Addiction is not a topic for humor of course but a funny thought came to me earlier. I gather that in the case of youngsters with this problem a timer is often used to limit access to the internet ( Okay kid you have 2 hours on-line and that's it ). In my case I can just picture it now if that plan gets extended to Seniors. I'll be playing along in a Game and just before I get to make the winning move the screen goes blank and a voice in the Computer says " Time is up Buddy ! " ( Noooo ! I could have won the Game --- bring it back, Please !!! ). 
Internet Addiction Syndrome ?
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OK. I want the following things to also be added to the dictionary of psychiatry: addictions to -
sunbaking
crosswords
TV
ice cream
being asleep
asking if Andyclifton really is a muppet.
Thanks for the post Linuxblue, some good stuff there. For example I need to avoid the area that has the Ice Cream in the Supermarkets because packages of this stuff seem to " leap " right into my shopping cart. It might be some sort of strange Magic I guess. 
What is and isn't considered a mental illness is constantly changing. What influences these changes is often driven by economic greed, a sense moral superiority, and what is and isn't socially acceptable. Obviously there are many real serious mental illnesses that demand medical attention, and there are some that are most likely frivolous and lean more towards simply being personality traits. "Internet addiction" I would classify nearer towards the latter, a diagnosis to allow for more billable hours on the psychiatrists couch.
Thanks for the post Lxusr. Since the list of Syndromes keeps expanding one could ask if that is because thay are finding more problems that need treatment. If one goes back a few years we find that anyone admitting to any mental stress problems was very likely to be shunned. Today it would seem that there is more interest in trying to treat people instead of ignoring problems.
I can quit any time I want.
Rooperi: Isn't that what Tiger Woods was telling his then wife as she was beating him over the head with a Golf club ( it might have been with a wedge ? ). 
One thing that I didn't hear in the info on this question has to do with those people who are mainly doing video games on-line ( Dungeons & Dragons, Farmville and such ). That is to say are there different degrees of addiction within this Syndrome ?
At one stage I was playing a lot of Eternal Lands, many hours.
Then one day, I became very suddenly and very completely bored with it, I haven't been back in months.
I have to go and harvest some yew, to make magic immunity wards, and I just don't feel like it, lol
It is just after Midnight here so I need to get some rest so that I don't become a internet Zombie.
Yesterday I had the upsetting problem of not having the internet for about 3 hours and it did bother me. That served to remind me that a few weeks back my old Computer was acting up and I couldn't get on the internet for several days, I was not a happy camper. It seems that I may need to check into that internet study a bit closer. 
Today the news presented a item about smart-phones. It seems that these devices are causing extra stress to workers in many companies because it is now impossible for people to disconnect from their jobs. Some of the people affected by this problem have admitted to doing some work related texting at rather odd times ( eg: at 3 or 4 in the morning ). Perhaps too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing after all.
Thinking back I was trying to recall the way that this problem of being tied to one's job came about. If one looks back to the 1800s the big revolution in the field of communications was the invention of the telegraph which would come to cover the entire World. The telephone came next of course but one could still go to a remote place to shut out the news etc. However back about 30 years ago a big change occured with the invention of the pager and things haven't been the same since.
In one of my other threads I mentioned that I was recently away from home while doing some house-sitting ( actually farm-sitting ) and did not have access to my Computer for nearly 10 days. Mind you I did have the chance to watch Satellite TV while away from home but on the other hand I came to miss not being on the internet ( perhaps there is something to this Internet Addiction theory after all ).
The fact that this thread has not taken off is something that I find quite interesting ( the silence is Deafening ? ). Perhaps we do not want to admit how much we have come to rely on the internet ?
Thanks for the post JDzokic.
Well if you were to join a Nudist Colony then you would at least get some relief from the clothes wearing addiction syndrome.
Well I must say that I'm still very impessed by the fact that nobody seems to have IAS problems, that is truly fantastic ( or is it perhaps just a fantasy ? lol ).
I've just gone thru a few weeks where I could read the posts on this site but my old PC would not let me do any posting. So was I upset ? You Bet !!! ( oh oh, cabby has Internet Addiction Syndrome lol ).
Earlier today I heard on the news that Internet Addiction Syndrome has been named as a serious Addiction. I'm a bit leery to mention this item here as we are on the internet however Psychologists do now consider this as a serious problem. I gather that the people who are spending too much time with their I-pads ( & other hand-held devices ) as well as those on their Computers are included in this group. Well what the heck do these Doctors know, I'm having fun here ( and it's Cheap ).