internet-addiction

X-Files star in rehab for Internet porn addiction

Melissa Gira Grant · 09/03/08 12:40PM

A little tear, please, for David Duchovny's broadband account. He's willingly severed his high-speed hookup so he can head to treatment for an addiction to Internet porn. Duchovny copped to rumors that he was a "sex addict" when he checked himself in last week.We're not ones to throw a word like "addiction" around lightly at Camp Valleywag, and we'd never rob a nerd icon like Duchovny of some dignity on his way to dry out. But come on, you're wondering too: What kind of Internet porn is Duchovny into? Log your suspect sites in the comments. (Photo by Andy Johnstone/Pacificcoastnews.com)

What's your Internet-addiction symptom?

Nicholas Carlson · 05/23/08 11:20AM

"The switched on are switching off," reports the Sydney Morning Herald's Jill Serjeant, who interviewed Internet addicts to ask them how they're fighting back. All very interesting. But we prefer the bits where her sources talk about their symptoms— like how they sometimes blog in their dreams or on the toilet. It helps us feel normal. Check out the whole list below and then, please, share with us your tales of hitting rock bottom.

Now we're even more addicted to the Internet

Nicholas Carlson · 03/24/08 04:20PM

Jerald Block, M.D., writes in the American Journal of Psychiatry that excessive use of the Internet — Internet addiction — results in a loss of a sense of time and the neglect of basic drives. But his report isn't all good news.

Internet addicts sent to bootcamp

Mary Jane Irwin · 11/19/07 04:13PM

You think you spend too much time on the Internet? In Korea it's common for youths to log on for 17 hours a day. Beyond skipping school to be online, people have started dying from exhaustion. That's why the South Korean government has set up Internet-addiction counseling centers and treatment programs. Its latest effort is the Internet Rescue Camp that subjects campers to physical challenges, like ropes courses, in the hopes that it will help them kick the Internet habit.

The Internet is officially better than sex

Mary Jane Irwin · 09/20/07 02:30PM

Reuters is pimping a study conducted by advertising firm JWT concluded that one out of every five people sacrifices sex to spend more time online. More than a quarter of the surveyed say they interact less with friends and acquaintances in face-to-face situations. JWT concluded that we've turned into a bunch of "digitivity denizens," people who opt for Wi-Fi over television and have intertwined their online and offline lives to the point where a fifth of the populace can't go without the Internet for more than a couple of days. Fifteen percent can't last unplugged for more than a day. Of course, JWT only polled 1,011 people — most likely interrupting a really rocking World of Warcraft guild meeting. (Photo by Lucas)

Send troubled teens to China's happy fun Web bootcamps!

Owen Thomas · 08/13/07 12:40PM


China is treating Web-addled youngsters the way they deserve — with medication and military-style training, CNBC reports. This is such a good idea. Such a good idea. And at $40 a day, the country's Internet-addiction clinics are a bargain compared to most summer camps. Offshoring, anyone? "Those bad behaviors, some can be corrected," promises clinic director Tao Ran. Parents, if you can't pry your troubled teenager away from World of Warcraft, it's time to pony up for roundtrip airfare to Beijing.