Dependence on ICT (information and communication technologies) has become a real problem. This situation, which we usually associate with children and adolescents, has also become a problem for many adults.
According to WHO, the World Health Organization, ICT addiction refers to a psycho-emotional and physical disease that can create an addiction or need for information or communication technology activity.
- Today.
- The use of ICT is common in our daily lives.
- Virtually all of us check our cell phones at some point in our day.
- Play or connect to the Internet.
“Addiction is just a very degraded substitute for a true experience of enjoyment. “Deepak Chopra.
What happens when something as simple as checking your cell phone to see if we get a message becomes such a regular constant that we even feel anxious if we don’t have our cell phone nearby?
It is then when the problem of addiction arises, that is, when the person who cannot connect to the Internet suffers a state of anxiety so intense that it is not natural, then an abusive use of new technologies begins, which is analyzed psychologically within the addiction group.
Of course, the consequences of this type of dependence are varied and depend on the individual concerned, so in each person the problem can manifest itself in one way or another, depending on several factors.
Common symptoms include nervousness, aggression, environmental isolation and sleep disturbances, but these are not the only ones, as this addiction affects the person at all levels, from social to personal and physiological.
Faced with this problem, the psychology team of the International University of Valencia has published a small manual entitled?The domains of psychology and the application of new technologies?(“The fields of psychology and the application of new technologies” in free translation) with reflections on the effective psychological treatment of such addictions.
According to this team of specialists, the treatment of an addiction, in this case an addiction to information and communication technologies, should be based on two main objectives, on the one hand, the abandonment of addiction and, on the other, prevention. of future relapses.
During the treatment of an addiction, several specialists will be involved in the case, the main actors being professional psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.
However, the family and environment surrounding the affected person will also play a very important role.
Within this multidisciplinary team of specialists research will be carried out to analyze each specific case, so that the consequences can be treated by analyzing their origin and the professional, family and social environments involved.
A team of specialists in addiction intervention usually defines the treatment that will be carried out in four phases of the addiction, we will briefly know them:
ICT addiction has a possible earlier solution: prevention. It is important that as parents or guardians, we are aware of the risk of children and adolescents, we are their role models. In this way we can and must make things easier.