This century, nearly everyone has a computer. One of the main reasons to purchase an expensive computer is the internet. In a recent poll, every two out of three households in America use the internet. A frequent online user can become addicted without realizing it. To become an internet fiend, several stages must take place.
In the first stage, the innocent buyer selects which internet service he/she wants to use. This is a fairly simple process usually decided by the cheapest price. At first, the new user wants to try the internet out and see what it has to offer. When I used the internet for the first time, it intrigued me. I was curious to see what I could do. At first, I occasionally looked up a few websites and checked my mail. It was like taking a couple of drags of a cigarette. .
In the second stage, the user begins to use the internet more and more. Not realizing, he/she may sit on the internet for hours at a time without bore. The user then starts to decrease the time in between sit-ins. On occasion, I would sit at my computer chatting with my friends for several hours. If I had nothing to do, I would go sign on just to see who else was online. Sometimes, I would even wait until some of my friends signed on so I could converse with them through instant messages. Instant messages are huge, especially for high school students and friends. They allow you to privately .
communicate with one another with an immediate response. At times, I would be talking to more than ten different friends online. I was now using the internet on a regular basis--the equivalent to smoking a cigarette per day.
In the third phase, the addiction starts to effect your daily life. I stopped doing my homework, because I would sit on the computer all day and talk to my friends. Instead of going out and experiencing adventurous activities, I would just go home and log on to my dependable screen name. My parents began to get irritated saying, "You've been on that thing way too long!" They even used it against me when I was being punished by grounding me from it.
