Our society isbecoming more and more informationalized. That is, our lives are becoming moredependent on information technology and systems. More than half of the worldpopulation has access to the internet, and there are more than 250,000 cyberclub which are open 24 hours a day across the country. The America is a globalleader when it comes to the number of people who can access broadband, or highspeed internet services, with the number of broadband subscribers exceeding 50million. The government has been behind efforts to promote USA as an IT andcyber leader. But the more negative impacts of over-reliance on the web haveonly been recently acknowledged and are starting to be addressed.

There is so mush informationavailable that when we once start surfing the Internet, we are hardly able todrag ourselves away from the computer. People have started to use the computerlike they used to watch TV. It is very comfortable just to sit down and have achat with somebody from South Africa about fishing and get some importantadvice. Whenever we get hungry, we simply order a pizza through the internet.While we are waiting for the food, we send an important e-mail to a businessabout some market sales for tomorrow. We just don't have much time forcommunication with people anymore. Besides, there are a lot of people who areaddicted to TV and watch it 5 to 7 hours a day and using the computer isbecoming an addiction too. Some psychologists are worried about computeraddiction. They say obsessive use of computers to surf the web, join chat roomdiscussions, and play video games is a real and growing addiction.40% of the world teenagers were hookedon computer. " I'm typically began to submit late academic assignment or nohomework at all and I tend to lose a lot of weight, look very restless. FinallyI didn't go to school because of computer." Said Hwa Chong (institution of Singapore) It linking with, one'seye-sight was falling, worsens student's school grade, so they have lesser timefor exercises, where in a great source of fatness. Also company or some ofgroups who monopolize information has elevated them in a better social positionthan the others. With the spreading of the computer internet, illegalinformation has been exposed. Efforts are already under way to try to tacklethe growing problem of internet addiction with more than a third of web usersthought to be at risk of dependency.

- Jim Gregorio (Glendale Community College)

"I've lost my girlfriend and Iquitted my temporary job because my internet addiction. I cannot stop my urgeto chat with my online friends as my old friends all ostracise me due to myunemployment. Now, I need to have a stable income so that I can get agirlfriend to settle down and I prefer friends in real life.

One of thegreatest challenges of the informationalized society that our generation has toface is the issue of "technophobes." The ability to share informationand to use it affects a society's economy as well as social stability. Thosewho are not able to use information systems today are becoming more futile thanever in the modern world.

Usually the"technophobes" are the poor, the aged, and the disabled. The more thesociety evolves informational, the more they will be isolated from others. Thisin turn becomes the cause for the deadly cycle of creating more"technophobes."

In order to bridge the gap betweenthose who are comfortable using information systems and those who are not, weneed to promote a free and equal usage of information systems. Therefore,establishing a professional institution can be a possible solution to bridgingthe global gap among classes, regions, and countries. That international informationinstitution could then serve a similar purpose as that of the United Nationswhich works toward the world peace.

If you need help or want to set in free fromthe addiction, please go to visit 'www.netaddiction.com'. They have test forcheck out your addiction status and they will help you for get out from cyberaddiction. Also, you can reach the addiction center.

Center for Online Addiction

P.O. Box 72

Bradford, PA16701