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Friday, January 30, 1998

Heeding the call

of the web

INTERNET: Captivated students often find their time lost to lure of 'Net

By Andy Shah

Daily Bruin Contributor

When most UCLA students are sleeping, Samrod Shenassa is awake.

In the middle of the night, he's sitting in front of a computer, pounding away at the keyboard. Eventually, he falls asleep after sunrise.

But Shenassa, a third-year film and television student, is not pulling an all-nighter. Nor is he an insomniac. He's posting messages at the Coffee House, UCLA's web-based bulletin board

"I can honestly, but maybe not proudly, say that a big part of my social life, if not all of it, exists on and because of the Internet. I can't imagine life without it," he said. Shenassa's case is not uncommon. The allure of the Internet has some students addicted.

Freshmen and sophomores averaged 10 hours per week online, with 18 percent on the Internet at least 20 hours per week, according to a University of Michigan study.

Alfred University administrators attributed high Internet use to a more than doubled rate of academic dismissals.

At UCLA, the Internet is easily accessible to all students, especially those living in the dorms.

"There are a lot more people coming in and surfing the web than ever before," said Mike Northover, a lab proctor in Covel Commons.

Some say this accessibility is harmful to students who neglect their studies or friends to spend lengthy amounts of time online.

Angela Lau, a fourth-year microbiology student, said that when she used to live in the dorms, she would sometimes spend three to four hours a night surfing the web.

"It affected my schoolwork, so I had to make up for it the next night," she said.

Students may take refuge in the Internet for several reasons, including loneliness, opportunities to communicate with other people and for entertainment purposes, said Hal Prevett, director of Student Psychological Services (SPS).

Shenassa said he finds it easier to converse with people over the web.

"In real life, people have more walls between them," he said, "so I find it much easier to talk to girls in the Coffee House, via e-mail, and even chat, than I do in real life. Almost all of the insecurities people have in real life don't exist in the Internet."

However, Andrew Taylor, a first year biology major, disagrees.

"(Chatting) limits people from having meaningful contact with other people," he said.

Mike Gaiby, a second-year student, says that his roommate last year used to chat for extensive amounts of time each day.

"To me, it was a waste of time, but he did it because he wasn't really social," he said.

Although chatting used to be popular, Northover said that e-mail and research remain the main reasons students use the Internet.

"It's gotten to the point where I can't go a few hours without checking my e-mail," Shenassa said.

Home page production is another activity that may keep students on the Internet for long stretches of time.

"I don't see the point (of having a home page) unless there's something worth showing," said Lau.

However, Shenassa says that home pages are forums for self-expression and entertainment.

"I can't think of any other medium that gives the average, everyday Joe Schmoe such dedicated attention from the global community," he said.

Some critics say that the term "addiction" is too harsh to use in cases like these.

"The Internet is about as addictive as work: Sure, there are workaholics, but they're simply working to avoid the other problems in their lives," said Dr. Ivan Goldberg, the psychologist who coined the phrase "Internet Addiction Disorder" a few years ago as a parody of DSM IV, a classification system for psychiatric illnesses such as anorexia, kleptomania, and compulsive gambling.

He took his joke so far as to start an Internet Addiction Support Group mailing list.

John Grohol, director of the Mental Health Net, says Internet addiction proponents are jumping on Internet paranoia.

"I don't see how they can see the Internet as a disorder, but not look at a bookworm who reads 10 hours a day and not say he's a book addict," he said.

"Anything taken to an extreme is a disorder, but we don't go around coining everything taken to an extreme as an addiction," he said.

Nevertheless, Prevett of SPS says that students who feel they are going beyond their own limits of Internet usage can seek help at his center, or any other student service organization.

Most agree that the Internet is a useful tool to have readily available for students.

James Ho, a second-year business economics and psychology student, says when he needed help with a homework problem, he posted a question on his class My UCLA web site.

"The TA answered my question that night," he said.

Limiting the amount of Internet time available to all students is not a solution, Prevett said.

"It would be like Prohibition; it wouldn't work," he said.

"If Internet time is limited, students will waste their time doing something else," Northover said. "Either you have self-control or you don't."

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