Top 10 Internet Illnesses

Using your computer is a process or activity that requires most of your body, whether it’s your eyes, fingers, back etc. If you adopt the correct posture, then your body should be positioned upright, allowing all the organs in your body to work correctly.

However, surfing the internet does take a toll on your body.

In this article, I will outline the most common illnesses associated with long term internet use:

1. Eyestrain

Using your eyes a lot can cause strains, so it’s not surprising that staring at your computer screen intensely for extended periods of time can make the eyes sore. According to various studies, although eyestrain can hurt, it’s in no way serious and typically will go away once you’ve rested up.

2. Back Pain

If you adopt bad posture while using your computer for long periods of time, it can lead to back pains. As a countermeasure, it’s in your best interest to do some exercise before and after extended computer sessions.

3. Internet Rage

Using the internet for long periods at a time is capable of causing stress, studies show this is due to the unlimited amount of data on the internet, coupled with our inability to access it all at once, leading to instances of stress1.

4. Internet Addiction Disorder

This disorder can be described as an unhealthy urge to want to use the internet. Internet addiction is generally caused by a number of different things, such as low self-esteem, poor coping skills etc.

5. The Google Effect

This is when the human mind has a tendency to not retain information (or very little of it) because it knows that all of the information is just a click away.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however there could be negative ramifications for it, especially in children, as they are required to retain information for their studies.

6. Headache

Headaches are caused by stress and general tiredness. Sitting in one place for a long period of time is capable of causing stress and so is using a really slow internet connection. So these are things you may want to lookout for.

7. Social Network Depression

People who use social networks a lot are capable of becoming depressed due to the negative feedback they receive from the people they converse with over these services.

8. Facebook Depression

Similar to social media depression, only this one is targeted specifically at Facebook (being the number one social media site). Individuals can be prone to depression and anxiety. Along with emailing and texting, this website allows people to talk about things over and over. Studies have shown that when people procrastinate on a topic, it can increase depression, especially if that thing is something negative, like a relationship breakup.

9. Upper Limb Disorders

This disorder relates to neck tension syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, repetitive strain injury and many other syndromes. All these symptoms have been found to be related to extended internet use.

Upper limb disorder encompasses a number of different orders, making it a very serious problem for internet users.

10. Online Gaming Addiction

This problem can be described as an unhealthy need to play games online.

According to studies on the South Korean population, around 8 percent of people between ages 3 to 39 suffer from excessive internet uses or online gaming addiction. South Korea has even taken steps to curtail this issue by cutting off internet access at certain periods of the time, for users of a certain age group.

While it’s difficult to find any truly reliable stats on gaming addition in America, the number of online help groups aimed at people who suffer from this problem has grown over the years.

The Center for Internet Addictions online is one example, along with Online Gamers Anonymous, these are 12-step recovery programs, designed to help.

Although online gaming addition isn’t recognised as a legitimate mental disorder in America, it is still included in the American Psychiatric Association index, which means in the future experts will be doing more research on it, to eventually come up with a more accurate determination.

When an individual is addicted to something, usually it can be observed from the brain, as the brain tells the person that certain neurotransmitters are required, such as serotonin and dopamine. The brain learns that by doing certain activities, such chemicals can be released. If you’re addiction is gambling, then gambling is what will cause it. If you’re addicted to gaming, then playing games is what will cause it. The need for these neurotransmitters is what drives the behaviour, making you want to do it over and over again.

–AUTHOR INFO—

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his own computer support website www.compuchenna.co.uk.