of writing it.

Anthony here for DNews and the INTERNET. I've never had a more complicated love/hate relationship

with anything. YouTube holes, Tumblr holes, I go to check myFacebook messages for a second

and come out two hours later. What makes the Internet so addictive?

There's a theory that Internet Addiction comes from the same bit of our brains that loves

gambling- pull a slot machine's handle and most of the time you lose. But every once

in a while, you hit the jackpot.

Our brains look for patterns and register every tiny difference. It's a survival instinct.

And when the unexpected thing we experience is some sort of win, we get positive chemical

feedback from our brain.

The Internet is the same way. Most of the stuff scrolling by in your feed is terrible-

but that makes every amazing corgi video that comes by so

much more exciting..

Over time, your brain starts to associate the internet as a whole with that tiny feeling

of victory- it's like pavlov's dogs.

We begin to drool at the possibility of good internet. That's why you can't help but look

when you hear the IM bell or the new mail noise. And if you share a great video and

people like it or reblog it, you get addicted to the positive social reinforcement. We talked

about that social aspect a bit in that video we did about Fear of Missing Out.

Another problem is that the Internet doesn't really have boundaries- multitasking is awesome,

but when everything is happening at once it becomes hard to draw a line at where to stop

using your computer or looking at your phone.

You're in the middle of checking Facebook and you get an email, and you're finishing

that email when you get a Twitter reply.

Studies show that willpower can be exhausted- sort of like a muscle. And cognitive tasks

can be really exhausting.

So here you are, sitting in front of a screen that's giving you endless things to think

about and emotionally react to- and your willpower just wears out and you keep clicking around.

If your internet addiction is particularly bad, hi, hello, that's me- its recommended

that you make strict boundaries on your time. I use this pomodoro timer that makes me work

in 20 minute intervals, then gives me 5 minutes off to bum around the internet doing whatever

I want. I don't... follow it. But I should.

Internet Addiction is so prevalent that it's actually mentioned in the newly released DSM-5-

the manual for the mental health professionals. It's not classified as a disorder YET, but

it's 'recommended for further research." I say get on it, science, because it feels crazy

real to me. How bad is your internet addiction? Be honest, this is a safe place. And not to

make things worse if your addiction's bad, but I'd love it if you subscribed here for

more DNews.

And not to make things worse if your addiction's bad, but I'd love it if you followed us on

Twitter or liked us on Facebook.