AfterDawn: News

Internet addiction can lead to brain damage

According to a small study conducted in China, an "addiction" to the Internet can lead to structural damage of your brain.

The research studied 17 teens with Internet Addiction Disorder and found that each had "structural and functional interference in the part of the brain that regulates organization, possibly causing cognitive impairment similar to that caused by gambling and alcoholism." (Mashable)



During the course of the study, researchers took MRI scans of the subjects to measure the organization of the brain via white matter. The method, fractional anisotropy (FA), was shown to be lower in the teens with IAD.

Reads the report: "Overall, our findings indicate that Internet addiction disorder has abnormal white matter integrity in brain regions involved in emotional generation and processing, executive attention, decision making and cognitive control. The results also suggest that IAD may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of substance addiction and impulse control disorders."

Internet addiction is expected to be added to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) latest update, in 2013.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jan 2012 18:35

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• 26 comments

• ROMaster2

  I'm going to need more studies to conclude this.

  15.1.2012 19:07 #1

• nonoitall

  I can quit any time I want...
  

  me on the Dragon Ball Encyclopedia
  me on YouTube

  15.1.2012 19:48 #2

• Jeffrey_P

  I hope kids start getting run over by cars while walking because of the two thumb sickness they have acquired.
  
  Jeff

  15.1.2012 20:07 #3

• Linkdx

  Honestly i'm on the internet almost 24/7 if it werent for sleep and school. isn't the internet the same as taking information from a book? what websites did they visit?

  15.1.2012 23:36 #4

• xboxdvl2

  i think the study and the findings are a load of bs.the study probably found out what they were paid to find out.
  as for the MRI scan ive had 1 of them.years of drug abuse and drinking showed up nothing abnormal in mine.
  

  R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

  15.1.2012 23:52 #5

• LordRuss

  I'm sure some folks would say I have already started suffering from this... Having said this I'm already afraid of the impending comments to follow.
  
  No I'm not...
  
  Yes you are...
  
  No I'm not...
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  15.1.2012 23:54 #6

• xboxdvl2

  whats scarier is that america could label it a medical condition and set up a treatment program for it.
  
  using the internet is safer than hanging out with ferals drinking and doing stupid things cause your drunk and bored.
  

  R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

  16.1.2012 00:05 #7

• scorpNZ

  No suprises is there just need to look at some topics & or replies in all forums,zombies are everywhere posting with no brains
  

  http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/440385
  http://www.elitemodscene.com/

  16.1.2012 02:19 #8

• hikaricor

  I used to be addicted to the internet, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

  16.1.2012 04:05 #9

• ZippyDSM

  Brain damage can lead to internet addiction. *walks into wall.....walks into wall*
  
  
  ...............
  sorry >>
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  16.1.2012 11:00 #10

• cdsettlemyre

  I think the studies are spot on
  

  16.1.2012 12:34 #11

• Mysttic

  I am soooo damaged...

  16.1.2012 14:48 #12

• Interestx

  Extreme OCD behaviours can lead to distinguishable slight physical changes to the brain that can be seen by sophistacated scanners.
  
  Is that supposed to be news, really?
  
  Such a lot of old tosh, just like all the alarmist stuff they push from time to time.
  
  Here's a little secret.......
  
  .......living your life (anybody's life) can produce distinguishable changes to the brain that a sophisticated scanner can see.
  
  They can see it in all sorts of professions & life-styles.
  
  
  

  16.1.2012 15:20 #13

• xaznboitx

  look how close he looking at the screen, it should be called eyes damage

  16.1.2012 15:28 #14

• LordRuss

  Originally posted by Interestx: Extreme OCD behaviours can lead to distinguishable slight physical changes to the brain that can be seen by sophistacated scanners.
  .......living your life (anybody's life) can produce distinguishable changes to the brain that a sophisticated scanner can see.
  They can see it in all sorts of professions & life-styles. I think they new it all the way back when guys started busting one another out about 'growing hair in their palms' & 'going blind'.
  
  Kidding aside, it does seem to sound like a rather expensive, drawn out study of Repetitive Motion Syndrome.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  16.1.2012 15:39 #15

• xboxdvl2

  think im safer typing a post on afterdawn then crossing my local main road or trying to drive through my local roundabout.
  no ones come close to ramming my car or running me over on afterdawn.
  

  R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

  16.1.2012 23:28 #16

• hearme0

  If ANYONE sits as close to the monitor as the goof in the picture, IAD is the least of your worries.

  17.1.2012 12:17 #17

• LordRuss

  Originally posted by xboxdvl2: think im safer typing a post on afterdawn then crossing my local main road or trying to drive through my local roundabout.
  no ones come close to ramming my car or running me over on afterdawn. I don't know... I certainly ran into a terminal case of painful rectal itch over an issue about Target & them introducing Apple products on the display floor.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  17.1.2012 12:41 #18

• TBandit

  I think an addiction to most activities cause brain damage

  18.1.2012 08:57 #19

• Interestx

  Originally posted by TBandit: I think an addiction to most activities cause brain damage But that's the thing TBandit, you got that the wrong way around.
  Living alters the brain.
  All behaviours can lead to identifiable changes to our brain.
  
  If you choose to call that alteration 'damage' and make out as if it's only what society calls harmful behaviours that can make those changes then you open yourself up to the current situaton where slight changes can be trumpeted as if they are more than they are.
  
  They do it for all sorts of unapproved things & it's sole purpose is to scare people.
  
  It's a calculated deceit & personally I prefer the truth.
  

  20.1.2012 11:33 #20

• Interestx

  ....oh and just to be clear, I'm not saying that all this kind of stuff that they identify is useless & pure social control, but it does need to come with a huge 'health warning' and some detail about just how big a change we are talking about.
  
  But that starts to make things complicated & ruins the 6pm news sound-bite, huh?
  

  20.1.2012 11:35 #21

• xboxdvl2

  @interest x like i pointed out early if its considered a disease they will start up treatment program for it (they already had treatment programs for internet addiction in china last year)
  
  dont know if a comparison between internet addiction gambling and alcoholism is right.i know someone who was an addicted gambling after 3 years in jail he doesnt gamble and has no brain damage.I knew an alcoholic a few years ago that suicided.
  
  addiction can have different affects on different people.the only way they could show proper results would be conduct the study on thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.
  
  as for addiction what is considered addiction???i drink coffee daily i shower daily,i eat daily i smoke cigarettes daily,i wear clothes daily,i use the internet daily.maybe im addicted to coffee,cigarettes,wearing clothes,showering,eating,breathing &internet.
  

  R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

  21.1.2012 03:58 #22

• cdsettlemyre

  Originally posted by TBandit: I think an addiction to most activities cause brain damage Just dependency, which I suppose is a form of brain damage.
  

  21.1.2012 16:43 #23

• keebles

  If the internet leads to brain damage, does porn lead to carpal tunnel?
  
  No wounder all the teenagers are ending up with carpal tunnel lol.

  21.1.2012 17:23 #24

• robertmro

  This site should be used as a case study.
  

  27.1.2012 11:27 #25

• mdpas

  which came first, the brain structure or the "addiction" to the internet? article may just as easily state "people with such-and-such brain structure are more likely to compulsively use the internet"
  
  which comes first is what i am suggesting.
  you could say "repetitive hand washing leads to compulsive disorder" or your could say "compulsive disorder manifests itself in repetitive hand washing"
  

  banjo_ojnab

  28.1.2012 11:05 #26