At the first stage, the user gets acquainted with the Internet, learns about its capabilities and chooses a suitable virtual reality option for himself. Gradually, a person forms his own style on the network, which makes up for that lack of communication or information that he lacks in real life.

1. Further, there is a distance from real life, the user begins to spend more and more time in the reality that he chose at the previous stage. The time spent online is increasing … Also, at the second stage of the formation of Internet addiction, when a person stops using the Internet to achieve life goals, these goals are transferred to virtual reality. For example, some people use the knowledge gained on the Web in life, others share this knowledge right there on the Internet, using selfish goals (in a good way), want to become famous or earn money , while others raise their ratings on social networks (reputation on sites and forums, etc.) or simply express themselves . So addiction develops when communication itself becomes the only, well, or the preferred way to achieve the goal.
2. The third stage is stabilizing. The problem is obvious, the signs and symptoms of internet addiction are on the face, it smoothly turns into a chronic form. After a while, the passion for the chosen interaction becomes less pronounced, the activity in the network goes out. A person returns to reality, but he does it without any desire. Internet addiction persists, but in an inactive form, and intensifies with stress or with the emergence of new interesting topics.

Internet addiction symptoms

The main features that determine Internet addiction are the following:

• You feel great joy before each new session, and without Internet access you feel sad and despondent.
• You cannot be dragged away from the monitor by the ears, and under no pretext you cannot be lured out into the street.
• You do not go to visit, rarely meet with friends, i.e. you are slowly losing contact with people offline .
• You constantly update your social media page , often check your e- mail , your account on a dating site, etc.
• Discuss computer topics even with people who are barely versed in the field.
• You are losing track of time . Having looked like a case for a few minutes, you hang on the network for several hours and do not notice how quickly time flies by.
• While surfing the Internet, you forget about official duties, studies, household chores, meetings and agreements.
• You visit the sites not to find the information you need, but go to them aimlessly and mechanically.
• Spend a lot of money on the Internet, as well as ensuring constant updates of both various computer devices and software. You are also trying to hide it from loved ones.
• At the physiological level, you feel the consequences of prolonged sitting at the computer: eye pain, joint aches, sleep disturbances and eating disorders.
• Experiencing the influence of information from the network on your psychological well-being – negative news or messages trigger a storm of negative emotions in you, such as rage, sadness or anxiety.
• You notice how people close to you are increasingly beginning to express their outrage at the fact that you spend too much time on the Internet. And this is a clear sign of Internet addiction . It can be difficult to notice the excessive passion for the Internet itself.