Moderation in Everything, Including Moderation

Addiction to the InterWeb is a Mental Illness - L'Inq

Coming on the heels of my jumbled thoughts on the virtual/physical barriers of human identity is another study claiming that using the internet too much is classifiable as a mental illness. I think this is one illness we will simply have to deal with. The desire to stay connected, to stay online is a new one. In the short history of human civilization the time span for rapid communication is even shorter. Part of the reason I think the end of the 19th century was such a strange time for thought was the dramatic increase in communication and mass organization. The people of the West felt more connected than any previous time in the past. But their response to it was violent nationalism, violent socialism and ultimately fascism. No one knew quite how to deal with such connectedness. Mass mental illness perhaps, but the internet is bringing the same rapid increase of communication but in a different form. What that will entail is something I can't predict. Should be fun though.