NEW DELHI, INDIA: “Each morning I wake up with something really important to do…. and find myself checking my e-mail, trawling news websites, following random links, reading the articles, reading the comments, running a few words through Google . . . and then going back and checking my e-mail again….”

This is the excerpt from an online posting by a woman identified as Rosemary, who thinks she is an Internet addict. But this is not the case of Rosemary alone. In this age.net every other person is an Internet addict, thought many would not admit so.

As more and more people have shown the symptom of Internet addiction the China Government declared on Monday that next year it would adopt a new manual on Internet addiction drawn up by psychologists.

This addiction is a clinical disorder similar to compulsive gambling or alcohol addiction, and Internet addiction disorder (IAD) needs to be treated, feels Chinese Health Ministry.

According to reports, children as young as 12 years are being treated at China’s first officially licensed clinic for Internet addiction at the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital.

Most of these children suffer from depression, panic, fear, agitation, an unwillingness to interact with others, sleep disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands and are being admitted after abandoning school because they are spending so much time using online games and virtual chat rooms.

It is said that China has the world's largest online population, at 253m people. As the income level in the country increases, the number of Net users is also growing rapidly. Reports say about 10 per cent of China's web users are under the age of 18, and many people are addicted to ‘unhealthy’ online games.

“China finds itself at the forefront of this research because we were among the earliest to set up clinics . . . we had a sufficient sample of patients so that we could carry out proper scientific analysis,” said Tao Ran, who set up this clinic.

According to a recent research by Internet media company InterActiveCorp, 42 per cent of Chinese youngsters who took part in the survey were ‘addicted’' to the web, whereas it was 18 per cent in the US.

How serious is Net addiction is evident from the case of James Pacenza, 58, the New York resident who was sacked from IBM for logging on to an adult chat room while at work.

He says that he did so because he is an “internet addict” who deserves treatment and sympathy rather than dismissal and plans to sue the former employer!

So next time when you get irritated if you fail to get access to the Net, ask yourself: Am I get addicted to Internet?

Also tell us whether this Net addiction is changing the behavioral pattern of the Society as a whole.