual would have used a more or less arranged marriage of some sort in the past, like it was the most common practise throughout most of higher cultured human history.

A typical schizothymic and masculine personality is rather object oriented, in the past, when social structures were the main field of competition and interest in the end, this resulted in a consequent application of logical rules and social success quite often. F.e. the warrior gods and rules etc. all were the constructs of a specific set of mind which adapted the perception of the world to the needs of the world, especially in the very successful, higher standing patriarchal cultures like that of the Indoeuropeans.

Today the same patterns result in something I presented in another forum already, "Nordic warriors at work":

http://diepresse.com/images/uploads//c/6/d/408685/u_World_Warcraft_auf_der_Cames_Convention.jpg

(the most successful and engaged players are all from high IQ groups which are rather schizothymic, particularly Europe, here Nordeuropids and leptomorphic racial forms in general and Eastern Asia, especially Sinid leptomorphs)

That you can take such a game so seriously and play it for many hours, is just so typical for a schizothymic juvenile and schizothymic in general. In the past they would have united to warbands at that age or fight for their interests and group in another way, today there are this surrogates and society won't kill them, because if they would too early, before the control state is ready, they would just activate the last young male reserve Europe has in its aged period - no revolution without such young males, schizothymes on a higher level, but obviously, they are busy, busy with online games or other distractions, "real life" or not, it doesnt make a difference, if its just a surrogate, distraction or abuse by the plutocratic oligarchy. Sports events are no way better, nor is a business career as a menial of the system. As long as you are caught by it, you are not free.

For every personality the current Liberalcapitalist system has some form of surrogate to satisfy the basic needs, if you are a very physical person and more physical warrior, you have your options now too and can gain status in a fight in the arena culture:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/pow-mixed-martial-arts/assets_c/2009/08/mma_sherk_florian_300-thumb-300x300-13041.jpg

If we look at this:

‘Addicts’ spent time on sex sites, online gaming sites, online communities

Sex, Competition, Social Network = Basic needs and of course, quite male oriented.

The problem from the schizothymic-introverted mind comes from the fact that it can give the brain, the inner self the priority over the outer world. This is very good, because it can make people more creative, down to principles and ideals, goal and object oriented etc., everything positive for a successful longer term strategy of a group and individual, yet in a chaotic, individualised social system, it doesnt work out as good, especially biologically, because they can make, even more than other variants, make the inner drives determine perceived reality.

The world wide web gives fast access to controllable surrogates, so in a worst case scenario, they dont even try to get the real things for which they have their drives, because they being, more or less, satisfied by the fast surrogates, like a drug. Yet this can never be as satisfying as the real thing and addictive behaviour leads to problems and further deficits, which makes a person even more depressive.

On the other hand, it can be a solution provider too, because of the lack of true values, shared interests, close knit social bonds etc. in our current Western society and it can help to form these by using the internet as a mean.

In the end, the same basic types of people use the means of their time. They would have used the offers of their tribal group and kinship, probably religious and political unions in the past, they would have been more often bookworms and probably still are, and they use the internet as a - seemingly - controllable object and mean.

I'm quite sure, Western subjects from small, probably even broken families, with not too many or not siblings at all etc. are more prone, regardless of other factors. Because as I said, the internet is also a question of alternatives.

And many "special groups" have to organise themselves over the internet primarily, because of the various pressures working against them for good or bad - f.e. in political groups :coffee:

I would only consider those cases pathological, which get a better and real offer and still prefer the internet or other commercial surrogates for that matter before it.

It reminds me of a billionaire making fun of people sitting at home and watching TV - well, its stupid indeed, but of course, he has a lot more options and for humans its not just about real options, but also perceived options, because if you dont see the alternatives it doesnt help that one is at hands...

But this whole story as other addictions goes much deeper in the modern Western soul in our foul and corrupted system of today and the human mind as such.


Of these, 1.2 percent were "Internet addicted", they concluded.

Thats a rather conservative number and if they would ask for independent people which being not distracted in job and free time by other surrogates, there would be probably 1,2 percent not addicted to some kind of commercial or at least constructed substitution.

"Real Life" in this system is oftentimes as real as a Computer Game and many people's view on their life and the world just reminds me on this:
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12862

[Vigilance]

I find gamers who play strategy/fps/rpg rather similar to physical warriors.

Only they don't have equal interest in trying physical/real life martial arts.

Maybe its because they are or think that they are physically weak.

They have fear of the violence IRL that comes with hand to hand combat.

The graphics in computer games seem better and cooler to them.

Real life martial arts are physically tiresome and tedious compared to thumping their fingers away at their keyboards and mouse.

Its really funny that really engrossed gamers get extremely angry when they get killed, the same way martial arts participants do.

[Larali]

Been there, done that...

[Vigilance]

These are the types of gamers I was talking about
https://youtu.be/u6JKP_W_HGY
https://youtu.be/LCYPGnJdO1U

[lutegavel]

I think this study is correct. The Internet is a public space. That's why people usually find themselves being bullied here. With the rise of social media, it is easier for people to say all the negative opinions they have regarding a person. Some even do this anonymously! Hence, most of the online bullying translates to depression.