UNCC300 Justice and Change: Internet Addiction & Relationships

This essay explores the detrimental effects of internet addiction on interpersonal relationships, drawing from personal experiences and observations of others. The author reflects on their own excessive internet use and its impact on their relationship with their mother, who requires emotional support during a difficult time. Additionally, the essay discusses a friend's breakup caused by her boyfriend's addiction to internet pornography, highlighting the broader implications of internet addiction on romantic relationships. The author suggests strategies for overcoming internet addiction, including engaging in real-world activities, maintaining a busy schedule, and seeking counseling. The essay concludes by emphasizing the urgency of addressing internet addiction to safeguard familial, romantic, and other crucial relationships from potential destruction. This student-contributed assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering a variety of study tools and resources for students.

Running head: INTERNET ADDICTION AND NEGATIVE IMPACT ON RELATIONSHIPS
Internet Addiction and Negative Impact on Relationships
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INTERNET ADDICTION AND NEGATIVE IMPACT ON RELATIONSHIPS
The internet is known to keep people hooked to it for long hours of the day. The average
person in today’s day and age spends at least four to five hours on the internet if not longer than
that (Andreassen et al., 2016). As a student, I myself am engaged in browsing the internet for
hours on end and am reprimanded by my friends and family members more often than not, for
this. I have come to realize through my experiences with regard to overuse of the internet, that
internet addiction is something that can have a very harmful or negative impact on relationships.
In this essay I will examine the disturbing effect that the internet has on relationships. In doing
so, I will also recommend some of the ways and means by which internet addiction can be
avoided altogether.
My mother is a single parent and she is the person that I am the closest to in the whole
world. However, in the recent past, I have not been able to give my mother the time and the
attention that she deserves because of the fact that I was so preoccupied with browsing the
internet. I am particularly addicted, let me admit, to watching sitcoms on Netflix and it takes a lot
to get me to tear away from these sitcoms in order to perform household chores and to engage in
regular communication with people. My mother has been going through a lot of trouble at her
place of work of late. She is on the verge of resigning from her job because she is not happy with
the company that she is forced to keep at her place of work. As her child, this is the time in her
life when I should be providing her with all the love, support and encouragement that she needs
in order to break away from her situation and emerge as a stronger individual. However, my
addiction to the internet has not allowed me to do that. In spite of seeing my mother look so
dejected and forlorn all the time, I make it a point to watch Netflix online for at least five to six
hours in a day, and I don’t like being interrupted when the sitcoms are taking place, even by my
mother who looks for every opportunity that she can get in order to communicate with me. She

2INTERNET ADDICTION AND NEGATIVE IMPACT ON RELATIONSHIPS
has been so depressed and without confidence recently, that only when I saw her crying
hysterically one day that I realized what was wrong, and told myself that I would reduce my use
of the internet considerably. My addiction to the internet has till date not been giving me the
scope to engage with the person who in the world means the most to me, my mother. I realize
that I need to give her time and attention, and in order to do that, I have to steer clear from the
internet for the longest span of time (Casale et al., 2016).
I have also seen addiction to the internet spoil relationships, and by this I mean romantic
relationships. By best friend Sarah recently broke up with her boyfriend because of his addiction
to internet porn. In fact, when I got to know that this was the reason for their break up, I was
shell shocked. Internet porn has been spoiling relationships for quite some time now in every
country of the world (Demirci et al., 2015). My friend was in tears and was not even willing to
accept that her boyfriend would be capable of such an act. The truth is though, that he is addicted
to browsing porn sites online and is unable to give it up, even though I feel that he wants to. I
have met him a few times lately, and I have seen the guilt in his eyes when he looks at me. I can
tell that he does not want to continue watching porn, and that he really wants to devote his time
and energies to my friend, but his addiction is so bad that it has caused his relationship to fall
apart, and I honestly don’t see them getting back together with each other again (Grubbs et al.,
2015).
All of this has made me realize that internet addiction is one of the worst things possible
as far as human relationships are concerned. Internet addiction can be truly bad for relationships
as it keeps people from spending time with each other, and engaging in real and meaningful
communication (Marchant et al., 2017). There are a number of ways by which I believe the
addiction to internet can be overcome, and I am speaking for myself here as well. One, I believe

3INTERNET ADDICTION AND NEGATIVE IMPACT ON RELATIONSHIPS
that we should spend more time physically meeting people and doing things in the real world
rather than being so content with what the virtual world has to offer. The virtual world is in my
view an outlet to escape from the realities of life. Hence while using and browsing the internet
can be a comfortable thing to do, in truth it is nothing but a form of escapism. Hence I feel that
one of the ways by which internet addiction can be overcome is to engage in more real world
activities and real world communication (Samaha & Hawi, 2016). Another way to avoid being
addicted to the internet is to ensure that we are all gainfully occupied instead of sitting idle. The
more idle we are, the more tempted we are likely to be to spend long hours on the internet,
something that in the long run will prove to be detrimental for our emotional and mental
wellbeing. Finally, the last course of action to take to overcome internet addiction is I believe,
visiting a counselor. A counselor can probe and find out about the issues and reasons why
individuals remain so hooked to the use of the internet for long hours in a day (Schimmenti et al.,
2017).
Thus, there the problem of internet addiction is a real one and it has a very bad impact on
relationships. If familial, romantic and other relationships are to be saved from destruction, then
internet addiction has to be decreased and treated immediately.

4INTERNET ADDICTION AND NEGATIVE IMPACT ON RELATIONSHIPS
References
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Pallesen, S. (2016). The relationship between addictive use of social media and video
games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders: A large-scale cross-sectional
study. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30(2), 252
Casale, S., Caplan, S. E., & Fioravanti, G. (2016). Positive metacognitions about Internet use:
The mediating role in the relationship between emotional dysregulation and problematic
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Demirci, K., Akgönül, M., & Akpinar, A. (2015). Relationship of smartphone use severity with
sleep quality, depression, and anxiety in university students. Journal of behavioral
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Grubbs, J. B., Stauner, N., Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., & Lindberg, M. J. (2015). Perceived
addiction to Internet pornography and psychological distress: Examining relationships
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Marchant, A., Hawton, K., Stewart, A., Montgomery, P., Singaravelu, V., Lloyd, K., ... & John,
A. (2017). A systematic review of the relationship between internet use, self-harm and
suicidal behaviour in young people: The good, the bad and the unknown. PLoS
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Samaha, M., & Hawi, N. S. (2016). Relationships among smartphone addiction, stress, academic
performance, and satisfaction with life. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 321-325.

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Schimmenti, A., Passanisi, A., Caretti, V., La Marca, L., Granieri, A., Iacolino, C., ... & Billieux,
J. (2017). Traumatic experiences, alexithymia, and Internet addiction symptoms among
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