Here's How Counselling Can Help Internet Addiction Amongst Teenagers

Teenagers these days are addicted to the internet without even realising it. Here's how you can help internet-addicted teenagers.

The internet is a double-edged sword on one side it provides valuable tools, exciting games and informative content, however, when used in excess, it has the ability to create havoc affecting every aspect of our lives including relationships, work etc.

When it comes to our teens, it becomes all the more necessary to keep a check on their online habits. Being teens, it is easy to brush off the time they spend online as being normal, however, overlooking their online usage patterns could mean missing out on the signs that differentiate between internet addiction and typical teen behaviour.

Internet addiction could not only affect teens' physical health and social skills, but it could also aggravate mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, which are sometimes the major contributing factors to why teens develop internet addiction. Learning about the symptoms and causes of internet addiction can help you to detect a problem early on and find help for your teens.

Signs Of Internet Addiction

Signs of internet addiction could be difficult to pinpoint from normal teen behaviour, however, there are some prominent red flags with the latter. Its time to have a look at some of the important signs of addiction to the internet in teens:

• Falling grades in school due to spending excess time on the internet
• Anxiety when not using the internet
• Ignoring important work like personal hygiene, schoolwork to spend more time on the internet
• Fatigue from excess internet use
• Irritability and emotional outbursts when questioned about the time spent online.

Healthy Ways To Help An Internet-addicted Teen

• Try to speak to the child about the reasons for spending so much time online. And do they think it is a problem? Being open to the teen will help to get to the root of the problem and fix that first.
• Being parents, ensure the teen spends a certain amount of time every day with the family. It's important to discuss with the teen why family time is vital and how much time over the internet is reasonable on a daily basis.
• Cutting off complete access to the internet is not the solution to internet use disorder. The better way is to focus on helping them develop healthy habits and outside interests that reduce their time online than to try to ban the internet entirely.
• Parents need to bring up their concerns about teens' internet use and reassure them of their support to overcome the addiction. It is important to focus on the ill effect of excess internet use and not the use itself. It helps to be specific, such as expressing concern about their dipping grades or not participating enough in other activities. Doing this will give the teen enough confidence about being cared for and more open to what you have to say.
• It pays to agree to an action plan such as studying in a common area which can help them to resist the internet and stay focused. In addition, suggest keeping phones, laptops and other internet-connected devices outside their bedroom if the teen is fatigued from late-night internet use.

Last but not the least, a therapist's help should be sought early and not when everything fails. Often, internet addiction is the result of some other underlying health struggle and a psychiatrist and a psychologist will be able to deal with the underlying causes and associated conditions like anxiety, depression etc.

(The article is contributed by Dr Himani Kulkarni, Consultant Psychiatrist, Jupiter Hospital, Pune)