Within society, the stability of the individual is judged by their ability to interact in a healthy and consistent manner with other members of the community. Addiction, multiple personalities, sexual deviation, and so on, take on different connotations in an online context (Kilger, 1996). Studies of Internet and computer addiction (Griffiths, 1998) suggest that, while these type of afflictions may exist, their origin stems from outside of the addicting medium. Just as a gambler's addiction is facilitated, but not caused by the casino, so Internet addiction is not caused by the Internet. Although much more study must be done in this area before sound conclusions can be drawn, initial studies indicate that one common trait of Internet addicts is a disaffection with society.

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