You constantly hear people joking about being “addicted to Facebook” or other sites on the Web, but could it be true?  On social networking sites like Facebook, users are constantly updated about what their friends online are doing.  Is it possible to have a severe addiction to the Internet like it is alcohol or some other substance?  Researchers have classified internet addictions like any other addiction.  They define it “by compulsive loss of impulse control resulting in damage to the user and his or her relationships, schoolwork, or employment.” (www.safetyweb.com)

Cyber addition has come to the public’s attention recently, though there is not a lot of research on the subject at the moment.  Hattie Kauffman, a CBS News National Correspondent, went to UCLA and interviewed a few students.  Kauffman asked the students if they’ve ever felt they’ve spent too much time on the web.  The students agreed.  Jessica Doing, a graduate student admitted to spending too much time on Facebook and procrastinated finishing her thesis.  Herman Rolises Rodrigues, a graphic design major said that he once spent an entire night just customizing his profile page.  Is this a sign of addiction or just poor management skills?

Almost every study conducted for cyber addition has found a direct association between age and Internet addiction, as well as between age and neglect of work.  The studies have found that teenagers and young adults are more likely to be addicted to the Internet than other age groups, and are more likely to neglect school or employment work than older adults that suffer from this addiction.  “In fact, in the most widely recognized study of its kind, age was the only factor that was a direct and constant contribution to cyber addition across all other factors.” (www.safetyweb.com)

Another perspective on the same results has stated that this data might simply reveal teenagers and young adults as the “early adopters” to the internet craze.  This would mean that they have found this addiction before the rest of the population.  The question that arises out of this idea is if this addiction will become a “trend” and spread to the rest of the population or just stay within the young generation.  How will this affect the adult lives of these teens and young adults?

With these new findings and studies about cyber addition, it is antagonizing the internet and making it a thing to be feared.  This is an unfair view, there are many great things that the internet and social networks can do for us, such as helping us keep in touch with friends that live in other parts of the world.  As with most things in life, internet use is fine in moderation.  You probably don’t have a problem as long as you can set limits and prevent yourself from browsing Facebook when you should really be getting your work done.

Natali del Conte, the Senior Editor of CNET.com said that “If you can’t function in your real life without the social networks, then there’s a problem.”   Del Conte offers a few preventative recommendations if you need help dealing with internet addiction.  You can set limits for yourself and associate social networking as a leisure activity by only allowing yourself to view Facebook during your lunch or coffee break.  You can turn off the e-mail notifications that sites send you to resist the temptation to visit those sites.  When you are working on your computer, don’t leave an extra tab open with Facebook or other sites running.  A study conducted by Salary.com found that Americans spend about 1.7 hours of their work day procrastinating on the internet.  Lastly, don’t add social network’s mobile applications onto your phone.

These are all helpful tips in preventing sever cyber addiction.  As long as your internet use is not affecting your work and you can still have relationships in the real world, then there is no problem.  The internet should be seen as a resourceful tool (ironically I found my information about internet addiction on the internet) but if you are spending 30 or 40 hours a week fooling around on the internet, then you might want to apply some of the steps previously mentioned to help get your life out of cyber space and back into real world.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-4205009.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

http://www.safetyweb.com/internet-addiction

Every day we come across multiple ads.  Ads are seen as nuisances because they can be manipulative, annoying and distracting.  They want your attention and try to persuade you to act how they want you to.  Businesses use ads to get their product out to the public.  They use every type of medium accessible to reach the general population. With this, a question arises:  How far will businesses go with advertisement?

Around 1997, thousands of new websites were created and these sites made billions of dollars because they allowed space on their sites for other companies to have an advertisement or an announcement on their page.  This was when the web became a “commercial endeavor.”  The type of advertisement on the internet at this time was mainly banner ads which are the ads at the top of most web pages.  To run a banner ad on a page, popular sites like Yahoo.com could charge $30, $50 to even $100 per thousand impressions.  These rates were modeled from magazines who charged for full-page color ads.  However, advertisers found that banner ads were not as effective as magazine ads or commercials on TV.  Even though ads on websites weren’t as effective, there were thousands of sites with millions of pages that had free space for the ads.

Other types of ads include the sidebar ad which is oriented vertically rather than horizontally and runs on the side.  The pop-up is an ad in which the ad “pops” up in its own window when you click on a page.  There are floating ads that first appear on a page then “float” over the page for a few seconds.  Lastly there is a unicast ad which is basically a mini TV commercial that runs in a pop-up window with animation and sound.  These are just a few main types of ads that are seen all over the web, they can feel like spam on some sites but there are other sites that have strict regulations on their ads.

An example of a strict ad regulator site is Google.  Google does not accept payment to add a site, update a site more often or improve a site’s ranking for the search results.  Google makes it very clear where the ads are on the page so they won’t be confused with the search results.  The ads are on the right panel and at the top of the page.  Google also monitors the ads and tries to match the ads with the user’s query.  Google says that it’ll “only show ads you want to see.”  With that, Google won’t show ads if none of the advertisements fit with your query.

Even though ads can be obnoxious and manipulative, they are a necessity.  The ads pay for the majority of sites that we use so the user doesn’t have to.  This makes the web a great resource that is very accessible. Although advertisements can get in the way, most of the time ads are perfectly easy to ignore or can even be entertaining.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-advertising.htm

http://winhost2.ischool.washington.edu/info101/due_lect_google_social_3_ads.html

            A question was asked during one of the lecture videos: “Is it okay for businesses to make money on the internet?”  My response is why wouldn’t it be okay?  As our society becomes more dependent on technology and the internet, businesses need to keep up with the consumer.  The web is a way for businesses to connect to consumers as the internet becomes a main form of communication.  Thinking logically, the standard ethical codes in the real world should apply to the internet.

In all aspects of business there are certain codes of ethics that set standards for businesses to follow.  However, when I was browsing the internet, I found that most companies didn’t have policies to regulate behavior on the web.  This allows businesses to have full reign over how they act in all aspects of their work.  With this “all is fair game” mentality, companies will do practically anything to reach their goal, and the goal of most companies is to make money.

            With this idea, a good amount of responsibility falls on the consumer.  Randy Pennington, an ethics consultant, said that to avoid an attempt at “regulation of ethical behavior in the future, the online community must regulate itself.” (netcheck.com) 

Pennington is saying that the consumer has to be smart about where he or she conducts business.  If someone was shopping for insurance, a smart consumer would shop around well-known and well-respected insurance companies such as State Farm or Allstate instead of looking at insurance companies with less credibility.  This responsibility should apply to the internet.  The consumer should trust legitimate, well-established sites like iTunes.com or amazon.com verses sites that could have the potential to be a scam.

It’s acceptable for businesses to make money on the internet because their income would significantly decrease since they would not be able to connect efficiently with consumers.  As our society becomes more dependent on technology, companies are looking for more ways to connect to clients.  With this growth of dependence on the internet, consumers need to take responsibility and make sure that they are savvy when it comes to trusting and using websites. 

http://www.netcheck.com/nytimes.htm