Internet Addiction Disorder

Internet Addiction Disorder
In almost every U.S. homestead, it is a common feature to find people, especially teenagers, glued or clicking on their phones or computers. Even though technology has become an integral part of life, there is an emerging tendency of people to spend excessive time on electronic gadgets than necessary. As such, they inevitably neglect the more meaningful responsibilities. This problem is known as technology or internet addiction disorder. It has increasingly generated heightened concern because it ruins lives by causing neurological complications and psychological disturbances (Cash et al., 2012). It also results in profound and diverse social implications. Therefore, relevant health stakeholders must institute concrete policies to address the issue comprehensively.
New Initiatives, Services, or Public Health Programming
One fundamental initiative that would effectively help address internet addiction would be conducting intense research on the issue. The research should, for instance, seek to establish the co-relation among the different kinds of technology addiction. Identifying the relationship would considerably aid clinicians and other healthcare givers in understanding whether there is a common underlying factor related to the disorders (LeifSigerson et al., 2017). In addition, the research should seek to determine whether the addiction is related to other addictions such as substance use and gambling. The findings would adequately equip stakeholders with relevant ideas on effectively treating or preventing the menace.
The other effective initiative would be enhancing psychosocial interventions. Capitalizing on psychological and social actions would have several benefits accrued to the same. For instance, it would help addicted people maintain relationships and fully engage in community activities (Sharma & Palanichamy, 2018). As important, such interventions would significantly improve the well-being of individuals. Essentially, they would help individuals lead quality lives and reach their full potential. In addition, the family of an addicted person may chip in by trying to moderate and control internet use. They can achieve this by working with psychologists who will issue guidelines on navigating the entire situation.
Public Health and Community Resources/Organizations
Since technology addiction seems to be spiraling out of control, some advocacy groups are beginning to pile pressure on the U.S. government to intervene and salvage the situation. These groups are raising legitimate concerns that some companies, such as Google, have intentionally made their consumers addicted to their technological products (Ladika, 2018). As such, they contend such companies must be placed under meticulous scrutiny to ensure that they adhere to ethical standards. In addition, the advocacy groups argue that the government and other politicians must spearhead efforts to reverse the vicious cycle. Elected politicians, for instance, should introduce bills to constrain the government to undertake a study that will investigate the impact of electronic media on the mental health and behavior of teenagers. This would play an instrumental role in formulating policies to address the addiction effectively....