my mom's being annoying and pestering me about getting off the internet all the time because i live online... she insists it's what's causing my depression and what's causing all the problems in my life

what are your thoughts on the issue/debate thingy, just so i can get a perspective.

i did a little research online reading articles and the such and i think it's total bullcrap. i'm not addicted to the internet, i just like it because i know people on here and there's bunches of good stuff to do.

Before I could answer that I'd have to see an explanation with more detail than " i live online".

I don't think the internet can cause depression. At least not in my case. I don't think I have or ever could get emotionally attached to someone over the internet.

Just come visit Nick and I. That'll get you off the computer. Lol.

Internet addiction DOES cause isolation and depression.

i agree...

people need people...even those you're talking to online aren't technically people...it's them conveying thoughts through lines and servers...

she is probably concerned because you don't go out, you don't seem to have any friends to go do things with...there's so much in life that you can miss out on living on the computer...it happens, fortunately i listened to my husband when he mentioned it to me...awhile ago...if he noticed enough to mention it to me, than it was indeed becoming a problem.

he only mentions my activities if he sees them interfereing in an unpositive way...and i can admit that at one point...i was guilty of that.

lol but i do have a life and i do hang out with real people, i have a job, i do well in school but sometimes everything's too much to handle... but this isn't about me this is about internet causing depression.

i just can't see how people could get depressed because of the internet

and a better explanation for "living online" would be that i spend 35 + hours on the internet each week

and i would like to visit you and nick... would KILL to visit you guys lol

Couldn't it be the other way around? Maybe people with a tendency for depression are more likely to spend more time online?

I don't think the internet can cause depression. But if you're choosing the internet over activities like exercise or meeting friends or getting proper meals, it could deepen an existing despression. Plus I've found that spending a long time at the computer makes me feel apathetic, and gives me eye/back/head aches.
And it's true that people with depression could spend more time on the internet because, like someone said, it's socializing without actually socializing.

Well i'm like you I live online. But yes internet can cause depression and isolation and it can make you feel lonley. Look at it this way. If you don't spend so much time on the internet. What else could you be doing besides waisting your time and energy on the internet? You could be doing so much more with out being on the internet.

Once when you are on the internet. You find your buddies that are online. Once when that happens you really don't feel like getting off the internet. Because you have someone to talk to. Sometimes people ask me if I want to go out with them some place. Then my answer would be a no each and every single time. Then what will happen? Later on I feel depressed and want to get back on the internet. Going through Darkforum and talking to people on yahoo messanger.

I am the right person to be asking about the internet. If you want more information about the internet and how it would make you feel. Please feel free to contant me. I could give you all sorts of information. I'm just not going to post all of it here and be scarcasimed by it.


But i'm starting to go out to the park and walk everyday for 2 miles.

I'd say it's more of a case of depression causing the internet.

just my opinion but as an avid net person, I feel that it can go both ways. Too much of the net can be a cause of depression. Not the only reason maybe but one of them. On the other hand becoming deeply absorbed in the net can be a sign of depression....ie hiding from the rest of the world. Unfortunately for those of us who love the net and all it has to offer the net is NOT all that our bodies and minds need. Not to mention our eyes and necks and backs....yup me too! Our minds most of all need to be stimulated in other ways and as said above personal face to face interaction is different than what we do here. Another thing is that some studdies have found that continuous use of a monitor can have detrimental effects....such as causing epilectic fits if the immages are displayed in a certain manner. I think that the constant frame rate of a computer monitor can cause a bit of appathy or dissasociation from what is going on around you. which in turn could lead to depression.
Now if you don't live on the computer, you may just be fine. But if you find that you do spend most of your time on it, then try limiting yourself. Another persons viewpoint might be worth listening to. As to a parent saying such a thing.....might they just want to be a bit more part of your life? Try including your Mother in more of what and who you are she might understand you better. Then again she might not....you never know untill you try. Parents hate and fear the distance that happens as a child grows.....I should know.....Bel

Yeah like he said maybe your mom is just concerned about you. Maybe you should talk to her about you and your computer situation. But for me computer does give me depression and isolation. I waste my young year's just sitting here and playing on the dam computer alot. I also need to get out of this kind of a habbit on saying no all the time when the family is going out some place and want to take me with them. I'm glad that I know about this subject very well.

I think the internet can cause some depression. Depending on where your at. Like if your reading some shit that affects you, talking to people and taking things too serious, then yes. But its really yourself who is making yourself depressed...I think...I dunno.

Me dumb!

Well you are right about what you said. But it could be so many other things that can make a person depressed while being on the computer.

yay for once i kinda made some damn sense! Yeah alot can cause more of it....

*hugs*

Ok, I guess I'll take the opposing side.

Internet cannot cause depression.

Thats like saying reading can cause depression. Or TV, or food, or anything else that can be done in excessive amounts. Ever get depressed when you bike for 35+ hours a week? Or get a suicidal urge from your daily exercise routine?

Internet is an outlet. Personally, I think its a way better outlet than say television. At least on the net you can basically arive to one thing, meaning you can look at JUST something happy. Where as on the TV, you're along for the ride. Could go from Simpsons (Funny), to CSI (Murder, death, lying, all that 'good stuff'), to the news (Murder, genocide, corroption, politics = evil, cheating). So the net is better in that aspect.

And I also believe that the net would be the anti-thesis of "causing depression". Rather than sitting in your room, doing nothing, THINKING about suicide, you can get online, play games, talk to people, read, and a million other things. Now, someone said isolation cause depression somewhere up above. I buy that. BUT, how can you be isolated on the internet? It spans, what, only the world? You can find EVERYTHING on the internet. I think you're rather unisolated. As far as interaction is considered, you have a million messengers, web cams, voice chats, message boards, e-mails, blah blah blah. You're connected to people.

Hope I did that side of the argument some justice.

SALLY! COME VISIT ME AND BLUE!!! We'll give ya some flesh with flesh time

well, i'm not depressed beyond not having internet at my home right now... And even when i did, i wasn't depressed being on the internet 35+hours a week(i was you know).. I had the choice, go bum around in the snow and freezing cold, go somewhere and spend money that i couldn't afford to, or go online.. Gee, that was a hard choice... the snow/cold IS depressing to me.. Spending money i didn't have is what caused me to lose my internet, ie depressing.. So being online was the only other option besides tv and reading.. Of course reading over 70 books in the the 4 months that i have been "off season" from work means that i spent many hours offline as well.. But i don't think that the internet, and spending lots of time on it causes depression at all...

thats my 2cp worth on the subject..

mmmm darktiggr.....

yes????