Name: Internet addiction: When life is only online
Uploaded: 2025-11-26T14:46:44.126Z
Duration: 5 min 22 s
Description: Digital addiction to social media, streaming and gaming. How does internet addiction develop, and how can therapy help to regain control and joie de vivre?

Digital addiction to social media, streaming and gaming. How does internet addiction develop, and how can therapy help to regain control and joie de vivre?

The article follows Isabel, who struggled with internet addiction for 15 years, spending most of her time online and experiencing negative impacts on her health and social life. Experts interviewed emphasize that digital addiction is a serious and increasingly common disorder, with consequences such as social isolation, relationship breakdowns, and increased risks of mental and physical health issues.

Through therapy, Isabel learned to manage her internet use using a 'traffic light' strategy, categorizing online activities by risk level. With support, she regained control over her habits, now feeling whole and re-engaged with the real world, highlighting both the challenges and possibilities of recovery.

Internet addiction: When life is only online

Isabel is experiencing the world with a sense of joy and confidence once again. A dark period of internet addiction is behind her. For years, she spent almost all of her time entirely online. I was addicted. I kept saying to myself, I'll stop going online or tomorrow will be the last day. Or okay, but just until 10pm, then I'll turn it off and go to bed. And that was always the plan, but I never managed to stick to it. Back then she slept poorly at night and was exhausted the next day. She kept promising to herself to go to bed early, but never did. A typical pattern in addiction. Hans-Jürgen Rampf has been studying digital addiction for 20 years. He says the number of people affected has risen dramatically in that time. We're dealing with an underestimated disorder. Also because many people think, well, we all do that, but a significant fraction of the population has a serious problem with it, and they really suffer. The addiction can be to different mediums. Gaming, pornography or social media. Also gambling and behaviours like compulsive shopping or binge-watching films. Endless consumption, being unable to stop even when you want to. One of the key signs of addiction is loss of control. Over decades of working with patients, therapist and researcher Klaus Wolfing has seen many different faces of addiction, including digital addiction. Internet addiction is definitely a serious disorder. It causes intense suffering and a lot of social isolation. The consequences can be severe. It can destroy relationships. Work, family and friends can suffer. Breakdowns loom. Yet people with digital addiction often still cannot stop, despite obvious consequences. It can also lead to the development of eating disorders, obesity and heart disease. I'd say there's a very large number of unreported cases, because many people no longer notice how dependent they've grown on their smartphone. There's a risk of depression and anxiety disorders, both of which have doubled in incidence over the last 10 years. This was also true for Isabel. For 15 years she slipped deeper and deeper into addiction. Gaming, gambling, pornography or shopping weren't her problem. For her it was watching videos, browsing and social networks. I wasn't living my life. I was watching others live theirs. I was on the sidelines, watching without daring to step into the field myself. And I didn't understand how I was causing so much suffering for myself, that I was hurting myself through my own behaviour. The reason we keep returning to screen-based activities like social media or gaming is that the brain forms an expectation, encoded via the neurotransmitter dopamine. This is passed on to the reward system. Then a whole cascade is set in motion, releasing substances in the brain similar to opium or morphine, which create a feel-good effect. Eventually Isabel realised there was an urgent need for change in her life. I don't want to be controlled by anything else anymore. I want to decide what my own life looks like and take control of it. And I refuse to let those stupid series and movies basically dictate what I should do. In therapy Isabel began to understand the mechanisms behind her addiction. Together with her therapist they developed a traffic light strategy. It helps her manage her media use consciously. Red means stop, like watching films alone. That's not allowed. Yellow is within limits, for things like social media and browsing. Green is for checking mails and music. They're always allowed. We see good success rates in typical cases. Treatment usually lasts between nine months and a year. The adjustment is difficult. In today's world you can't get through everyday life without the internet. But Isabel has learned to control her online habits. In front of the computer I always felt like only half of myself. It was like something was missing. And today I feel whole. Now Isabel has even started travelling again. She rarely escapes into online worlds anymore. Instead she's out in the real one.

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