It's a vast data-surfing canoe that we're all sharing, and I certainly do not claim to be sitting on the shoreline. As frequent and active users of social networking sites, we're all constantly rowing through page upon page of needless information.

The inclusion of 'internet-use disorder' in the DSM-IV seems to involve a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the behaviour in question. What if, rather than new technology having some kind of inherent malignity, it was more that society had failed to adequately adapt to its presence?

In a wonderful article published some time ago in the Atlantic, Nicholas Carr asked the provocative question: Is Google making us stupid? Although it resulted in a long debate amidst academic and media circles across both sides of the pond, there are no visible signs so far that people took his message to heart.

Internet addiction disrupts nerve wiring in the brains of teenagers, a "groundbreaking" study has found. Similar effects have been seen in the brai...