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Internet addiction may seem funny. It is even the subject of many jokes. But even though it seems trivial to many, for some people it can cause as much trouble as heroin, and other drugs. It can even cause serious illness, and death.

For those of you who don’t believe that Internet addiction can kill, read the rest of this. Chinese officials reported today that a man died after a three-day non-stop gaming binge at a Beijing Internet cafe. The 30-year-old man was rushed to the hospital after passing out during the 3 day marathon and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Authorities say the cause of death was most likely exhaustion.

The man’s death is part of a disturbing trend amongst gamers who are playing online until it kills them. In 2005, a 28-year-old South Korean man died of exhaustion after a 50-hour marathon gaming session in an Internet cafe. The South Korean man, identified only as Lee, spent 50 straight hours playing the game ‘Starcraft’ in an Internet cafe, pausing only to use the toilet and brief naps. Lee had eaten next to nothing in that time, and was physically exhausted. “We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion,” a Taegu provincial police official told the Reuters news agency. And in 2002, a 24-year-old South Korean man died after 86 hours of online gaming, while that same year, a 27-year-old Taiwanese man died after 32 hours of Internet gaming.

The Internet is not the enemy just because people become dependent on it. It has many important and necessary benefits. It is a fast way to get information, more ecologically sound than newspapers and magazines, convenient, and informative. In many ways it makes our lives much simpler. The Internet provides an escape from reality and everyday problems just like alcohol or drugs. Some would argue that interaction with other people on the Internet fills a social void. So the Internet can be a really good thing.

However, it becomes a problem when people become so engrossed and enmeshed in on-line activities, and their “other” lives to the point of neglecting their health, relationships, jobs, and other responsibilities. As with many of life’s pleasures, moderation is the key.

Does someone you love show signs of internet addiction such as:

* 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, therapist, or others to conceal the extent of involvement with the Internet.
* Use of the Internet as a way to escape from problems or to relieve a dysphoric mood. (e.g., feelings of hopelessness, guilt, anxiety, depression.)

If this is the case seek help before it is too late.

Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery Center For Internet Addiction recovery

Technorati Tags: online gaming, internet, internet addiction

It makes me mad enough to want to tear my hair out but do to some problems I am having with streaming videos from the site I have had to switch to a quicktime movie format, and am converting the videos in the archive. To watch them you will need to download the FREE apple quicktime player, if you don’t already have it on your system. I will try to include download links soon also, so those of you who want to can just download them to your computers, and surf while you wait.

Sorry: I know this is kind of a pain to have to install a new player, if you don’t have it already. Explanations on how to make the install almost pain free follow shortly.

Also the movies since they do not stream will not start playing automatically. You will have to wait for them to download first. The little tv lights in the lower right of your taskbar will stop flashing blue when download is complete and the player will show on the screen. Until then you will see a blue Q, like the one in the picture above. Most movies are short and shouldn’t take long to load. Some however, may take 5 or 10 minutes if they are fairly long. This depends on your connection speed. For example 911 In Plane Site may take 6 or more minutes to download. It is a huge file. Others like FBI bugs cell phones even when the phone is off should take just a few seconds to load.

Some of the annoyances with installing the FREE apple quicktime player can be avoided. First just choose the player without I Tunes. Then instead of just click click clicking yes all the way through the install, instead choose custom where you can you can set player preferences for file types. When that comes up just make sure to check quicktime as your preference for mov files under the video section. You can also uncheck things that are currently handled by other players. Also in preferences you can choose not to have it start on startup which will prevent it from going off every time you fire the computer up, thereby slowing you down.

I plan on solving the stream problem sometime soon, but since I am still sick with pneumonia I do not know how long it will take to get to.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I hate to do it this way. However, I want you to be able to view the movies you want to see. It is the only way for now, until I can figure out why they won’t stream through my normal player.

Until then… This is your hostess Static Brain… Over and Out…

I now have my problems solved with the cable internet, but guess what? It wasn’t the cable company who helped figure it out. The cable was shorting out the modems due to damage on the cable companies lines, that occurred in the last ice storm. A lowly computer repairman solved it from another local company. Go figure. The cable company is too illiterate and uneducated to figure it out. When I did tell them what caused it, and what I was doing to counterattack the surges on their lines, they denied it. The “suits” (read management responsible) aren’t going to admit it, because then they would have to replace my damaged equipment. Grrrrrrr!!!!!