I can't yet find the K-scale online -- the Korean measure of whether your Internet addiction is bad enough to need detox boot camp -- but here's the closest substitute.
How do you score? Be honest, now! Then I'll tell you my score.
Very ironically, the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery is . . . online. And in a sidebar, they say:
- Download and listen to our latest Podcast
- Check out our new Recovery Blog
- Find valuable resources in our online bookstore
Hair of the dog that bit you?
This one is creepy...
"10. How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Internet?"
Posted by: Paul @ Elders Tribune | November 19, 2007 at 09:38 AM
My score is a respectable 48. Perhaps its because I live alone and can't bother anyone else with my online habits.
Posted by: Marlys Styne | November 19, 2007 at 10:02 AM
Like Marlys, I think my score, 40, skewed lower because I live alone.
Posted by: Randy (Internet Ronin) | November 19, 2007 at 10:19 AM
Living alone is not actually the best route to a low score. I come out at an amazing 26. But then, I work at home and my job requires me to be on-line. And my wife (working in the next room) and I cheerfully exchange e-mails when we spot something the other might be interested in -- so much easier to send links that way. All of which means that there is less social friction than there might be to raise individual scores -- e.g. the only person around to interrupt is likely to be surfing the Internet as well.
In short, like all these on-line quizzes, this one is way over-simplified, to the point where the results are only marginally valid.
Posted by: wj | November 19, 2007 at 10:33 AM
Score: 30. "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."
That score seems too low.
Posted by: Icepick | November 19, 2007 at 10:50 AM
I scored a 38. I must've been lying to myself. Again.
Posted by: david | November 19, 2007 at 10:54 AM
Mine was 44, also "average" as per Icepick. I felt it was too low. But then, Internet use cuts deep into my housework and sleep, but not so much into my enjoyment of face-to-face relationships or 3-dimensional activities.
Posted by: amba | November 19, 2007 at 12:17 PM
47. I've tried to be internet free once a week, but I haven't made it a habit. I think it would be a good practice for my family.
Posted by: Peter Hoh | November 19, 2007 at 03:59 PM
31. I'm online all the time because of my job. If I want to read a blog or look up something in Google I just stop working for a minute and do it. I would really miss that, because I can't just work nonstop all day every day. Well maybe I could, but thank god don't have to.
I spend time online when not at work, but I do a lot of other things also. I like to be outside and away from the computer, I like talking to real people, I like reading books. Definitely not addicted.
Posted by: realpc | November 19, 2007 at 09:51 PM
OK, folks. After seeing your scores, I took the test again, was real hard on myself at every opporunity and still managed only a 43. As I know my internet habit is perilously close to neccesitating intervention I may be, all I can say is to those who scored higher than me is please drop a line after you get out of detox.
Posted by: Randy (Internet Ronin) | November 19, 2007 at 10:41 PM
Among the ironies in that story is that the print version of the NYT Sunday had a cut-in box referring its readers to the newspaper's Web site for more information.
Posted by: Callimachus | November 20, 2007 at 06:01 PM
66, BTW.
Posted by: Callimachus | November 20, 2007 at 06:06 PM
And I took the test when I should have been rushing home to my family for dinner break.
Posted by: Callimachus | November 20, 2007 at 06:06 PM
Among our readers, you win, so far! By far! (Which means you're more honest?)
Posted by: amba | November 20, 2007 at 08:28 PM
Maybe. There are two factors that probably ramped up my score. Almost any Internet activity I do is a threat to my employment, because my bosses want to fire me for blogging and generally consider me a worthless waste of time. So all the "despite the threat"-realted questions drew high scores from me.
And I work a second shift, which means my active hours for socializing are 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. local time, when there's no one to do anything with and nowhere to do it. So I tend to socialize online.
Third, I wonder if I'm the only one who plays multiplayer online games among your repondents. A lot of the other bad answer came from that.
Posted by: Callimachus | November 20, 2007 at 09:52 PM
I can't imagine how anyone has the time to play online games -- or the will to stop. I took a look at Second Life once (not exactly a game) and reeled away. Who has time for two lives? I barely have time for one.
Posted by: amba | November 20, 2007 at 10:05 PM
It started as a way to keep up with my 16-year-old son and what he's talking about half the time. It also is rather addicting. The downside is, you end up spending a lot of time interacting (virtually) with people who are, well, 16-year-old boys.
Posted by: Callimachus | November 20, 2007 at 10:51 PM