If you're an Internet user, you know who you are. They are among all of us in society, although many may choose to not acknowledge that they too, frequently use the Internet. As I sit here and look across the street, I see a man in front of his own computer; the screen glowing against the window behind him. He does not use his personal computer for work, he is a farmer. He has become what is known as an "Internet Junky".
The addiction begins innocently. At the start, you are not even aware of the possibilities that may form from your excessive computer use. You begin to take an avid interest in e-mailing with your friends and family. Once the novelty of keeping in touch with your colleagues wears off, and researching starts to bore you, you may possibly expand your computer usage to chatting. Yes, chatting. It is something that is becoming more acceptable in our lives, but it is still looked down upon by many skeptics. Chatting through the Internet involves choosing an appropriate nickname for yourself (IE: Fisherman), and then finding a room where you feel compelled to spend time in. Once you've entered the room, other fellow chatters may say, "Hello...a/s/l (age/sex/location) please."
And so begins the addiction. Once you be

The Internet is rapidly becoming an addictive source to a lot of its users. Use of the Internet include: students, housewives, and business professionals. Some of these users spend a minimum of thirty-eight hours per week on the "net"; hence, losing touch with reality and reeking havoc on their studies, family lives, and even their careers. Based on level of addiction, there are three groups of Internet addicts: A) the "I'm-not-addicted-users", B) the "I-only-use-it-when-I-have-to-users", and C) the "Internet Junkies." (netaddiction.com)

People who seem addicted to the Internet often show signs of psychiatric disorders such as, manic-depression. Psychiatrist Nathan Shapira of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, studied 14 people who had spent so much time online, that they were facing problems at home, job loss, and flunking out of school. Nine of the 14 people studied, were found to have manic-depression at the time of the interview; half of the users had anxiety disorder such as "social phobia"; three suffered from eating disorders; four had uncontrollable burst of anger; and eight had abused alcohol or drugs at some time in their life. (Associated Press)