«I was a different person online»
At his worst, Simon R. never switched off the PC. The blinds in his room were down day and night, and he only left his cave to go shopping for food. «But only if I absolutely had to.» However, the then 20-year-old vastly underestimated how often he «had to» eat: one day he passed out and was admitted to hospital severely malnourished. What makes a person move their life completely online, cut off all offline contact and neglect themselves in this way? Psychologists speak of a new behavioural addiction, online addiction. There are many things on the internet that can be addictive: social networks, shopping and pornography, for example. Or games. Renanto Poespodihardjo, Head of the Outpatient Clinic for Behavioural Addictions at the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel, estimates that as many as 99 per cent of all patients who come to him because of an online addiction are gamers, almost all of them male. In the case of teenagers, it is often the parents who become active when their children neglect school and friends in order to be online. The far larger group of his patients, however, are young adults who are unable to build their own lives after school, find an apprenticeship or keep up and pay the rent.
A sense of achievement for the unsuccessful
«Online games specifically utilise mechanisms that aim to create dependency on the product,» says Poespodihardjo. At the beginning, for example, you quickly experience a sense of achievement. «This is particularly good for those who are less successful offline: the unathletic, those with crooked noses, the shy. Their apparent flaws are nothing in a game - they can simply start from scratch with a self-designed ego,» explains the psychologist. This naturally appeals to many insecure adolescents. Therefore, excessive gaming phases in adolescents are not yet a cause for concern for parents. «Unlike heroin, online games are something that many people use - but very few actually become addicted. » Risk factors that favour addiction include unresolved trauma or loss situations (relocation, divorce), being an outsider, a lack of or incorrect media education (see prevention tips, see box at the end of the article ) and physical limitations. Depending on which study you look at, it can be assumed that 4 to 7 per cent of young people today develop an online addiction - around 70,000 people are estimated to do so across Switzerland.
Online games specifically utilise mechanisms that are addictive. But not all users become addicted.
Several factors came together in Simon's case: His parents' separation and his mother's alcohol addiction led to him running away from home at the age of 12, making the wrong friends, first joining the right-wing scene and later slipping into the drug scene. After going to rehab and returning to his mother, he hid in his room and started gambling. Simon says of himself: «I fled into this world because I had nothing left to lose in the other world.» He had always loved playing games, but it was the online role-playing game Guild Wars that got him hooked to the point of addiction. The game is played by thousands of people at the same time. All over the world and at any time of day or night. Simon chose the character of the healer and quickly rose through the ranks because he invested a lot of time. He became the boss of a guild - «and not exactly a small one», as he still proudly mentions today. As such, he had to take responsibility for other players - the pressure to be online all the time became ever greater.
Endless gaming - without sleep
In the beginning, he also met the people he got to know online in real life. But then it became increasingly important not to leave the screen. Not even to sleep: Simon was awake for almost 20 hours a day. Even when he finally collapsed and was diagnosed with addiction, he continued to play for a few more years. It was only when Simon's mum's flat was evicted and he was suffering from severe depression that he decided to check himself in. That was two years ago. Simon has been in treatment ever since. In addition to gaming, WhatsApp and social networks can also lead to addiction-like behaviour - girls are more likely to be the excessive users here. However, Poespodihardjo says that this addiction rarely has as great an impact on physical and mental health as gaming. «I can only speculate as to why. Perhaps because there is still real communication with friends, or because girls in particular are often more successful at maintaining friendships and keeping up with school.» Another behavioural disorder when it comes to internet use is the pathological search for and collection of data «in quantities that no one can keep track of, let alone use», says Poespodihardjo.
Girls are often better at meeting friends and getting good grades despite excessive use.
Excessive Internet pornography consumption, gambling and rampant online shopping are not counted as online addictions, but are treated in the same way as the corresponding behavioural addictions in offline life. It is difficult to determine whether a person is addicted by the number of hours they spend on the internet. We speak of an addiction when school, work, friendships and hobbies fall by the wayside. Conspicuous aggressive behaviour when the internet is down can also be an indicator. Once the addiction has been diagnosed, treatment includes not only searching for the causes but also withdrawal. However, as a life without computers and the Internet is hardly conceivable today, addicts often only have to give up the things that triggered their addiction. For example, a certain online game. It also makes sense to avoid similar applications at first or at least to monitor consumption closely. After his time at the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel, Simon was transferred to the Bernhardsberg Centre, where young people with mental health problems can learn a regular daily rhythm again, attend therapy and be integrated into working life. There, the now 27-year-old has started training as a maintenance specialist. He has recently started living in a sheltered flat share. Role-playing games on the internet are still taboo for him. He does think about Guild Wars from time to time and is fascinated by how the game is developing. He watches it on YouTube from time to time. But he won't be logging into the game himself. «I just know what's at stake for me now.»
Image: iStockphoto
Tips for parents on preventing online addiction in young people
Find out what your children are doing. Parents often wrongly regard games in particular as primitive. However, as long as you don't understand the fascination, you won't be able to get through to your child with rules. Introduce your children to media use slowly. Explain to them the mechanisms used by the media. Set limits on media use and enforce them. To do this, you need to know what your child is doing and what rules make sense. For example, online games have rounds with a fixed duration - so it can sometimes be difficult to get to dinner on time. Even if your teenager claims otherwise, you are a role model! So keep an eye on your own consumer behaviour. Do you take your smartphone to the toilet? Do you keep to media-free times?
Book tip
Holger Feindel: Addicted online? A guide for those affected and their relatives. Patmos, 2015. 144 pages, Fr. 23.90 (or Fr. 12.90 as an e-book). Clearly written, many impressive case studies, test forms and worksheets for self-assessment in the appendix.
