This condition is not currently included in the DSM IV. Internet or computer addiction is under researched and very rarely addressed clinically. Internet, computer, or gaming addictions have been defined as “non-chemical or behavioral addictions which involve human-machine interactions.” Internet use and consistent gaming may have a negative physiologic and social consequences. For example, face to face social activities may be substituted for Internet-based social interaction. As with compulsive shopping behavior, problematic Internet use involves excessive engagement in socially normative behaviors. As such, it may be hard to identify, and people may be reticent to disclose excessive Internet behaviors, either from embarrassment or from a lack of awareness of the problem.

How to identify someone with an addiction to the Internet or a gaming system is to look for the following:

#1 Withdrawal
#2 Tolerance
#3 Preoccupation with the Internet or game
#4 Longer than intended time spent on the Internet or game
#5 Risk to significant other relationships or employment
#6 Lying about Internet or gaming use
#7 Repeated, unsuccessful attempts to stop Internet or gaming use.

These individuals tend to have decreased social involvement and increased loneliness and depression. Many had significant social impairment, marked personal distress over Internet or gaming behavior, vocational impairment, financial impairment, and legal problems. Many of these individuals have been found to have co-existing mood disorders or anxiety disorders.

With time spent on the Internet or on the gaming system less time is spent in God’s Word, prayer, godly meditation, and in church services. This leads the individual down a path that is away from God and towards more ungodliness (separation from the things of God.) This is a path that leads to total devastation unless the individual, through the power and grace of God, corrects his ways and turns to the Lord Jesus Christ.