A new study reveals that people across all age groups become compulsive Internet users when they start using it as a strategy to deal with excessive work load.
People adopt various strategies to cope with stress resulting from excessive work load. While for some, a cup of coffee does the trick others turn to the Internet to de-stress and refresh their minds. As time passes, people belonging to the second group slowly become compulsive Internet users, without even realizing it, according to a press release.
Researchers from Northampton Business School and Henley Business School conducted a study to analyze the driving force behind this occurrence. They recruited 516 subjects for the study. All these participants were aged between 18 and 65 years with an average age of 42 years and included both employed and unemployed individuals. All subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire that gathered information regarding their emotional stability, workload, life satisfaction and compulsive Internet usage.
More than 60 percent of the subjects across both genders admitted to compulsive Internet usage. Researchers noted that most subjects revealed compulsive use of internet while excessively working in order to maintain emotional stability. An interesting find was that unemployed subjects spent more time online but were less compulsive Internet users than employed subjects.
So what do these compulsive Internet users do? Flirt! Researchers of the study noted that flirting was the most common activity all compulsive Internet users indulged in and in high frequency.
Researchers also cautioned that higher levels of compulsive Internet usage can result in the user displaying increased withdrawal symptoms, isolations, anxiety and depression.
"Those individuals who use technology to enable working beyond office hours tend to be highly successful in their jobs, but are at a high risk of developing other problems," Dr Quinones-Garcia and Professor Korac-Kakabadse said in a statement.
Helpguide.org published a report about signs and symptoms of Internet addiction. These include:
- Losing track of time online
- Having trouble completing tasks at work or home.
- Isolation from family and friends
- Feeling guilty or defensive about your Internet use.
