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The rise and popularity of the Internet as a communication medium has become an ever-increasing part of many people’s day-to-day lives. Coupled with the rise in popularity and usage, there have been a growing number of reports in the popular press about excessive use of the internet under the guise of “Internet addiction”,“Internet Addiction Disorder”(IAD) and “Internet Addiction Syndrome”(IAS). For instance, in as early as 1995, Newsweek reported that 2% to 3% of the online community have serious “Internet addictions” and spend most of their waking time surfing and chatting in this medium (Hamilton and Kalb, 1995). Although the concept of “Internet addictions” and its derivatives appear to have its supporters in the popular press, there is a form of “knee-jerk scepticism” amongst the academic community-not least among those working in the field of addiction research.

It is not hard to understand the scepticism …