Addicted? Refer to cyberpsychologists, books and online clinics
THOUGH one might argue that the highs derived from alcohol or drugs are entirely different from the pleasures scoured from the Internet, de-addicting people surviving on the kicks they pick up on the Information Highway is fast becoming a booming business. Cyberpsychologists, online Net de-addiction clinics, guidebooks on how to deal with the fallouts of cyber-stress and literature around the issues of the dangers of Net overuse are only growing each day.
For those who may feel the need to reduce the time they spend on the Net, help is a typing-distance away at ksy@netaddiction.com. It's an online clinic that promises to teach one how to deal with cyberaffairs, cybersex and cyberporn addiction, compulsive online gambling and on-line time management. It even offers to help parents with tricks on dealing with on-line paedophiles.
For those who feel jilted by a spouse or a lover for a virtual beloved, there is a guide for ordering. Called Infidelity On-line: An Effective Guide to Rebuild Your Relationship After a Cyberaffair, it's a step-by-step interactive workbook to help one detect and cope with virtual adultery.
And if you feel like being warned of the dangers on the Information Highway, there are many books that come highly recommended. For one, cyberpsychologist Dr Kimberly Young's Caught in the Net: How to Recognise the Signs of Internet Addiction and a Winning Strategy on Recovery. Then, there is the more recent Hidden Dangers of the Internet: Using it Without Abusing it by L. Jantz and Ann Mcmurray. Also, Clifford Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway.
And if you don't feel strong enough to cure yourself of the addiction all by yourself, just look for the names of the very many support groups for Net de-addiction, through any of the better-known Search Engines. Use the Net, to beat it!