we can get you what you want, but you cant get it for free

Apparently the entire nation of South Korea is addicted to the internet.  According to this article from 2003, when the Slammer virus shut down the internet for several hours, the entire country went into withdrawal.  It was estimated then, 6 years ago, that 10% of the population was addicted to the internet in some form or another.

More recently, in 2007 there was started a boot camp for kids dealing with internet addiction, the Jump Up Internet Rescue School where they do the usual boot camp things like grueling outdoor excercises but also teach hobbies like pottery.

The signs of internet addiction, as opposed to casual use, is an inability to pull away from the computer, and anger and craving when they are somehow prevented from using it.

I've always believed video games are addictive like hard drugs.  They are escapism and usually make you  feel good, or at least feel not yourself.  Obviously this is becoming a bigger deal elsewhere, like the United States where they opened the first internet rehabilitation centre.  Its the same rehashed rehab type stuff, holding hands, crying, whatever the hell else they do there.

I dont' think there is any point in 'blaming' technology or whatever is related to it you could blame.  It is just an exceptionally good form of escape, comes in a lot of different flavors, and is relatively cheap compared to any hard drugs.  The problem is real life, at least for a lot of people sucks.  There are a lot of reasons and angles to take for this, but like the other addictions in our society its a symptom that we want something more or different from what we have right now.

 As for people addicted to texting each other and using gadgets every 2 minutes when you're trying to just talk to them about normal human things or anything else, I don't quite get that yet.  Its some sort of physical manifestation of our speeding up culture, and people seeming to think this is the best way to run their lives or maybe this is how they have to live their lives because they don't have as much time as people used to because hey they are busy.