Internet Addiction

Internet addiction is described as an impulse control disorder, which does not involve use of an intoxicating drug and is very similar to pathological gambling.  Some Internet users may develop an emotional attachment to on-line friends and activities they create on their computer screens. Internet users may enjoy aspects of the Internet that allow them to meet, socialize, and exchange ideas through the use of chat rooms, social networking websites, or "virtual communities."   Other Internet users spend endless hours researching topics of interest Online or "blogging".  Blogging is a contraction of the term "Web log", in which an individual will post commentaries and keep regular chronicle of events.  It can be viewed as journaling and the entries are primarily textual.

Similar to other addictions, those suffering from Internet addiction use the virtual fantasy world to connect with real people through the Internet, as a substitution for real-life human connection, which they are unable to achieve normally.

What are the warning signs of Internet addiction?

Preoccupation with the Internet.  (Thoughts about previous on-line activity or anticipation of the next on-line session.)
Use of the Internet in increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction.
Repeated, unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back or stop Internet use.
Feelings of restlessness, moodiness, depression, or irritability when attempting to cut down use of the Internet.
On-line longer than originally intended.
Jeopardized or risked loss of significant relationships, job, educational or career opportunities because of Internet use.
Lies to family members, therapists, or others to conceal the extent of involvement with the Internet.
Use of the Internet is a way to escape from problems or to relieve a dysphoric mood.  (e.g. Feelings of hopelessness, guilt, anxiety, depression.)

What are the effects?

Internet addiction results in personal, family, academic, financial, and occupational problems that are characteristic of other addictions.  Impairments of real life relationships are disrupted as a result of excessive use of the Internet.  Individuals suffering from Internet addiction spend more time in solitary seclusion, spend less time with real people in their lives, and are often viewed as socially awkward. Arguments may result due to the volume of time spent on-line.  Those suffering from Internet addiction may attempt to conceal the amount of time spent on-line, which results in distrust and the disturbance of quality in once stable relationships.

Some suffering from Internet addiction may create on-line personas or profiles where they are able to alter their identities and pretend to be someone other than himself or herself.  Those at highest risk for creation of a secret life are those who suffer from low-self esteem feelings of inadequacy, and fear of disapproval.  Such negative self-concepts lead to clinical problems of depression and anxiety.

Many persons who attempt to quit their Internet use experience withdrawal including: anger, depression, relief, mood swings, anxiety, fear, irritability, sadness, loneliness, boredom, restlessness, procrastination, and upset stomach.  Being addicted to the Internet can also cause physical discomfort or medical problems such as: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, dry eyes, backaches, severe headaches, eating irregularities, (such as skipping meals), failure to attend to personal hygiene, and sleep disturbance
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A Study On Study!!

You probably think you know how to study.
After all, you've made it to graduate school. You've successfully turned in homework assignments and passed exams for at least 16 years. And there's a good chance that you have your study routine set, whether it's a cup of tea and your textbooks in bed, or a quiet library carrel you've claimed as your own.
But it may be that the study habits you've honed for a decade or two aren't serving you as well as you think they are.
Research has shown that some "common sense" study techniques — such as always reading in the same quiet location, or spending hours at a time concentrating on one subject — don't promote long-term learning. And some habits that you might suspect aren't so great, like last-minute cramming for exams, may be even worse than you thought.
We've rounded up three principles, drawn from decades of cognitive psychology research, to help you get the most out of your studying hours.
Space Your Study Sessions
As course reading piles up, it can be tempting to let yourself fall behind, all the while reassuring yourself that you'll spend two days cramming right before an exam. But while last-minute cramming may allow you to pass a test, you won't remember the material for long, according to Williams College psychologist Nate Kornell, PhD.
Decades of research have demonstrated that spacing out study sessions over a longer period of time improves long-term memory. In other words, if you have 12 hours to spend on a subject, it's better to study it for three hours each week for four weeks than to cram all 12 hours into week four.
And for the most part, the more time you take between study sessions, the better off you are — at least within the time limits of an academic semester.
"At some point, waiting too long [between sessions] could have a negative effect [on learning]," Kornell says. "However, most of us space far too little. Practically speaking, too much spacing is not really a danger anyone should worry about."
Researchers aren't exactly sure why spacing is so effective. However, one possible cause is that, over time, people forget what they learned in their initial study session. Then, when they come back to the material later, the new study session jogs their memory and they recall what they learned the first time around. That process — forgetting and retrieval — helps cement the new knowledge in place.
In one study, published in 2009 in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Kornell showed that the spacing effect works on a smaller time scale as well. He asked college students to study a "stack" of 20 digital vocabulary flashcards. The students all studied each word four times. But half of the students studied the words in one big stack — they went through all 20 words, then started over. The other half of the students studied the words in four smaller stacks of five cards each. So, the students who used the one big stack had a longer spacing time between each of the four times they saw a word.
On a test the next day, the students in the "big stack" group remembered significantly more of the words than the students in the "four small stacks" group — 49 percent as compared with 36 percent.
When it comes to spacing, students are often led astray by their own experiences, says Kent State University psychology professor Katherine Rawson, PhD, who also studies learning. "They cram right before an exam, and to be honest that's probably OK for doing fine on your exam," she says. "But the problem is that it's horrible for long-term retention. Students don't realize that they're really undercutting their own learning."
Interweave Your Subjects
You might think that if you want to learn one thing well, the best thing to do would be to sit down and concentrate on it for as long as you can stand. But research shows that mixing tasks and topics is a better bet.
In one study, published in Psychological Science in 2008, Kornell and University of California, Los Angeles psychologist Robert Bjork, PhD,asked 120 participants to learn the painting styles of 12 artists by looking at six examples of each artist's work. For half of the artists, the participants saw all six paintings in a row. For the other half of the artists, they saw the paintings in a mixed-up order. At the end of the experiment, the participants did a distracting task (counting backward by threes from 547), and then had to identify which artist had painted a new painting. The participants were significantly better at identifying the artists' whose paintings they had studied in an "interwoven" style than the artists whose paintings they'd studied in blocks.
Why does mixing up subject matter help students learn? Again, as in spacing, the key may be in the learning, forgetting and relearning that helps the brain cement the new information for the long-term.
Another factor, Bjork says, could be that the mixing — he calls it "interleaving" — forces students to notice and process the similarities and differences among the things they're trying to learn, giving them a better, deeper understanding of the material.
Despite strong evidence that interleaving works, it can be tough for teachers to work the mixed-up style of teaching into their lectures, he says.
"People expect to be taught the way they're used to being taught," he says. "Most courses involve blocking by topic. If you start interleaving you're going to seem disorganized."
But, he adds, students can bring the method into their own study sessions.
Test Yourself
Testing gets a bad rap: Students don't enjoy taking quizzes, teachers don't like to grade them, and some people bemoan that too many exams can force teachers to "teach to the test" and squeeze creativity out of the classroom.
But done right, testing can be a useful tool to help students learn, researchers say. Decades of research has shown that making yourself recall information helps strengthen your long-term learning, says Henry Roediger, PhD, a psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis who has done some of the key research in the area. In other words, students might not enjoy taking a quiz at the end of every class or testing themselves every time they finish reading a chapter, but doing so would probably help them remember the material on the final exam — and even after the class ended.
University of Louisville psychologist Keith Lyle, PhD, used a captive audience — students in his undergraduate statistics classes — to prove the point. In one 75-person class, at the end of each class session he asked students to complete a four- to six-question short-answer quiz about material that had been presented during the lecture. Cumulatively, the quizzes counted for just 8 percent of the students' final grade.
Lyle taught a second class using the same syllabus, but didn't do the daily quizzes. At the end of the semester, he found that students in the quiz class significantly outscored students in the nonquiz class on all four midterm exams.
Roediger says that even though most professors won't use daily quizzes in their courses, students can — and should — test themselves by asking themselves questions during study sessions.
"The problem with repeated rereading, which is what most students do to study, is that it gives you a false sense of familiarity. You feel like you know the material, but you've never tried retrieving it," he says.
Taking the Hard Route
If decades of research have demonstrated that spacing, interweaving and testing help people to learn more effectively, then why don't more students and teachers use these strategies? Perhaps because they're difficult, say Kornell, Bjork and the other researchers.
It's hard to study a topic, then switch to a different subject and wait a week to come back to the first one. When you do, you might feel like you're relearning the material — and, in a sense, you are.
Learning researchers recognize that these strategies aren't easy or fun to put into practice. Bjork, in fact, has labeled the strategies  "desirable difficulties." The strategies work because they are difficult — it's the process of learning, forgetting, retrieving and relearning that eventually registers the knowledge in our long-term memory.
"In the short term it's easier not to [use these strategies], but in the long term it pays off a thousand times over," says Kornell.
Putting in the extra work to learn material for the long haul is particularly important for graduate students, he says, because by the time you reach graduate school you're not just trying to pass a test — you're learning things you'll need to have a handle on for the rest of your working life.
"One of the most important transitions you make [at the beginning of graduate school] is realizing that you are really there to learn, not just get good grades," he says.

Smartphone Addiction

The idea that new technology is revolutionary is overstated, but if there’s one device that has truly transformed our lives in the last few years, it’s the smartphone.


Our smartphones are with us all of the time. They keep us in contact with loved ones. They record important moments in our lives. They offer easy access to the depths of human knowledge and the delights of our creativity. They entertain us when we are bored. They guide us when we are lost. They keep us company when we are lonely.

Smartphones are enormously useful, but sometimes their allure can prove too strong. We feel compelled to respond to them, even if it means ignoring the people we’re with. They wake us in the night, interrupting our sleep. We feel anxious or naked when they are not there. They interrupt our work and our play. Are we obsessed with these miraculous devices? Is it compulsion that causes us to prioritize our phones above other things? Is there such a thing as smartphone addiction?

Smartphone addiction is real, but rare

“Most people habitually use their phone; they use it a lot, but it’s not what I would call an addiction,” explains Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies at the Nottingham Trent University, and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit. “Just because something is very important in your life, and you carry it everywhere, and when you forget it, you feel like your left arm’s missing, that doesn’t mean that you’re addicted.”


“Often, the excessive use is symptomatic of other underlying problems in that person’s life.”
Our smartphones are our primary communication devices, they’re often our main points of contact with the Internet, and they serve important functions for work and entertainment. It’s natural to feel that they’re important.

“Even although people may be using their smartphones a lot, it’s generally life-enhancing,” says Dr Griffiths. “But there will always be a small minority, with any technological advancement, that do it to excess and it causes them problems. The good news is, particularly when it comes to smartphones, the genuine incidence of addiction is small.”

To put it in some context, in his paper, Adolescent mobile phone addiction: A cause for concern?, Professor Griffiths suggest that we would have to answer yes to at least six of the following statements to show signs of a true addiction:

“My mobile phone is the most important thing in my life”
“Conflicts have arisen between me and my family and/or my partner about the amount of time I spend on my mobile phone”
“My mobile phone use often gets in the way of other important things I should be doing (working, education, etc.)”
“I spend more time on my mobile phone than almost any other activity”
“I use my mobile phone as a way of changing my mood”
“Over time I have increased the amount of time I spend on my mobile phone during the day”
“If I am unable to use my mobile phone I feel moody and irritable”
“I often have strong urges to use my mobile phone”
“If I cut down the amount of time I spend on my mobile phone, and then start using it again, I always end up spending as much time on my mobile phone as I did before”
“I have lied to other people about how much I use my mobile phone”
Many of us may worry that we use our smartphones too much, and many of us will be able to answer yes to some of those statements, but very few of us are genuinely addicted.


“We know that some people do spend excessive amounts of time on their smartphone, but if it’s not interfering with their job, or their education, or their relationships, or other hobbies, then we shouldn’t be pathologizing them,” says Dr. Griffiths.

People may seem to have a real issue with smartphones, but it’s not always right to focus on the device.
“Often, the excessive use is symptomatic of other underlying problems in that person’s life,” says Dr. Griffiths. “Therapeutically, if you find out what that problem is, then the excessive use can disappear.”


It’s also worth considering whether it’s really the smartphone that we’re addicted to. We don’t talk about laptop or computer addiction, and yet they offer access to most of the same things as our smartphones. Dr. Griffiths is an expert on various addictive behaviors and he draws a parallel between smartphones and the Internet.

Related: How much screen time is safe for kids?

“There’s a massive difference between addiction on the Internet and addiction to the Internet,” Dr. Griffiths explains. “Addictions on the Internet, which could be gaming, gambling, shopping, sex; these people are not Internet addicts. They use the medium of the Internet to fuel those other addictions, and that’s exactly the same for smartphones.”

We might be obsessed with our smartphones

So, if we’re not really talking about addiction here, what are we talking about?


“For most people, smartphones are more of an obsession than an addiction,” says Dr. Larry Rosen, Professor Emeritus and Past Chair of the Psychology Department at California State University, “We’re finding it’s the need to reduce anxiety that seems to be driving the behavior with the smartphone.”

In the study, Out of sight is not out of mind: The impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate, and high users, smartphones were taken away from test subjects for 75 minutes, and their anxiety levels were recorded 10 minutes in and then at two 20 minute intervals. Heavy users showed an increase in anxiety 10 minutes into the study, and that anxiety continued to increase over the next hour. Light users showed no change in anxiety, and those in the middle showed some increase in anxiety, but it leveled off.

“For most people, smartphones are more of an obsession than an addiction.”
There’s also clear evidence of increased anxiety when we’re not allowed to answer our phones. The study, The Extended iSelf: The Impact of iPhone Separation on Cognition, Emotion, and Physiology, found that people who were unable to answer their iPhones when they were ringing experienced a faster heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, they began to sweat, and they showed decreased cognitive performance.


They are so ever-present in our lives that we may even be blurring the lines between our sense of self and our smartphones.

“One of the telltale signs, is these phantom vibrations that we get when we believe that we feel the phone in our pocket vibrating, but really it’s not there,” says Dr. Rosen. “Because it’s a 24-hour a day process, our phone has sort of become an appendage, like an arm or a finger, our arm is always with us and our phone is always with us, but our phone is a whole lot more interesting than our arm.”

Related: Is blue light keeping you up at night?

What compels us to constantly check our phones? Why do we find it so difficult to ignore them? Many psychologists are attributing it to fear of missing out (FoMO).


“It’s all about communication, I don’t think we’re getting anxious about missing a cute video or a TV show,” says Dr. Rosen. “I think we get anxious because we have so many ways to communicate now, and we’re juggling them all. There’s an expectation of instantaneous communication, many people feel they have to text back immediately, or post, or comment, or like, or whatever.”

The potential impact on sleep is particularly troubling. In his latest research, Dr. Rosen found that many young adults are checking their smartphones in the night.

“Three quarters of teenagers have their smartphone next to the bed, and it’s either on vibrate, or it’s on. That disrupts your sleep,” says Dr. Rosen. “About half of the young adults in our study get up at night to check their phones; that’s a serious problem. If you don’t sleep well, not only does it
DT
Digital Trends

IS SMARTPHONE ADDICTION REAL? WE ASK THE EXPERTS
By Simon Hill — November 1, 2015
 Moment

The idea that new technology is revolutionary is overstated, but if there’s one device that has truly transformed our lives in the last few years, it’s the smartphone.


Our smartphones are with us all of the time. They keep us in contact with loved ones. They record important moments in our lives. They offer easy access to the depths of human knowledge and the delights of our creativity. They entertain us when we are bored. They guide us when we are lost. They keep us company when we are lonely.

Smartphones are enormously useful, but sometimes their allure can prove too strong. We feel compelled to respond to them, even if it means ignoring the people we’re with. They wake us in the night, interrupting our sleep. We feel anxious or naked when they are not there. They interrupt our work and our play. Are we obsessed with these miraculous devices? Is it compulsion that causes us to prioritize our phones above other things? Is there such a thing as smartphone addiction?

Smartphone addiction is real, but rare

“Most people habitually use their phone; they use it a lot, but it’s not what I would call an addiction,” explains Dr Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies at the Nottingham Trent University, and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit. “Just because something is very important in your life, and you carry it everywhere, and when you forget it, you feel like your left arm’s missing, that doesn’t mean that you’re addicted.”


“Often, the excessive use is symptomatic of other underlying problems in that person’s life.”
Our smartphones are our primary communication devices, they’re often our main points of contact with the Internet, and they serve important functions for work and entertainment. It’s natural to feel that they’re important.

“Even although people may be using their smartphones a lot, it’s generally life-enhancing,” says Dr Griffiths. “But there will always be a small minority, with any technological advancement, that do it to excess and it causes them problems. The good news is, particularly when it comes to smartphones, the genuine incidence of addiction is small.”

To put it in some context, in his paper, Adolescent mobile phone addiction: A cause for concern?, Professor Griffiths suggest that we would have to answer yes to at least six of the following statements to show signs of a true addiction:

“My mobile phone is the most important thing in my life”
“Conflicts have arisen between me and my family and/or my partner about the amount of time I spend on my mobile phone”
“My mobile phone use often gets in the way of other important things I should be doing (working, education, etc.)”
“I spend more time on my mobile phone than almost any other activity”
“I use my mobile phone as a way of changing my mood”
“Over time I have increased the amount of time I spend on my mobile phone during the day”
“If I am unable to use my mobile phone I feel moody and irritable”
“I often have strong urges to use my mobile phone”
“If I cut down the amount of time I spend on my mobile phone, and then start using it again, I always end up spending as much time on my mobile phone as I did before”
“I have lied to other people about how much I use my mobile phone”
Many of us may worry that we use our smartphones too much, and many of us will be able to answer yes to some of those statements, but very few of us are genuinely addicted.


“We know that some people do spend excessive amounts of time on their smartphone, but if it’s not interfering with their job, or their education, or their relationships, or other hobbies, then we shouldn’t be pathologizing them,” says Dr. Griffiths.

People may seem to have a real issue with smartphones, but it’s not always right to focus on the device.


Moment
“Often, the excessive use is symptomatic of other underlying problems in that person’s life,” says Dr. Griffiths. 

Internet: A long way to Go

Internet is a symbol of the growing globalization. With this system, millions of people can feel the freedom. Combined into a single network, they use it for own benefit, taking advantage of the Internet at school, in personal life, or for leisure. This is a vivid image of the modern world, new technologies, and progress. The relation of a person to the Internet will often be a decisive factor in the interpretation.

For example, a negative attitude will lead to a certain context of a dream. If a person never used the Internet, he/she most likely may have a dream in which he/she get lost in wide variety of pages, buttons and advertisement of the screen. Therefore, after waking up, he/she may have a negative attitude towards the dream, without knowing the real interpretation.

Why you dream of the Internet? The answer depends on the specific situation, what you saw, how people used it, and for what purposes.

If you see yourself connecting to the Internet, being online and getting access to the World Wide Web, it is a good sign. Most likely, all your desires will come true and plans will be successfully implemented. And, it will happen with enviable speed in the near future. Only your inattention to some details and the lack of focus at work can prevent this situation from happening.

If you use the Internet and scroll the pages in the vast expanses of Internet in a dream, it means that you will be delighted in real life. Perhaps, the dreamer will discover and open new abilities for himself/herself.

This entertaining type of rest in a dream will fill your life with new emotions, meetings with interesting people, and that will be a consequence of major changes.

If you find some information you need in the Internet, it is a sign of good luck. If you happen to use this information in real life, it means that the goal will be achieved. Moreover, the faster speed has the internet in a dream, the sooner you will receive the result of your work in real life.

If you communicate with someone through the Internet, you sit and chat, write something on your personal forum, it means that in reality you will have problems in the relationships. Due to a lot of duties in your family, you might possible have disorder and lot of problems, which will accumulate with time. You need to review your attitude and behavior with close people. They will be able to forgive all your offenses, which happened recently, if only you pay more attention to this problem.

FROM BRILLIANCE TO IITians

Somewhere between last four months my life has undergone a major change. This change features a dramatic change in my surrounding.

                 I am out from my home to prepare for IIT-JEE, the biggest trend available in market now-a-days. Being at a good institute with good people alongside with me makes a good atmosphere for studying. Being taught by IITian faculty, I sometimes come across some of the stories of IITs which makes me think over what IIT really is. The following article is a result of what I observed in IITANs and other successful people. So what is IIT? 

 Is IIT the biggest achievement of your life???????

Or

 It’s just the ticket that you will always succeed in life????

           Thinking diplomatically IIT is just an institution that which makes you an engineer. So what’s great in that? Only that its entrance exam is too hard to crack! No, what’s great in IIT is that it teaches you not only your course but it makes you a good human being which is the most important thing to be successful in any field, not only in his job but in any field he deals with.

                  Now leaving this, let’s get over the topic described above. “FROM BRILLIANCE TO IITians”. The heading itself targets IITANs, but just reading it won’t let you to get the exact message that I want to deliver through this article. The main reason I wrote this article was to make people understand that how the new generation’s (Including me) mindsets are being changed. Now a days degrees (Excluding non-government collage) are more important than being really educated. A good person with brilliant qualities won’t get much attention but an IITian will. That’s a part of something I came across and observed in last few months. In last five years I have changed four schools, which made me interact with many kind of teachers. Especially in last two years I have been taught by some amazing teachers. But unfortunately no one of those are IITians. But they are brilliant in the subjects they taught me. And in fact I respect them more than my current IITian teachers. I like them not for their teaching style but I like them for their personalities and positive mindset (Which lacks in IITians).

                                                  Now concluding my article in just one last paragraph. Not degrees nor the talents, something that really matters is the mindset towards you goal because that’s what makes us who we are and how our future is going to be. In the last few months I leaved my older teachers and started preparing for IIT with new teachers. But they lack a positive mindset, which according to me is the most important thing. So that's the story. “From Brilliance to IITians".

The start won't seems to be well.

Searching for a better end. 

--SHALIN KUMAR

Share your valuable views on my article in the comment section below.

    

                                                                       

Started Blogging...

So, today I have started blogging. No articles to post right now, but within two or three days I will get one. So I sign off and expect will see you in nearest future.