Excessive Use of the Internet

We can describe the Internet as a system operating in a certain environment. The Internet can be described as a communication system, consisting of certain components between which certain interactions are observable to an observer. The environment provides a structural coupling between the Net and its support from the environment. The environment "holds" the system and provides the relevant resources and supports to maintain the systems functions. The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction, a practice organization dedicated to providing therapeutic services, information, and resources on cyber-behavior, Internet addiction, and problems with all forms of digital technology, at home, school, and in the workplace. There are some demographic differences in Internet access. 21 percent of differences in Internet access can be explained by demographic factors. By far the most important factors facilitating or inhibiting Internet access are education and age, and not income - nor race/ethnicity or gender, each of which account for less than 5 percent change in rates of access and are statistically insignificant. By contrast, a college education boosts rates of Internet access by well over 40 percentage points compared to the least educated group, while people over 65 show a more than 40 percentage point drop in their rates of Internet access compared to those under 25. Age really reflects generational differences, and thus shows what to expect in the future. Only 6 percent of differences in Internet use can be explained by demographic factors: Thus, once people are connected to the Net they hardly differ in how much they use it and what they use it for - except for a drop-off after age 65, and a faint hint of a gender gap. Demographic differences in Internet use involve at most an hour and a half a week, mainly reflecting people's time budgets and work status; and they involve hardly more than half an additional Internet activity, in the latter case reflecting