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Chapter 1 What Is Internet Addiction? Defining Internet Addiction Defining Internet addiction is no simple thing. At what point does reg- ular use go beyond habitual and into addiction? Who gets to define this issue? After all, we don’t want to pathologize behavior that everyone we know, including ourselves, engages in to some degree. And yet, we’re seeing signs of serious Internet addiction across all sectors of our soci- ety. There are accounts of children dying because their parents were so immersed in online gaming that they neglected to give them proper care. There are cases in which people are so addicted to staying on the Internet that they stop eating, bathing, or even going to the restroom normally— instead wearing adult diapers so that they don’t ever have to leave the screen. Prolonged, nonstop online activity has led some people into full- blown psychosis, in which they develop paranoid thinking along with audi- tory and visual hallucinations that require inpatient treatment for weeks, or even months, to resolve. Clearly, there is such a thing as Internet addiction that goes beyond the regular person’s tendency to perhaps watch one too many Netflix shows in a row or get lost in the rabbit hole of social media for longer than they prefer. So how do we define that addiction? Let’s look first at what it means to have an addiction at all. In general, addiction is defined as engaging in the compulsive use of a substance or behavior in spite of negative life consequences (which may include, but are not limited to, a negative impact on health, relationships, and finances). Addiction also has signs of withdrawal, cravings, and increased tolerance. Let’s consider alcohol addiction, for example. Many people drink beer or wine on a regular basis. Historically, it was very common for people