Internet addiction symptoms in adolescents

Many teenagers have never lived in a world without the Internet, since they are born in contact with technology and grow with their advances. This interest in the Internet and technology can become an obsession. Adolescence is a stage that is characterized by sudden changes in mood and behavior, but excessive Internet use can cause the adolescent to remain sitting all day. In this Psychology-online article, we show you some of the Internet addiction symptoms in adolescents, as well as its consequences and the guidelines that must be followed to solve the problem.

1. What is Internet addiction
2. Internet addiction symptoms in adolescents
3. Consequences of Internet addiction in adolescents
4. How to help a child with Internet addiction

What is Internet addiction

It is the uncontrollable need to use Internet interfering with the development of the person in certain areas of their life, such as the family, social, formative field ... Some young people develop emotional attachment to the friends they have met through the Internet and the activities that they themselves create on the computer. To others, what attracts them from the Internet is that it allows them to know, socialize and exchange ideas with other people.

Similar to other addictions, those who have addiction to the use of the Internet use virtual fantasy to connect with real people as a Substitute for human communication face to face They are not able to establish satisfactorily. In addition, being an internet addict produces tolerance, that is, the adolescent needs to spend more time on the Internet to get or obtain the same pleasure, so the time spent addictive behavior is increasing more and more.

Internet addiction symptoms in adolescents

Teenagers who present Internet addiction would present the following symptoms or any of them:

Excess time spent on the Internet

The teenager uses large amounts of time to the use of the Internet. This implies all forms of activity on the network, from sending messages, emails, visiting web pages, doing their homework or looking So. Some teenagers despite starting to have bad academic results, do not limit the use of the Internet.

Abandonment of your friends and other types of activities

Because they spend a lot of time on the Internet, they stop performing other types of activities in the company of their friends, such as physical exercise, go to the movies ..

Lies

Faced with questions related to the type of internet use and the time dedicated to it, the adolescent elaborates lies, avoids answering, uses excuses ..

Fatigue and other physical symptoms

As the time dedicated to addicted behavior increases, sleep hours are altered and limited. Internet use not only affects the number of hours of sleep, but also the quality of this. Because of this, it seems tired, fatigued, it has dark circles, it can present attention failures ..

Denial

If we ask you to spend too much time on the computer, you will deny, explain and justify its use of the Internet as something normal that everyone does.

Alteration in academic or work performance

School performance begins to be affected, since the time spent in addiction is eliminated from school tasks. In addition, in class hours your attention can be affected by lack of sleep.

Emotional alterations

When you are not using the Internet, it is easily irritated and is angry abruptly without apparent cause.

Consequences of Internet addiction in adolescents

Teenagers who present computer addiction, internet or new technologies They are more likely to present:

• Attention problems.
• Feelings of loneliness.
• Depression.
• Suicidal thoughts.
• Sadness feelings.

A lot of time looking at the screen can also cause head and back pain, as well as suffering aggressions, social aislation ... they can suffer social phobia or get bad academic results. In addition, they are at risk of developing criminal behaviors.

Your child's addiction impacts the entire family system, its routines and can turn the house into a stressful and negative environment.

How to help a child with Internet addiction

If your child is addicted to the Internet you can take some Measures to help you:

• Limit Internet Use Time
• Limit the use of video games, television and other gadgets.
• Supervises the time your children spend on the Internet.
• Find out about the video game that your children prefer and control their use and time.
• Spend time with your child to understand their behavior. It is important that parents know what makes their child spend so many hours on the Internet.
• Talk to your teachers to treat school problems, it is about them.
• Create a positive atmosphere at home. There are cases in which the teenager spends a lot of time with new technologies to escape home problems.
• Establishes consequences in case the established norms are not met regarding the use of the Internet and time dedicated to it.

And if you feel that you cannot correct the situation, it is best to You seek help professional And the affected person is put in the hands of a psychologist who helps him in the treatment of Internet addiction.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Internet addiction symptoms in adolescents, We recommend that you enter our category of emotional and behavioral disorders.