Is Internet Addiction Real?

网瘾真实存在吗?

With kids spending more and more time onscreens, parents worry that they are getting hooked

孩子们在屏幕上耗费的时间越来越多,家长们担心成瘾


internet addiction. Phone addiction.Technology addiction. Whatever you call it, a lot of parents are expressingworries that their children are addicted to their devices.

网络成瘾、手机成瘾、科技成瘾。无论你如何称呼,大多家长均指的是担心他们的孩子沉迷于电子设备中。

Is the behavior that parents are concernedabout really addiction?

父母真的是对电子设备成瘾担心吗?

What parents are alarmed about is usuallytwo things: the sheer amount of time their kids spend on screens, and theirkids’ resistance to cutting back on that screen time. Getting them to put awaytheir devices and come to dinner, engage in other activities, go outside or dotheir homework (without also checking social media and streaming TV shows)seems to be an increasingly uphill battle.

家长们担心的一般指两件事,一、孩子呆在屏幕前的时间越来越多,还不愿离开。其二、让他们放下手机,去吃晚饭、或是做其他事情、外出或做家庭作业(不上网或是网络电视)似乎更像是一场越来越艰难的斗争。

Kids sometimes use the word “addiction” todescribe their own behavior, too. In a 2016 survey by Common Sense Media, halfof teenagers said they “feel” they’re addicted to their mobile device. Threequarters of them said they felt compelled to immediately respond to texts,social media posts and other notifications.

孩子们有时也会用“上瘾”这个词来形容自己。常识媒体(Common Sense Media,注:本网站) 在2016年的一项调查显示,有一半的青少年认为,他们“感觉”自己已迷上手机。四分之三的人表示,他们觉得有必要立即回复短信、社交网络帖子以及其他通知提示。

“More often than not, when people say that someone is addicted to theinternet or addicted to their phone, they’re using it colloquially,” notes Dr.David Anderson, a clinical psychologist and director of the Behavior DisordersCenter at the Child Mind Institute. By calling it addiction, parents are oftencommunicating their concern that so much screen time is unhealthy, as well astheir feeling that they’re powerless to stop it.

临床心理学家、儿童心理研究所(Child Mind Institute)行为障碍中心(Behavior Disorders Center)主任戴维安德森指出,“通常情况下,当人们说某人沉迷网络或手机时,他们都是用通俗的语言来形容”,家长们之所以将这种行为称之为上瘾,往往是在表达他们对长时间看屏幕、危害健康的担忧,无力阻止这种行为的感觉。
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Are kids addicted?

是孩子们上瘾了吗?

While the comparison to substance abuse istempting, because devices are stimulating to the same reward centers of thebrain, experts point out crucial differences.

尽管与药物滥用进行比较很形象,但专家指出了两者之间的根本区别。

“Addiction doesn’t really capture the behavior we’re seeing,” saysDr. Matthew Cruger, a neuropsychologist and the director of the Learning andDevelopment Center at the Child Mind Insititute. “With addiction you have achemical that changes the way we respond, that leads us to be reliant on it forour level of functioning. That’s not what ‘s happening here. We don’t develophigher levels of tolerance. We don’t need more and more screen time in order tobe able to function.”

成瘾的行为并不能为我们所真正捕捉到,”神经心理学家、儿童心理研究所(Child Mind insite)学习与发展中心(Learning and Development Center)主任马修克鲁格博士表示。“成瘾会产生一种化学物质,它会改变我们的反应方式,导致我们依赖它来维持我们的功能水平。电子或屏幕成瘾不是这样的。我们没有发展出更高水平的耐受性。我们不需要[size=14.3999996185303px]更多的时间面对屏幕来满足。

There is, technically, no such thing asinternet or phone addiction. Some in the psychiatric community haveproposed a new disorder called internetgaming disorder, to recognize unhealthy patterns of game-playing. But to riseto the level of a disorder, Dr. Anderson notes, the behavior would would bevery extreme, and seriously impairing to a child’s life.

从技术上来讲,不存在网瘾或手机瘾之说。精神病学领域中的一些人提出了一种新的疾病概念,叫做网络游戏障碍,用来区分不健康的游戏方式。但安德森博士指出,如果这种行为上升到不可控的程度,就会变得非常极端,严重伤害孩子们的生活。
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That would mean an amount of screen timethat’s not only more than parents feel comfortable with, but that crowds outother age-appropriate activities, like socializing, sports, school work — evenhygiene and sleep. “We would be looking at adolescents who are pushingeverything else out of their lives,” explains Dr. Anderson. “They are not having friendships, notengaging socially — at least offline — and they may be failing in school.”

该症状的出现说明,孩子们占有大量的屏幕时间不仅让父母感到不舒服,还会挤压适龄时期的活动时间,比如社交、运动、写作业,甚至包括卫生与睡眠。安德森博士解释说:“我们研究那些迷恋屏幕而脱离生活的青少年。”“他们没有朋友,没有社交能力,甚至脱离网络后,在学校表现也是很差。

Some parents may see addict-like behavior,Dr. Anderson adds, when kids get angry if they’re required to stop, insist onmore and more screen time, spend a lot of offline time thinking about how andwhen they will get back online. But these kind of behaviors can be prompted bymany pleasurable activities, and don’t constitute an addiction. “More oftenthan not, what I see are parents who are concerned about their teenager’sbehavior around screens use the word addiction when it doesn’t really fit.”

安德森博士接着说道,当有些家长看到孩子们玩游戏而去制止时、他们却愈来愈想玩、想方设法思考如何重新上网,因而产生类似上瘾的行为。但这些行为可能是由诸多乐趣而引起,并不构成上瘾。“我看到的情况往往是,怕孩子过多在屏幕前游戏引起不适而使用‘上瘾’这个词。”
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


One reason to be cautious about using theterm, he added, “is that we have a tendency right now within the zeitgeist topathologize normal adolescent behavior.”

他补充说,谨慎使用这个词的一个原因是,“我们现代的思维方式是否倾向于将正常的青少年行为病态化。“

What are kids doing online?

孩子们在网上都在干什么?

The amount of time teenagers typicallyspend on phones and other devices can be misleading as a measure of whetherthey are unhealthily engaged. That’s because many of the things kids do onthose devices are age-appropriate activities that in the past have been doneoffline: socializing with peers, exploring personal interests, shopping,listening to music, doing schoolwork, watching movies or TV.

青少年通常花在手机或在其他(游戏)设备上的时间,来作为衡量他们是否不健康的指标,或许具有误导性。这是因为孩子们在这些设备上做的事情大多为此时的适龄活动,而这些活动在过去都是在真实世界中进行的,例如与同龄人交往、兴趣探索、购物、听音乐、做作业、看电影或电视。

Texting and use of social media sites, forinstance, have become important channels for adolescents connecting to othersand being validated. Role-playing games allow kids to interact not only withfriends, but to people around the world. A 2016 report by Common Sense Mediaconcluded: “What looks like excessive use and distraction is actually areflection of new ways of maintaining peer relations and engaging incommunities that are relevant to them.”

短信与社交网站的使用,已经成为青少年与他人联系或被认可的重要渠道。角色扮演游戏不仅能让孩子们与朋友产生互动,还能接触到世界各地的人们。常识媒体(Common Sense Media)在2016年的一份报告中总结道:“看似过度沉迷和注意力分散的行为,实际上是在维持同伴关系、参与聚会的新种方式

Is it masking a mental health disorder?

网瘾是否被错误的理解成是一种精神紊乱?

When a child seems unhealthily focused onvideo games, to the point of social isolation, the behavior may be, rather thanaddiction, a product of other mental health problems.

当孩子看似沉迷电子游戏,以至孤立于社会时,该行为可能是其他心理健康问题,而不是上瘾。

Dr. Anderson reports that he finds himselfsaying to parents, “We understand your hypothesis that your kid is addicted togames, but it may be that he is socially anxious. It may be that he isdepressed. It may be that he has a learning disorder.”

安德森博士报告中对父母们说道,“我们理解你们的假设,但孩子沉迷于游戏,可能是因为他有社交恐惧。她可能沮丧。还可能有学习障碍。“

Dr. Anderson recalls treating a 16-year-oldwhose mother was adamant that he was addicted to video games. “I was doingin-home sessions with him, and it was, indeed, very hard to get him off playingCall of Duty to even have the session. But what I realized very quickly wasthat he had both ADHDand depression, and he had been failing school for as longas he could remember.”

安德森博士回忆说,他曾治疗过一个16岁的孩子,这个孩子的母亲坚持认为是游戏上瘾。“当我去他那里进行家庭疗程时,他的孩子,确实很难让他放下手中的《使命召唤》游戏,甚至连治疗过程都无法开始。但我立刻意识到,这个孩子可能同时患有注意力缺陷和抑郁症,从他记事起,他的学业就一直不及格。”

Call of Duty was actually a positive in hislife, Dr. Anderson said, “the only thing that provided solace, a sense ofbelonging. He had joined a crew of people who play Call of Duty and postYouTube videos of them playing.”

安德森博士说,《使命的召唤》游戏事实上已成为了他生活中的积极因素,“唯一能给他带来慰藉的归属感。”他加入了《使命召唤》游戏中的一个团队,并把他们的视频上传到YouTube上。

Once his ADHD and depression gotappropriate treatment, he was able to cut back on Call of Duty, and makeoffline friends. “He joined the football team at school. His grades improved,”said Dr. Anderson. “In that sense, it was treatment of ‘internet addiction’through treatment of the actual underlying conditions.”

一旦他的注意力缺陷和抑郁症得到适当的治疗,他就能够减少上网时间,并在现实世界中交到朋友。现在他加入了学校足球队,成绩也有所提高”安德森博士说。“从这个意义上讲,“网瘾”需要对症下药般的治疗方法。

Problematic use

使用问题

While experts say that parents shouldremain skeptical of the notion of addiction, they also argue that parentsshould be alx for potential negative fallout from screen use. Apps and gamesare designed to keep us engaged as much as possible, and it can be hard forchildren to exercise self-control when their impulse is to keep scrolling.

尽管专家们表示,家长们应该慎重来看待上瘾概念,但专家们也认为,家长们应该警惕长时间面对屏幕所可能带来的负面影响。应用程序和游戏的设计目的是让我们尽可能地沉浸其中,当孩子们面对极具诱惑的屏幕时,可能很难把控自己。

There is ample evidence that intense socialmedia use is correlated with anincrease in anxiety and depression as teenagers,especially girls, compare themselves unfavorably to their peers and worry aboutmissing out.

有充分的证据表明,过度使用社交软件与青少年(尤其是女孩)焦虑和抑郁增加有关,因为她们常与自己同龄人进行比较怕处于劣势,担心错过机会。

Research shows that excessive gaming —spending two-thirds or more of free time — is correlated with negative mentalhealth outcomes, including higher incidence of anxiety, depression andsubstance use.

研究表明,过度的游戏——花费三分之二或更多的空闲时间——与消极的心理健康,包括高度的焦虑、抑郁和频繁使用药物有关。

There is evidence that multitasking — usingsocial media, texting, watching tv while doing homework — undermines cognitivefunctioning and decreases learning.

有证据表明,同时专注多种活动,例如做作业时的同时使用社交软件、发短信、看电视,会破坏认知功能,降低学习效率。

And, of course, experts note constantattention to devices comes at the cost of other activities that are ultimatelymore valuable, and developmentally important.

当然,专家指出,过于专注某些电子设备是以其他活动为代价的,而这些活动更具意义,对发身心发展也更为重要。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Superficial engagement

轻参与

“Our brains are hardwired to like things that are novel andstimulating, and the phone captures that,” notes Dr. Cruger. “It’s easier toengage in constantly checking your phone or playing a game than tasks thatrequire more mental effort, though those are ultimately more rewarding for alot of people.”

“人们大脑天生就喜欢新奇刺激的东西,而手机恰好满足这一点,”克鲁格博士指出。“比起那些消耗较多脑力的活动,不断翻看手机或玩游戏更轻松,尽管这些活动最终对很多人来说更有益。”

Dr. Cruger sees an analogy to gambling inthat checking devices is only intermittently reinforcing. “People spend a lotof time looking briefly at things, not diving down, hoping it’s going to berewarding, though often it’s not.”

克鲁格博士认为,与赌博类似,查看电子设备仅会变得更频繁。“人们耗费的大量时间只是单纯地在追索一些事情,而不是沉迷其中,他们希望这些事情会有(进展或)反馈,尽管通常情况下不会如此。

Why would you pick up a book if you’restimulated by Instagram or Candy Crush, Dr. Cruger asks. “You still retain thecapacity to apply more mental effort to things but the opportunity is lost whenyou’re constantly superficially engaged.”

克鲁格博士问道,如果你受到“照片墙”社交软件或是糖果消消乐游戏的吸引,为什么还要拿起一本书呢?“虽然你可以专注于某件事情,但若不断沉迷其中,机会就会失去。”

“There are absolutely alarms to be sounded,” concludes Dr. Anderson,“but the vast majority of kids are engaging in screen-related behaviors thatmay not be either pathological or damaging.”

安德森博士总结道:“确实要引起警惕,但大多数孩子与屏幕相关的行为,可能既不是病态,也不会造成伤害。”

The key, he notes, is to help parents setappropriate boundaries around screens, to understand what their kids are doingonline, to feel confident that they areis engaging in the right developmental tasks — online or off.

他指出,关键在于帮助父母建立起孩子在屏幕前恰当的评判标准,了解孩子在网上做什么,让他们感到正在做的是项具有正确前景的活动,建立自信,无论是在网络还是在现实中。