Editing Computer addiction (section)

==Origin of the term and history==

Observations about the addictiveness of computers, and more specifically, computer games date back at least to the mid-1970s. Addiction and addictive behavior were common among the users of the [[PLATO (computer system)|PLATO]] system at the [[University of Illinois]].<ref>Brian Dear, Chapter 21 -- Coming of Age, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D5ZBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA382 The Friendly Orange Glow], Pantheon Books, New York, 2017; see pages 381-387 for a discussion of addiction on PLATO, page 382 quotes a 1975 article from [[The Daily Illini]] that discusses the subject.</ref> British [[Electronic learning|e-learning]] academic [[Nicholas Rushby]] suggested in his 1979 book, ''An Introduction to Educational Computing'', that people can be addicted to computers and experience [[withdrawal symptoms]]. The term was also used by M. Shotton in 1989 in her book ''Computer Addiction''. However, Shotton concludes that the 'addicts' are not truly addicted. Dependency on computers, she argues, is better understood as a challenging and exciting pastime that can also lead to a professional career in the field. Computers do not turn gregarious, extroverted people into recluses; instead, they offer introverts a source of inspiration, excitement, and intellectual stimulation. Shotton's work seriously questions the legitimacy of the claim that computers cause addiction.

The term became more widespread with the explosive growth of the Internet, as well the availability of the [[personal computer]].<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|last=Pratarelli|first=Marc E.|author2=Browne, Blaine L.|author3=Johnson, Kimberly|title=The bits and bytes of computer/internet addiction: A factor analytic approach|journal=Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers|date=June 1999|volume=31|issue=2|pages=305–314|doi=10.3758/BF03207725|pmid=10495815|doi-access=free}}</ref> Computers and the Internet both started to take shape as a personal and comfortable medium that could be used by anyone who wanted to make use of it. With that explosive growth of individuals making use of PCs and the Internet, the question started to arise whether or not misuse or excessive use of these new technologies could be possible as well. It was hypothesized that, like any technology aimed specifically at human consumption and use, abuse could have severe consequences for the individual in the short term and the society in the long term.<ref>{{cite book|author= Robert H. Anderson, Center for Information Revolution Analyses|title=Universal access to e-mail : feasibility and societal implications|year=1995|publisher=Rand|location=Santa Monica, Calif.|isbn=9780833023315}}</ref>  In the late nineties people who made use of PCs and the internet were already referred to the term webaholics or cyberholics. Pratarelli et al. suggested at that point already to label "a cluster of behaviors potentially causing problems" as a computer or Internet addiction.<ref name=":1" />
<!-- (The syntax of this paragraph makes absolutely no sense. Can someone clarify all of this?) Computer addiction was used as an effective defence by one of the defendants in the Eight Legged Groove Machine hacking trial in the 1993. The victims allegedly caused £120,00 worth of damage to JANET, BT, Financial Times, European Commission sites. Expert psychiatric evidence of obsessive addiction to hacking. Held - defendant was "addicted to hacking", and lacked criminal intent. Defendant acquitted.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269279414_TWELFTH_INTERNATIONAL_SYMPOSIUM_on_ECONOMIC_CRIME_Computer_Crime_in_the_1990s_-_A_Barrister's_View__Alistair_Kelman_Computer_Crime_in_the_1990s_A_Barrister's_View|work = TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM on ECONOMIC CRIME |title=Computer Crime in the 1990s - A Barrister's View |last = Kelman|first = Alistair|date = 1994|accessdate = 16 December 2014|doi = 10.13140/2.1.3497.1201}}</ref>-->

There are other examples of computer overuse that date back to the earliest [[computer games]]. Press reports have furthermore noted that some [[Finnish Defence Forces]] [[conscription|conscripts]] were not mature enough to meet the demands of military life and were required to interrupt or postpone military service for a year. One reported source of the lack of needed social skills is an overuse of computer games or the Internet. [[Forbes]] termed this overuse "Web fixations", and stated that they were responsible for 12 such interruptions or deferrals over the 5 years from 2000 to 2005.<ref>{{cite magazine
|url=http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0509/054.html
|title=This Is Your Brain on Clicks
|magazine=Forbes
|author=Lea Goldman
|date=2005-09-05
|accessdate=2007-07-17
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071207060234/http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0509/054.html
|archive-date=2007-12-07
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>