Internet addiction: what is and what are the tools to stop it

The word addiction, nowadays, is always associated with alcohol, drugs and gambling. Alongside these addictions, that we could define as "traditional", we have internet addiction disorder, that is becoming more and more important.

This term was introduced, for the first time, in 1995 by New York psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg and connected to other compulsive disorders such as: social interaction problems, unstable mood, difficulty in relationships and sleep deprivation, up to depression. Numerous studies have confirmed that first victims are especially young people between 13 and 20 years; in fact, they spend most of their time surfing the net. But not all internet addictions are the same, so five sub-categories have been isolated.

The first, the most widespread one, is undoubtedly the "social network addiction", which presents itself as a sort of dependence on one's own web page or profile and the search for new virtual friendships.

Cybersexual addiction, on the other hand, consists in a dependence on virtual sex. People with this disorder compulsively visit pornographic sites.

The net-compulsions, however, concerns gambling and participation in online auctions and trading.

Finally, shopping and video game addiction, also known as "video game overuse", which defines a compulsive use of computer games and consoles.

All individuals affected by these digital addictions are united by the tendency to isolate themselves from forms of social contact, poor attention to study or work, to physical and psychological disorders: headache, visual problems, changes in mood, dysphoria, anxiety and disorders of sleep. Parallel to these disorders, there is a reduction in interest for other activities that are not internet. The pathological addiction from the web is becoming a real social scourge, so much so that, few months ago, a family from southern Italy, has found isolated for two years at home, in a severe psychophysical state, due to a pathological internet addiction. They’ve been transported urgently to recovery centers and still followed by a team of doctors and psychologists.

At IES Italia, we live and create digital products. We have always been updated not only on news, but also on the side effects of using network.

For this reason, when we devise and develop a service, we evaluate all aspects.

Our goal has always been to make people's lives better.

In the ideation and design of IVO, together with ntop we have always taken into consideration the problem of internet addiction, this has helped us in the development of the service.

IVO, a digital device that aims to protect and guide people to a correct use of the Internet, especially in the home, where it is easier to isolate themselves and fall into the dangers of the network. With IVO, all members of the family can surf safely thanks to features that include time limits, blocking unwanted sites and general protection of the entire home network against cyber-attacks. The result is a safe and pleasant browsing experience, because in IES Italia we believe that web is a resource and does not go demonized, on the contrary, a more informed and quality use must be promoted.