Commentary

1. The JAPAN PRIZE Contest supports the dreams and hopes of children and encourages adults to pursue continuous learning for life. The JAPAN PRIZE was established in 1965 by NHK as an International Educational Program Contest with the aims of improving the quality of educational programs around the world and contributing to the development and fostering of international understanding and cooperation. Keeping these original aims, the JAPAN PRIZE reformed in 2008 to target not only TV programs but also other linear contents (videos, movies, etc.) and non-linear contents (websites, educational games, and other interactive material with audiovisual content). This was intended to cope with the circumstances facing educational media at the time, including the diffusion of information-communication technologies, the initiation of digital broadcasting and the spread of the Internet in the field of education worldwide.

* * *

Why Should We Take Computer Addiction Seriously?

There is a very wide range of behavior that might be considered addictive, and not all of it is necessarily harmful. Every addiction has its price, but in some cases the price may be low enough so as to be considered reasonable. The positive benefits derived from the pleasure of the addiction need to be weighed against the negative effects it may have on the rest of a person's life. This is complicated by the fact that the prices and benefits are different for each individual. In addition, computers are playing an ever-greater, ever- more-vital part in our modern world. If a person finds that they are addicted, is it possible or realistic for them to go permanently off-line?

There are actually two types of addiction: positive and negative. Positive addictions are those in which the benefits outweigh the costs. The word "addict" is generally used to describe a person who is unable to resist a negative addiction, an addictive behavior with far greater costs than benefits. With computer addiction, these lines are often blurred; there are many tradeoffs to take into consideration.

Computer use is clearly a negative addiction when it significantly affects a person's daily life in a negative way. When obsessive computer use interferes with family, friends, school, or employment, causing financial, relationship, or physical problems, and continuing despite efforts at control, then it is a serious problem. Some people sink into computer oblivion, neglecting their lovers and families, succumbing to loss of sleep and deteriorating health. Computers are a common source of contention in couples counseling these days, and also play an increasingly large role in individual counseling. Spouses are turning to their computers rather than to one another, and virtual infidelity has become common.

However, the very ingredients that make computers so addictive can also be tremendous boons to a person's life. There is definitely a line below which the money, time, and attention spent on computers is well worth the benefit gained from them.

Some believe that what appears to be computer obsession might simply be a healthy process of self-learning and identity-exploring. Adolescents and shy users can enhance their social skills or work through personal issues on the network, then take their newfound skills and confidence with them into the real world. Computer immersion provides us with a form of escape and diversion, which is healthy to a certain extent. It is fun to meet people in cyberspace, to communicate with others throughout the world with similar interests. There is the potential for these on-line friends to become real-world friends, lovers, and even spouses. Relationships are fostered on-line in a very powerful way that provides many advantages. Sex therapist Avodah Offit, M.D. reports, "There's a human need to communicate and reach out that's being met. E-mail encourages creativity and spontaneity and its immediacy can be gratifying. Cyberspace can also be useful emotionally, and even sexually, to people who know each other quite well."

The good thing is that computers help people reach out, make friends, and learn to interact. The bad thing is that hard-core on-line users may begin living artificial lives that prove dangerous to their health and emotional stability. It is easy to become attached and obsessive quickly on-line; relationships are different and often confusing or misleading compared to the conventional ones with which we have more experience. Andre Bacard, a futurist, physicst, and author based at Stanford, believes that an entirely vicarious on-line social life "both encourages and cultivates psychosis in many people."

In addition to the psychological effects of spending so much time on-line, the sheer amount of time that people are spending on-line is a problem in itself. A large percentage of MUD users either flunked out of school or know someone who has, due to their MUD use habits. Seventeen percent of Internet users polled in a University at Buffalo survey reported spending more than 40 hours per week online, and almost all -- 89 percent -- said online time interfered with their life.

Tetris, an especially hypnotic computer game, is known for its addictiveness and almost cult-like following. One player knew he had a problem when he began mentally rearranging the tiles of his bathroom floor. However, strangely enough, this type of hypnotic power also has its benefits. One Washington Post writer reports that playing Tetris is the best way he has found of relieving his asthma attacks; better even than prescription medications. Something about the soothing rhythm and complete immersion in the game allows him to relax and experience a kind of healing biofeedback.

Because there are clearly so many benefits to computer use, the idea of computer addiction is often trivialized and treated as a joke. This is unfortunate, because it is a serious problem for many people. It is becoming more prevalent daily, and we can only work to prevent it once we acknowledge the great risk that it poses. Where does one draw the line, how does one weigh the good against the bad? How seriously should we take computer addiction, both individually and as a society?

Some people admit to spending up to half of each day on-line, but few believe their heavy use is dangerous. Many people see computer compulsion as just another diversion for college students no worse than going out drinking every night, just another vehicle for procrastination. New computer users often start out as though addicted, but find that the novelty wears off; people need to evaluate both whether their usage is obsessive and whether it is just a phase. In on-line forums, people often complain that they are addicted to their computers. Much of it is tongue-in-cheek, yet is sometimes very close to the truth. People sense that they have a problem, but don't know how seriously to take it. So far there is no stigma attached to computer addiction, so it is fun to joke about it; most of the Web pages we found about computer addiction were entirely humorous. Support groups for net addiction are even held on-line, which does not reflect that the problem is being taken particularly seriously.

College Park, at the University of Maryland offered a support group for Internet addiction, but only three people signed up. The assistant director of the counseling center, Jonathan Kandell, believes this is a case of classic addiction denial. "Some of these people are in denial," he says, "People don't express this as an issue, but it's something that really is an issue, you find, as you talk to them." Even the most ardent supporters of interactive computer communication (like MUDs) admit that these programs create a steady trickle of addicts. However, since the number of addicts is still so small, nobody is going to any lengths to stop the problem. The few extreme cases of addiction may make the best headlines but are not seen as a symptom of a serious, far-reaching problem. In general, it's hard to convince people that computer addiction is as bad for them as other types of addiction, though the end results are often the same.