Randomnity
insert random title here
- Joined
- May 8, 2007
- Messages
- 9,485
- MBTI Type
- ISTP
- Enneagram
- 6w5
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/sx
Exactly this. It's mind-blowingly obvious to me that depressed people will spend more time online (assuming they use the internet at all normally). It's an easy escape from real life. I'm thinking of Wow and similar here too.Typically, I think it's usually pre-existing conditions that drive one to use the 'net as a resource to self-medicate, so to speak. It's diverse, easy to use, and allows one to avoid direct social contact.
However, I think self-medicating that way as a long-term solution compounds the problem and will thus deepen the depression.
Look at alcohol, for example. it's not bad to use it as a social outlet from time to time, to alleviate stress, whatever else... but if you start doing it all the time, you actually change your body chemistry, brain capacity, physical health, dependency issues, and whatever else... making it even harder for you to break free.
All that time spent on drinking (or on the 'net) is time not spent finding a better solution to the problems at hand. Being on the 'net can also feel like a passive thing -- you're just feeding your indulgences but not necessarily engaging the world -- and even in the realm of the tangibles, your physical body health will worsen, you won't produce body chemicals produced during physical work/activity that help you feel good, etc.
But, using it as an escape mechanism won't work any better than hiding at home in bed, or using drugs to escape.
What a poorly designed study, to show us a correlation that's totally obvious (as well as misleading). Oh well, it's not like it's the first to do that....