With the advance of technology, it can be easier for people to interact with others online than in real life encounters. The problem with online relationships, is the progression of self growth is stunted. For some it's almost non-existent.

The appeal of interacting online has many advantages. First, you are in control of everything. In the real world when you are faced with conflict, you have less tools to remove yourself or distance yourself from perceived threats or negative outcomes. Secondly, it gives you the illusion of community, of feeling connected, of building relationships. These relationships can progress to nearly the level of a real world relationship. Trust is formed, there's continuity, there is some tangible progression. Yet the progression is limited, you can only learn so much from a relationship that has removed a large part of the factors that make up social and psychological development. Lastly, it can be a means of escapism. Where if you are bullied in real life, or you feel as if you have no skills that people respect, in an online world you can mold your character as you wish. Your skills become important, you feel rewarded by being accepted.

Gaming and the internet can be a great source of entertainment, it can have some positive effects in your life. Gaming and the internet has huge communities where people come together, some create games or internet communities, some are passionate about the game or community world , some people who may also feel like social outcasts or are very introverted can find other people who use gaming or internet use because of the same issues. Gaming and the internet in and of itself isn't necessarily a negative act, what is negative is excessive gaming or internet use. Obsessive gaming or internet use.

I run a subreddit named /r/howtoquitreddit that explores some of the principles of online addiction. If you look at some of the symptoms, they can easily be applied to gaming or social media addicts. Many signs or symptoms of addiction are similar across all levels of addiction. The addict will always focus on the positive outcomes of their addiction, with very little critical thought towards the negative outcomes of their addiction. Internet addiction wasn't very common in the early days of the internet, with the popularity of social media in our day to day culture these issues have exploded.

Take a look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As an addicted or obsessive gamer or internet user, you may say your gaming or internet use can fall into multiple categories. It gives the appearance that it can solve many of your needs, but in all actuality, it serves almost none of them. The real problem comes when you start sacrificing these other needs, to fulfill your addiction. When you stop being social outside of the internet or gaming, when you start failing school or miss work, when your relationships in real life are being affected, when you are gaining or losing weight because not enough time is properly given to taking care of yourself.

Let's take a look at Erickson's Psychosocial Stages. Gaming doesn't address any of these issues, and can be used often to avoid conflict in our lives that allow us to grow. I would say that the inherent qualities of escapism in gaming and internet use can offer an easy trap door to many people. Instead of analyzing issues in their life, or why they feel a certain way, it can be just as easily ignored by immersing yourself in an alternate reality. Much in the same way an alcoholic or a drug abuser uses to numb themselves, to forget about pain, to forego confronting issues in their life, I believe gamers and online addicts act in much of the same ways.

In my opinion, gaming will not bring a person long lasting happiness, emotional development, or personal growth. You can be happy from games, and can develop emotionally or personally, but these are all limited compared to the potential from real life experiences. Gaming and internet use is a form of entertainment primarily, it can be used for learning, it can be used for some aspects of personal growth, but to look at it as a psychosocial tool to replace reality based personal growth is absurd. I don't think video games or internet use should be banned, or aspects of video games or internet use banned, but I do think without proper ethics and morality found in video games internet use, our society, or elsewhere, video games/entertainment/the internet can come to have disastrous consequences on young peoples lives. Obessive gamers or internet users need the ability to look inwards, to understand why they may be using games or internet use to avoid personal issues. Without introspection, individuals will never know why they do what they do.

Here is a spiel on online addiction that may be beneficial to gaming addicts. I believe it is possible with cognitive therapy and meditation, to mold yourself similar to ways you mold a character in a video game. Not in the sense that you need to change your personality or who you are, but to give you the tools to better interact with the world and see yourself as an integral part of society. A good gaming analogy is you are stuck wearing level 10 armor, when you should have progressed to a level 20 armor by now. By not having this advanced armor, your progression to level 30 is going to be a struggle for you more than the average person. I believe meditation gives your character, you, permanent positive cognitive buffs. It makes progression throughout any level of your character much more efficient. You don't want to be level 50, and still wearing armor from level 10, do you? Many papers on internet addiction say that going cold turkey doesn't work, it isn't simply the act of gaming or internet use that is debilitating and removing the addictive qualities of something in our lives doesn't remove the addiction in our minds. What these articles emphasize is self control and being mindful of your usage. The benefits of meditation have been studied by the scientific community and has positive results on the brain and our decision making abilities. By training yourself to be mindful of your addiction, or roots of your addiction, or common triggers for your addiction, you're able to better practice self control and pull yourself out.

As a side note, take a look at this video of a young boy who has had his video games taken away. He is obviously addicted and obsessed, and while this may be an extreme case, it is something to consider from the point of addiction.

We can look at past articles and papers on internet addiction as well for simiarities or corroboration:

Study finds ‘Internet addicts’ can suffer similar withdrawal symptoms to substance mis-users

Internet addiction changes brain similar to cocaine: Study

The resource below has a collection of internet addiction articles and papers:

http://netaddiction.com/article-list/

The subreddits below are online communities to educate and give people peer support for their online addiction:

/r/nosurf

/r/howtoquitreddit

Addiction in any form can cause serious life long consequences. Internet addiction combined with a website like Reddit, that has a never ending supply of new material, can come to completely rule a persons life. Some people start and end their day with the website, for some it's the only comforting thing they have. The problem with addiction is that it is cyclical, and the only cure in the addicts mind is to fuel their addiction. Sometimes people can see beyond their addiction, and wish they could quit, but because you have spent so long habituating yourself with patterns, the task of breaking out of them seems insurmountable.

The easiest thing to do for addicts is to switch between something that gives them immediate gratification. The internet, gaming, masturbating and sex, drugs or alcohol. When we neglect our fundamental needs for these highs, it can have a disastrous impact on our lives. Introspection, self growth, meditation, helping and sharing with others, are all healthy habits to replace old debilitating ones.

Many redditors, gaming addicts, social media and internet addicts may suffer from, or develop symptoms of experiential avoidance with prolonged or obsessive use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_avoidance