The computer is used for work, study and entertainment. However, he is becoming our master more and more often. Anna Krasuska talks to psychiatrist Lubomira Szawdyn about people addicted to computers.
You can really be someone in front of a computer monitor - a boss, a winner, a lounge lion … For some virtual reality replaces real life.
Can you become addicted to computers as well as chemicals?
The computer, like all technological advances, is supposed to make life easier. If it's for work or information, that's fine. But if it fills the time completely and we don't do anything else anymore, just stay in front of the monitor, then something is wrong. We become addicted to things that are effortless and fun, or that make us feel important. All life facilitators, when we cannot use them, are harmful.
To everyone?
It's a myth that only children are at risk. Of course, if a child who has not even had time to taste life finds himself in this virtual capsule right away, he has less chance of proper development. But this also applies to adults, from housewives, retirees, to elderly people who visit erotic sites. It starts innocently - some solitaire, an hour on Allegro, a few e-mails - and it is not known when half a day will pass. As with all addictions, time begins to shorten dramatically. We think we're sitting for an hour or two, and it's all night.
Spending time in front of the computer is something natural today. How do you know if it's an addiction?
As always - after the withdrawal team. Someone goes to a plot with a laptop and there will be no electricity due to the storm. If this man desperately sits down in his car and looks for somewhere to hook up because he can't last even a second without a computer, he has withdrawal symptoms. Suppose he fails to find power - then all the characteristic disorders can occur: insomnia, aggression, depression, anxiety, including delirium. In extreme cases, other important functions cease to exist. Man only eats to survive, but otherwise he does nothing else but stuck in this tunnel.
Worth knowingGlobal standards
A child up to 10 years of age should not spend more in front of a computer or TV monitorthan half an hour a day. Between the ages of 10 and 12, this period may be extended to 45 minutes. For a teenager, the norm is two hours.
Moves away from the world?
Yes, and that's the most tragic thing about addiction. All your vast, wonderful areas of experience are being reduced. You give up the fullness of life just to focus on one thing lenticularly. Everything else ceases to count - relatives, friends, own development …
The consequences are as severe as with other addictions?
Similar, because they relate to the physical as well as mental, family and social spheres. One of my patients before high school graduation hardly ever attended. He was having muscle weakness. The mental consequence is alienation and a sense of loneliness. It happens that a person, being stuck in front of a monitor, loses the only chance to establish real relationships with people. It is a social harm, for example, that the addicted worker is less productive. He spends hours on the Internet, but spends little time on actual work. The growing aggression among children is also a serious problem.
And other addictions - easy to switch from one to the other?
Very easy. Computer games are kindergarten for gambling. The tension in the game causes the brain to produce more dopamine, which is still needed later. In addition, young people learn to live under the pressure of winning and then fail to cope.
Today a lot of people socialize in various forums, gadu-gadu. Does it hurt too?
Reminding ourselves of what Zosia had braids in the second grade is okay, but the ease of communication lulls our vigilance. Hanging out on a forum does not mean that you are establishing real relationships. It's such a vicarious social life. There is a difference between exchanging information on the screen and building contact, because without the non-verbal sphere, the conversation is incomplete. Being with another human being requires sight, hearing, smell and touch.
People arrange real meetings …
Which - as it often turns out - bring great disappointment. In virtual contact, we easily idealize our interlocutor and when we finally meet in the "real world", the other person turns out to be completely different than we imagined. People who base their social life on the Internet, often do not know how to behave in real contact. They cannot maintain a relationship. Therefore, these are usually one-time meetings.
The computer is the fun of life?
In the virtual world, we can be great bosses, have a career, learn different things, but this has little impact onreality. If a man cannot cope in real life, the machine will not teach him that. Going into addiction - any addiction - is always associated with emotional problems. Of course, the whole mechanism of denial is triggered here. An addicted person cheats himself, finds excuses to be addicted. Therefore, when sitting down at the computer, it is worth asking yourself: "why am I doing this?". If the answer is: "to pass the time", it means that you need to think about yourself.
If someone feels they are prone to addiction, what can they do?
To keep an eye on the structure of your day. You have to take care of all areas of your life: the need for work, relaxation, development, etc. Sometimes treatment is necessary, but everything can be adjusted - either with the alarm clock or with the help of the therapist. You just have to want and have an insight into yourself.
Treatment is similar to other addictions?
Yes. It is a therapy aimed at making people understand themselves better. That he would realize what he is living for, find his identity and know how to spend each day usefully. Then he will also understand others better. It is not easy to return from the virtual world to real life. Anything that requires effort on our part is difficult. But it's really worth it, because these several dozen years of our being on Earth are very little time. Pity to waste it sitting in front of the screen! Besides, probably every person would like to leave something behind … something more than just internet bills.
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