APRIL 29,1996 — THE DECREE — PAGE 3
College students discover Net addiction
By ELISSA LEIBOWITZ
Jennifer had one worry this
Christmas break: would she be
able to survive her month-long
winter break at home?
It wasn’t the fear of a stressful
Christmas dinner or too much
time bonding with her family that
put the University of Massachu
setts sophomore on edge. The
downtime from school brought
with it down time from her com
puter — and the Internet. For the
first time all semester, she could
not log on every night.
“1 niighl go back early,” said
Jennifer, who asked that iicr last
name not be used, “because 1 re
ally don’t want to be away that
long.”
Away from school, or away
from her computer?
“Well, I like school, and it’s
kinda slow at home, but my com
puter is part of it,” she said in an
interview via a computer bulletin
board service. “My hobby is the
Internet.”
Hobby or obsession? Some
college officials and students alike
are beginning to ask that same
question, because as more stu
dents gain access to the computer
‘Music Man’
entertaining
(Continued from Page 2)
and choreographed by Alison
DeNio, the whole town of “River
City” was populated by dozens
of supporting local performers
who sang and danced their way
through the evening quite pleas
antly.
The toe-tapping music, includ
ing the popular “Seventy-Six
Trombones,” while occasionally
muffled under the stage, was ca
pably performed by the Eastern
North Carolina Wind Ensemble
and the Tar River Junior Strings.
A major star of the show was
the scenery, huge and realistic
backdrops rented from a Broad
way road show of the production
that featured Dick Van Dyke. The
professional sets well framed the
local talent.
“The Music Man” was a good
production for the area, whole
some family fun, but most im
portantly it was a great harbinger
of the kind of shows the new
Dunn Center can support.
Wesleyan has built a community
showcase capable of bringing
major shows and concerts to this
part of eastern North Carolina.
“The Music Man” is just the
first of many treats yet to come.
information network, the more
some students become addicted.
Instead of doing school work or
hanging out with friends or even
sleeping, some students are
jetsetting all over the world via
their mouse and keyboard. And
like many other habits, the
Internet can become an obsession,
say university counselors.
The majority of students are
like Jennifer — they use the
Internet socially, said Jane Mor
gan Host of the University of
Texas in Austin. But “we’ve been
hearing more and more from stu
dents and colleagues about people
who could actually be having a
problem with it,” said Bost, the
assistant director of programming
at UT’s Counseling and Mental
Health Center. “I really didn’t see
it as a problem until other people
started mentioning it in (counsel
ing).”
A University of Michigan
study last year found that fresh-
(Continued from Page 2)
is compiling a dictionary of street
language.
But the main plot involves a
murder she has witnessed and the
police detective investigating the
case. Or is he involved? In fact,
isn’t his partner the man the nar
rator saw with the murder vic
tim? And isn’t he stalking her?
This is a dark and potent story
which will follow you home.
Mark Salzman’s The Soloist
begins oddly enough. “This morn
ing I read an article suggesting
that Saint Theresa of Avila, a
16th-century Spanish mystic
noted for her ecstatic visions, suf
fered from a neurological disor
der known to cause hallucina
tions.” The narrator, cellist Renne
men and sophomores log on for
an average 10 hours a week, while
18 percent of them are on-line for
at least 20 hours. Most of the stu
dents use the Internet to send elec
tronic mail, to log onto bulletin
board services and chat lines, or
to cruise around the Internet’s
many World Wide Web sites.
In all, more than 24 million
people age 16 or older use the
Internet, according to a recent
telephone poll of 4,200 Ameri
cans and Canadians by the
Nielsen Media Research Com
pany. That comes to 11 percent
of the population, according to
the study.
Jennifer said that the couple
hours a night she logs on is sim
ply her way of relieving stress, of
taking a break from her studies.
She completes her school work
on time and says she knows when
enough is enough.
Bost and her colleague, psy
chologist Kathy Scherer, started
Sundheimer, a used-to-be child
prodigy who lives in and for the
past, is presently reduced to teach
ing a nine-year-old Korean ge
nius and serving on a murder trial.
He alone doesn’t want to con
demn the alleged murderer of a
Buddhist monk. Sundheimer is
still hoping his musical gift will
return, but by the end he has
learned enough about himself that
he is able to move out of the past
and look into the present. His jour
ney is a terrific read.
Of course, more famous writ
ers have lately published books
(Updike’s In the Lilies of the
Fields, Philip Roth’s Sabbath's
Theater, and Andre Dubus’ Danc
ing After Hours), but take a
chance on these three for event
ful summer fare.
an Internet workshop last year to
explore how and why students are
using the Internet.
Though turnout was small,
Bost said she got the feeling us
ing the Internet has the potential
for some people to be as addic
tive as gambling or drinking.
“I personally feel like there are
folks who abuse the Internet. How
many and what percent do, we do
not know that,” she said.
University of Mar>'land offi
cials in College Park, Md., have
formed a support group called
“Caught in the Net” to help stu
dents cut back on their coiiipul-
ing habits. And some schools
have banned students who have
been found to hog computers in
university computer centers, and
others were fined for their use.
Jennifer, that University of
Massachusetts student, said it
dawned on her that she may be
addicted one night after she
logged onto a University of Iowa-
based bulletin board service,
which allows users from all over
the world to chat with one an
other in real time.
“I was talking to several people
at once one night, and when I
looked up, I realized it was three
in the morning. I had intended to
just check my mail, send a note
to my friend, and finish some
reading for a class the next day,”
she explained. “I didn’t even see
or hear my roommate go to sleep.”
And that, Jennifer said,
snapped her out of it. She now
limits herself to a few hours each
night — after she has finished
her work.
But not many students have
that discipline. Scherer said, “It’s
like with any addiction — if you
feel that it’s a repeated pattern”
and it starts to interfere with your
regular activities, then it could
become dangerous, she said. Just
as gambling and drinking can be
fun for some people in modera
tion, they can become serious ad
dictions for others.
If students are worrying that
their Internet time is infringing
on their lives, Bost said users
should ask themselves the follow
ing questions;
• How and why are you using
the Internet? Using it for research
or work-related purposes is dif
ferent from using it to chat with
friends in far-off places. Students
need to keep the two separated.
After all, business and pleasure
are rumored not to mix.
• Are you falling behind with
your schoolwork? Many students
who may be addicted to the
Internet put off their homework
“for just another hour,” she said,
in ortlcr lo chat with friends for a
while longer. Bosi suggests using
the Internet as a reward. Tell your
self you may only log on after
your school work is completed,
not before.
• Have you ever stayed awake
all night chatting on the Internet
instead of sleeping? That can be
dangerous to your health and may
be a sure sign that you may have
an addiction problem.
• Are you isolating yourself
from in-person interaction, such
as going out with friends? Chat
ting on-line should add to your
social interaction with other
people, not replace it. Do not let
the Internet become the only place
you meet and interact with new
people. Scherer also warns users
to be wary of on-line romantic
relationships, which have been
known to work out but seldom
do.
• If you have to pay for an on
line service, such as American
Online or CompuServe, are you
able to keep up with our pay
ments? Luckily for most students,
Internet use is free at most uni
versities. For those users who
have to pay, don’t fall behind on
your payments or it may affect
your credit — not to mention your
wallet.
And ironically, for the truly
addicted who know they have a
problem but just cannot stay
away, several Internet users have
established World Wide Web
sites on Internet obsessions.
Are you a Netaholic ?
To keep your on-line time in line, Jane Morgan Bost of
the University of Texas in Austin suggests the following:
• Keep track of how long you are on and what you are
using that time for.
• Be clear about when you are working and when you are
playing.
• Use the Internet as a reward.
• Admit when you have a problem and seek help from the
college.
Read this summer