Caught in the Net: How to Recognize the Signs of Internet Addiction--And a Winning Strategy for Recovery

by Kimberly S. Young

Book Overview

"I don''t even help [my children] with their homework in the evening because I''m in the chat rooms, and I don''t help put them to bed because I don''t realize how late it is. I also don''t help them get ready for school in the morning like I used to do because I''m checking my e-mail. And I just can''t stop myself."-Raymond, an Internet addict. Internet addiction is real. Like alcoholism, drug addiction, or compulsive gambling, it has devastating...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471191590
• ISBN13: 9780471191599
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

It helped me A LOT!

I use to use the computer since 1997. I use to be on it 40+ hours a week. Now I use it about 5 hours also, sometimes way much less. The book showed me the problem is real. And my family was right, I did have a problem with using the internet too much!It was scary reading the book and saw I had a big problem. It helped me so much to open my eyes...

Simple, right on the mark, and powerful

Some friends had told me I spent too much time on the internet (playing EverQuest and generally surfing) and that they were starting to worry. I laughed at them and said "don't be silly" and then secretly went off and purchased this book and read it while I was away on holiday. I was shocked to find my life outlined on most of the pages in the book. The advice Dr Young gives helped me recognise my addiction and also provided a winning strategy for me to reduce from 40+ hours a week online, down to around 5 a week ... and it was relatively painless!Along with so many other reviewers here "thank you Dr Young" is all I can say. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A wonderful self-help guide for Internet addicts!!

I spent most of my time chatting away for hours and I forgot about my family and friends all the while. Kimberly Young's book helped me to figure out what was missing in my life and why the Internet held such great appeal. The book was able to balance the positive aspects of online use, especially chat room friendships, and help me to uncover other issues in my life that contributed to my addictive behavior. The book really dealt with the issue in a straight forward manner and I felt like I wasn't alone in my struggle. The case studies supported the theory presented and the book offers great practical advice.

It saved my marriage from a cyberaffair!

About a year ago my wife began chatting and suddenly developed a cyberaffair with a man she met over the Internet. Our once happy marriage quickly turned into chaos as she now wanted a divorce. Not only was this difficult for me to cope with, but our children ages 9-14years didn't understand the personality changes that took place over their mother. Kimberly Young's wonderful book explained the lure of cyberaffairs and online relationships. It is the first book to really get at the heart of what makes cyberaffairs so seductive. Not only does she speak to the "addicts," but her book offers specific ways that spouses can cope with cyberaffairs and gives practical advice on how couples rebuild the trust in their marriages. After reading the book, my wife and I are now in marital therapy and on our way to repairing our relationship. All I can say is thank you to Kimberly Young for writing this book as it helped save our family from falling apart.

an invaluable resource for the addicted and their loved ones

Caught in the Net is an invaluable resource for either those who find themselves addicted to internet use or for those who find their lives impacted by a loved ones' excessive internet use. As a recovering chat addict myself, I can vouch for the kind of misery this dependence causes. I, like many other married people I met online, found myself "falling in love" with charming members of the opposite sex and thus jeopardizing my long and happy marriage. As one fellow female chatter expressed it: "I thought I was happily married until I started chatting!" I, like another reviewer of the book, question the likelihood that anyone who has experienced an addiction to chat, is going to recover without abstinence. I found that although I thought I had broken the cycle, once I returned, I was experiencing the same "buzz" and "high" that led me into difficulty there in the first place. The only solution for me was to swear off forever. Dr. Young's book was a refreshing change from the "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" approach to the phenomenon I found in so many other books on the subject which failed to recognize how this problem is devastating real life relationships and how real people in one's life are neglected in favor of attending to the needs of "virtual strangers."