Chat room addiction growing

BY ERIC JUSTIN

In the ’60s, the Pentagon and the Cold War think tank RAND Corp. began searching for a solution to the problem of establishing invincible communications among U.S. military installations after a nuclear war. The solution, revealed in 1964, was a communication network without a central authority for the enemy to attack. While We the People blackened on the national radioactive barbecue, Dr. Strangelove and the Brass would be safe and in touch with each other underground.

But democracy caught on. Communism cracked and the disarmament of nuclear weapons sent the Internet above ground to the average American. Pentium gave the world speed, and CompuServe and AOL gave it pseudo communities in cyberspace. People with the time wondered if the Internet would be humanity’s next great tool of knowledge or just a more interactive version of “mind-numbing” television.

Today, education and reference are only small bookends to the cosmic libraries of pornography, chat rooms and bubble-gum entertainment on the Internet. The socialist chat rooms, where all alter-egos are equal, have become a forum for everybody from the psychologically confused to psychopathically inclined—and everyone in between (your roommate or best friend). In moderation, it’s harmless, but hundreds of thousands of people are finding it a lot easier to have a relationship in chat rooms than in the real world. Scientists and thesis-hungry grad students are starting to worry.

It was just a matter of time before people found a way to date, screw each other and get engaged in a computer environment. But does the addiction to Internet romance assume narcotic proportions when the socially dysfunctional sidestep dealing with their shyness and retreat to a social life in cyberspace? Is the pornography of technology turning people into digital Casanovas and social retards at the same time? Can virtual babies be far behind?

The UF Counseling Center has begun working with students who either claim to have an addiction or think they’re on their way to having problems. Counselor Carol Lahey is not so quick to brand these students social anomalies.

“We see students who come in and say, ‘I’m spending six hours a day on the Internet,’ and I say ‘All right, let’s talk about what makes you spend that much time on it and prevents you from interacting with other people,’” Lahey says.

“They say they’re getting a connection with people in the chat rooms that they don’t get in real life because they can be more honest, more open ... their physical appearance isn’t what someone bases their judgement on ... they can be more revealing about their true self,” she adds.

Lahey suggests some people are inherently more shy and introverted, and the Internet is giving them an avenue to connect with people they wouldn’t make contact with otherwise. She says it’s important to recognize what society isn’t giving these people before we classify them as dysfunctional.

“Society is real good for someone who is outgoing, extroverted, able to relate well with people ... attractive,” she says. “Take those things away and it gets harder.”

Linda Tipton, a staff psychologist at the University of Maryland, where they’re making a concentrated effort to reach out to Internet addicts, has heard of chat room relationships that have turned out to be very successful and others that have been disasters. She says some people go into the technology with psychological or social problems already in place to set them up for a fall or to further amplify their problems.

“It could become a substitute for social skills and if you see that happening to someone you love or care about, you can always encourage them to seek help or have actual interactions with people,” Tipton says. (Layman’s terms: Get them out of the house!)

She says people may be avoiding social problems and real-world pressures but suggests to keep in mind the relative youth of the technology before jumping to conclusions about Internet addiction.

“Just like any new technology, people take a while to get used to it. People felt like they watched too much TV at first and eventually cut back to a reasonable amount,” Tipton says. “On the Internet, people find out how much it has to offer. They  surf and talk to all kinds of fascinating people, but then real life takes over, and you don’t have as much time to devote to chat rooms or playing games because you have other responsibilities.”

Society will have a better definition of the Internet in relation to our lives once on the other side of the millennial border. There will be more information to address a variety of social effects including chat room addiction. Possible solutions: Maybe we can have people’s virtual alter egos committed to virtual mental institutions. They can log on to the Net but be prevented from leaving the Cuckoo Chat Room, where they can talk to chat-room doctors, get counseling and hopefully get electroshock treatments. But who will take care of the virtual babies they’ve raised on some corporate web site with their chat room spouse?

Maybe that’s thinking a bit too far ahead.

Daniel is a UF student who spends a lot of time in chat rooms. He requests his last name be withheld, but insists on you having his e-mail address, which is:  cocoman21@aol.com.

(Don’t ask).

Daniel says he spends only five hours a week in chat rooms, which may or may not be a slight underestimate. He says about 1,000 people from UF use the AOL chat rooms and are only looking to talk, not meet and spend their lives together. He sees only benefits.

“My typing and writing skills have vastly improved. ... It’s an interactive form of entertainment that stimulates the mind, unlike passively viewing TV as a garden- variety vegetable,” Daniel says. “You have the ability to talk to people around the country at no extra charge.”

He says he hasn’t had cybersex, but has had intimate conversations about every topic in the world.

“People share their personal feelings very easily because of the anonymity,” he says. “It’s a form of pure communication ... without noise. A person’s age, sex or color are irrelevant and only what they have to say matters.”

Daniel makes it all sound perfectly healthy and stimulating. For him and others, it might be. Maybe Internet chat rooms are a step forward for human evolution: communication on a whole new level—minus the static of preconceived notions or societal barriers.

But be forewarned. Your personality may be at risk. Anything in excess is bad for you. And remember that thousands of psychos and perverts who, prior to this  technology,  didn’t have the edge or means to venture into society and wield the power of their twisted brains, have found their forum and are lurking out there on the Net disguised as prom queens or even your virtual soul mate.

Be cautious.

Enjoy the future.