Study Links Excessive Internet Use To Depression

[HardOCP News]

A new study links internet use to depression….or is it vice versa? Are you depressed because you use the internet or are you using the internet so much because you are depressed?

People who spend a lot of time surfing the Internet are more likely to show signs of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday. But it is not clear whether the Internet causes depression or whether depressed people are drawn to it.

 

[bfellow]

Damn that explains all the Dayman music videos!

 

[Monkey God]

Another useless waste of taxpayer money.

 

[the-one1]

Do you sleep when you're tired or are you tired because you sleep?
Are you a mammal because you have hair or do you have hair because you're a mammal?

 

[Cerulean]

I fall under this category:

using the internet so much because you are depressed

 

[DrDoU]

Let's see.I am depressed because I am on the interent answering a depressed thread about depression,but now I am so depressed that I can't get off this depressed thread becuased I am depressed that I can not spell.

 

[ProfessorKaos64]

Let's see.I am depressed because I am on the interent answering a depressed thread about depression,but now I am so depressed that I can't get off this depressed thread becuased I am depressed that I can not spell.

See what you did now Steve? He's super depressed!

 

[dgingeri]

There they are, saying the cart is pushing the horse, again.

 

[THRESHIN]

ok i call bullshit on this one. i suffer from depression myself time to time and it does the OPPOSITE to me. with depression you lose total interest in things you like - so if you like using the internet how can it cause depression!?!? you'd just get depressed and stop using it.

 

[FLECOM]

Let's see.I am depressed because I am on the interent answering a depressed thread about depression,but now I am so depressed that I can't get off this depressed thread becuased I am depressed that I can not spell.

ah.. um... ow... ouch... now I just have a headache lol

 

[the-one1]

ok i call bullshit on this one. i suffer from depression myself time to time and it does the OPPOSITE to me. with depression you lose total interest in things you like - so if you like using the internet how can it cause depression!?!? you'd just get depressed and stop using it.

Know what you need? Drugs, and lots of it. I heard meth cures depression. If you're high all the time, you won't have time to be depressed.

 

[TheCAD]

Newsflash there is a correlation between stuff and other things.

 

[Azhar]

Do you sleep when you're tired or are you tired because you sleep?
Are you a mammal because you have hair or do you have hair because you're a mammal?

Do feet smell and nose run?
Do you park on the driveway and drive on the parkway?

 

[Ranari]

This is a better written article in my opinion.

 

[Cerulean]

ok i call bullshit on this one. i suffer from depression myself time to time and it does the OPPOSITE to me. with depression you lose total interest in things you like - so if you like using the internet how can it cause depression!?!? you'd just get depressed and stop using it.

Long-term psychological and mental effects.

 

[sear]

As a person who both uses the Internet excessively and who has dealt with clinical depression for over ten years now, I will say that depending on your Internet use, it can have a positive or negative effect. The Internet can represent a retreat away from real-life problems and provide you with new options for entertainment and distraction; however, I have also found that human interaction can also lead to am amplifying of negative feelings. People are cruel online, more so than they are face to face.

I suppose I'd just have to answer that, the Internet is an environment in which people can communicate, as well as engage with information and media; as such it is prone to all of the same benefits and downsides that life offline is, but at the same time at the very least it offers an alternate to the offline world, whether that is for better or for worse. Am I depressed because I use the Internet, or do I use the Internet because of depression? It just has to be a mix of both at various times and in particular circumstances; while some people may lean towards one side or the other, I don't think that you can make generalisations as broad as this article may suggest.

 

[Nemesis999]

A new study links internet use to depression….or is it vice versa? Are you depressed because you use the internet or are you using the internet so much because you are depressed?

I Google because I'm depressed, but I'm depressed because I Google.

It's a vicious cycle.

 

[Castor Troy]

yes. correlation always equals causation

 

[beowulf7]

How about depression b/c one can't get enough of the Internet?

 

[westrock2000]

With things like World of Warcraft and now Avatar, people are able to see completely fictitious worlds with their eyes and interact with it (more to do with the MMO's). But they realize they can't actually exist within that world....yet.

Eventually, and this is the direction things are heading, we will have full immersion. Maybe even eventually to the extent of something like the Matrix. You just choose the genre, experience, or specific server you want to see and boom, you experience full sensory interaction. But not restricted to the same rules that we deal with now.

The day that happens, real life as we know it will be over. The roads will go away, the trees will grow back because everyone will stay inside their underground bunker living in a virtual world where you have no limiations nor worries.