According
to Dr. John Grohol, an alternative theory as to why
people use the Internet to a great extent is a very
plausible idea. No research to date has seriously considered
this theory, i.e. the behaviors we are observing are
phasic. The first stage is enchantment or obsession.
It occurs when the individual is new to the Internet
or is an existing user that finds a new activity online.
This is the phase that is highly “addictive”.
The individual would take a long time to acclimatize
to the new environment (the Internet) as there are a
myriad exciting activities on the Internet waiting to
be explored. Most people get stuck for a long time in
this stage and thus, contract Internet Addiction Disorder.
Many of the addicts need to seek other people’s
help in order to progress faster to the second stage.
Stage two is disillusionment. In this stage the individual
has to become uninterested in the activity they engage
in so often. Once that is accomplished the individual
can reach the third stage with ease---Balance. This
balance
symbolizes a normalized usage of the internet,
it is reached at a different period by everyone and
the phases can still be recycled if the individual finds
another interesting new activity. An existing user,
Dr. John Grohol argues, would have a much easier time
successfully navigating through these stages when they
discover new activities and hence, reaching balance
(stage three) more quickly then a new Internet user.
