Internet leads to depression ?

LegacyUser

Hello Im 16 and have recently been diagnosed with depression by my doctor. He said the main reason I was depressed was because I'm on the internet too much (previously 15+ hours/week), and to cut back to just 1 hour/week because it's unhealthy. When I used to spend hours every day on the internet, it made me feel suicidal and paranoid. So over the past few months I have quit using the internet and getting out more. I joined a few clubs and went out with my friends more. I have to admit I feel a lot better. The psychologist said i'm doing ok and will take me off the anti depressants soon.

Well that's my story. I would like to hear you people's opinions as I'm sure a lot of you use the internet regularly.

Gordon

I think that it works both ways. I don't think that it is healthy to spend so much time on the internet but 15+ isn't that much time per week as far as I'm concerned. I do more telly watching per week than that. Internet is a way of choosing what you watch and interacting with so I feel that it is better for you than Television.

As for your situation, I don't argue with you. I do also think however that depression leads one to search for antidepressants elsewhere - one perfect possibility is the internet. Apparently it didn't do much for you, it made you worse.

I feel that everything can be bad for you. If you overdo something, you can become susceptible to being taken over. You can become susceptible to addiction and the slippery slope starts. Moderation is the key in that situation. Well done for cutting down and getting out more into the "real" world. I sure hope that this post of yours won't drag you back into the 15+ hours that you were used to.

Winters

Well. Lets see: I was on PC yesterday verking on ASP scripts for aboot 13hours. All i could see was code when i finally departed for the night... I was not depressed. Nor anywhere near. How can the net make you depressed?

Shinji

Depends on the person I guess. I found exactly the opposite when I was using the 'net heavily as a teenager; it was making available to me people and ideas and opportunities which would never have been available where I grew up. In fact, if anything, it cured depression, being able to be part of a wider, more interesting and more accepting society and community than I could participate in locally.

Mercury_Tilt

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pauldeehan

Internet can make you depressed???

(Paul disconnects.)

PPC

I get depressed when i'm not for the first few hours then i get over it and enjoy myself.
When im not on the net my mobile bill goes up and when im online it goes down.

I just need to talk to people in some form or another.

Also im severly paranoid but the house i live in is haunted i beleive. 160yr old doctors house and very creepy. 14ft ceilings and big rooms and windows.

I'm going to Thailand for Christmas and Australia for the new year for 3 weeks and its going to kill me with out being on Boards.

Defenistrator

Yes the Internet depresses me too........wel to be more precise......the lack of a broadband, alsways, on flat rate internet CONNECTION depresses me.....

Shinji

For the record where Shinji comes from....he had the choice of being a good farmer or a bad farmer.

Not only that, where I come from the farmer who has full penetrative sex with his cattle isn't necessarily considered the bad one.

Mills

I think it depends on what you're using the internet instead of, and what you're doing on the internet.

For me, I use it a lot more than 15 hours a week, but I made time for it by not doing any schoolwork, I still had time for friends.

I'd say using the internet a lot in your case is probably a symptom of depression rather than a cause, and the fact that not being on the internet has "cured" your depression to a certain extent.....well you're spending time socialising and meeting new people instead which probably has a lot to do with it.

I was a little depressed when I started using the internet really heavily, but I was bed-ridden with a broken leg and couldn't have much contact with my friends, and I think the internet helped to a certain degree, but, interestingly, it didn't make me feel any better until I went to my first LAN and met the people I'd been talking to/playing against, it made them a lot more "real" to me, not just names on an irc/games server, and I began to think of the internet as just another way of keeping in touch with friends.

Well that's my story. I would like to hear you people's opinions as I'm sure a lot of you use the internet regularly.

I think you'll be fine as long as you maintain your level of contact with your friends, I don't think you need to limit yourself to using the internet 1 hour a week for the rest of your life, but just be on the lookout for it taking away from your time with your friends.

fisty

if you dont like it leave.

apiou

I would say that both Internet and Television are depressants - and also make you very tired in an abnormal way.

I am obliged to use the Internet a lot for work and it is not the same thing as watching televisoin or using the computer for other perposes, I have made the decision never to take a job again where I need to use the Internet a lot.

Cabaal

I don't think you can simple class the internet like that, research has showen that people get slightly depressed after watching more then 4 hours of TV but yet you don't see half the country turining off there tv sets, do you??.

Personally I think at one point or another when I was 17, I may have thought the internet leads to depression but now I don't, I used to spend ALOT of my time on the net but evntually found there's better stuff to be doing in life. (having good friends, having a girlfriend going to LAN party's etc..)

I think now I have a good balance between all things, although when it comes to TV I only religiously watch 2 hours of TV a week, also from time to time I do stay on the net all night but to me thats no different then watching tv all night.

When it comes down to it, you could end up using the net as a shield to hide other things, but its not the couse of depression imho.

amp

I don't think the internet actually caused the depression but it was one of the symtoms.

Personally, I spend a lot of time online, I have a laugh, learn new things etc. and interact with people. I also spend a lot of time in time in pubs and do the same. To be honest I don't see the big difference between the two venues.

Real-life, Online life, blah. It's all about keeping away from obsessive behaviour at the end of the day.

Cabaal

Yeah I believe your right, it simple comes down to to much of anything is bad for you.
TV, Internet, Drink, sex etc
Everything in moderation is fine, all of the above can become obsessive if things are not kept in check.

Think the only different between a pub and the internet (besides the lack of drink and cigerate smoke) is that people often express themselfs more when it comes to the net.

Mercury_Tilt

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Cabaal

Originally posted by Mercury_Tilt
But if you are surfing and in your head you are thinking...I am doing this a lot or I should be elsewhere...then your insecurity will lead to depression. Would you blame the net for things you missed out on or don’t have? e.g. Girlfriend?

Exactly!
Used to think that myself, then I went to college and all was well
Best thing that ever happened to me.
Changed my life, well ok college didn't but my friends did

TinCool

Depends on the person. Like Shinji said, I've met a lot of interesting people through the 'net, particularly through Q2 and the Boards. I wouldn't say I spend all that much online anymore. During college I did spend an unhealty amount of time online, mostly playing Q2 however, not surfing or IRC'ing. I was living for 4 months recently in a house without a PC, didn't bother me in the slightest. Now that I've moved back home I'm online a lot more, by no means too much. I go out as much as I can as I don't like sitting around the house when there's other things to be doing.

Victor

Originally posted by Winters
Well. Lets see: I was on PC yesterday verking on ASP scripts for aboot 13hours. All i could see was code when i finally departed for the night... I was not depressed. Nor anywhere near. How can the net make you depressed?

Ah, but after 14 hours of counter-strike and you can't see ther traffic properly so you can cross the road, you then know you have a problem.

However, addressing it is another matter.