To The Reader:

I decided to write about the amounts of addiction that can arise from being a daily user and living in the virtual world, Second Life. I chose to write about this because as a member of the well-known social network Facebook, I feel as though I spend vast amounts of time on the Internet. I know from experiences as well that Second Life is much more interactive than Facebook with all of the special details and features that the world beholds. I was curious to see how many people are or become addicted to the virtual world. Also, I was interested to research what the consequences of addiction to Second Life could entail. Personally, I believed that from experience with Facebook and how often I check and update this social network, that with the more detail put into Second Life, that users would become very easily addicted and that they would waste away their day playing a game in a world that in reality, did not even exist. I believe that users would become engrossed in the world and become addicts while at the same time change their daily habits at work or in the home in general just to make time for this game. It was difficult for me to find exact statistics with how much time people spend on the Internet as opposed to how much of that time was spend for work purposes. I would have liked to found more statistics that would give me a better idea as to who and how many people were actually addicted to the Internet.

                                                                                                   Addiction Within Online Worlds 

What exactly defines addiction?  There are many possible definitions and connotations of the word out there but it would take a real addict to explain how it actually feels to be addicted to something and the consequences of being addicted. Addiction is not a word that can be easily defined because of the many emotions that are tied into it. Can becoming addicted to something be detrimental to you, family or friends? Or can being addicted have a positive effect? So, what is addiction? Bejerot defines addiction as "the compulsive use of chemical agents which are harmful to the individual, to society, or both. These chemicals affect the nervous system in a pleasurable way. The individual quickly learns to appreciate the affects, and after a while it is very difficult or almost impossible to give it up." (3). In this case however the "chemical agent" that Bejerot speaks of, is the Internet and the use of Internet gaming and social networking. Again, "The addict seldom realizes that he is gradually becoming dependent before it is too late and the addiction has mastered him" (Bejerot, 3). The internet, which can be an extremely productive tool, has been having an addictive affect on online users all over the world who are not careful enough to manage their own time. According to Dr. Kimberly Young, the director of the  British Medical Journal, "Most people agree that the internet is a productive tool, but research findings document serious negative consequences when it is used in a negative manner." Online users and gamers become so engrossed and absorbed in the Internet that they do not realize how much time has elapsed. Young is correct when she states that the Internet is an industrious tool but at the same time, when overused or used in an unproductive way, can be addictive which could lead to having negative affects on a certain individual. It is up to the user to spend his/her time on the internet wisely. 

Personally, I can relate to this statement by Young because I have found myself overusing the Internet and not necessarily for only research projects and papers but for the advantage that it offers for social networking. This advantage is easy access to keep in touch with friends and family that I do not necessarily get to see or talk to everyday. The social networking device that I find myself addicted to is Facebook. I do not usually find myself just keeping in touch with friends and family but also browsing through their pictures, maybe even more than one time. Some pages have up to 1,000 photos. Facebook is not just used for me to keep in touch now, but at the same time to learn new gossip or to be able to see what my friends, family, and peers are up to, by the second. Due to the recently addition of "status updates," this allows me to view where my Facebook Friends are and what they are doing as well as for me update my friends as well. Because there is this constant updating between me and this social network, I feel as though I need to constantly be verifying what is going on with my friends and family that I do not get to see everyday. This need to feel constantly updating my page and my friends' and families' pages leads to an enormous amount of time spent on this social networking site on the Internet. While spending precious time on Facebook, the time literally flies by. I spend hours on Facebook that I should be putting toward homework assignments or studying, and sometimes this time spent reflects the type of grades that I may receive on assignments. This past week, starting on Sunday, I recorded spending at least three hours on Facebook and recorded that after 9 PM, I had sent at least 11 messages on various friends' walls. On Monday, I spent a total of about two and a half hours on facebook and throughout the day had sent at least eight messages out. For Tuesday, I spent about a total of three hours on Facebook and throughout the day, had sent at least 13 messages. Wednesday which was my last day of recording, I had spent a calculated two hours on Facebook and had sent out a total of 15 different messages. Throughout each day, I checked my Facebook profile about ten different times on average. To me, this time spent online chatting and keeping up with friends could easily be spent on something more beneficial. There are some days where the time I spend on Facebook is significantly more than this and times when the amount is less.

Facebook has come a long way in that there are many new and improved ways to communicate with people such as video chatting or Facebook instant chatting. However, these new improvements hardly compare to all of the details that go into playing the online game in the virtual world called Second Life. I thought that Facebook was extremely interactive, until I realized that this virtual world has all of the features that Facebook has to offer but there is so much more interaction and so many more real-life experiences available to the users who live vicariously through a personally made avatar. Second Life differs from Facebook because the virtual world makes this social networking device look so miniscule by having a plethora of more animated options that relate and embody real-life situations. Facebook is a very interactive social network but Second Life takes this interaction to a whole new level and time can pass by even faster because this is literally a whole new world. A person can make themselves into whoever and whatever they want and interact with many other avatars and just as in the real world, you can learn something new and experience something different everyday. Because Second Life is so interactive, users become so engrossed and easily addicted to this online game. There are not only interactive qualities such as living in a 3D world, walking, running, flying, or even dancing at clubs (as shown in the two pictures above and below) around this virtual world There are options that even allow the avatars to have virtual sex. Second Life avatars can live through this world and do certain things that they do not have enough time for outside of their computer. There can also be so much time spent on just the creation of the avatar itself because there are so many minor details that can be transformed and have the avatar made into exactly what the online gamer wants it to look and act like. For example,  displayed above, there is a picture of an avatar who has transformed themselves into a working robot. The possibilities are almost endless. Details such as the style of the walk of the avatar can even be adjusted and if a "newb" has not yet changed the style of their walk, they are easily distringuished between the veterans as a rookie. This just goes to show how much time goes into perfecting each individual aspect of this virtual world.

Consequently, there are some users of Second Life who become so caught up in this world that is not even real but find themselves spending vast amounts of time playing the game. According to the Linden Chief Product Officer T Linden, he reports that June of 2009 saw "742,000 unique users logging into SL. The 18% of monthly users who spend more than 50 hours per month in Second Life drive 87% of the user hours." In other words, "In June, about 133,000 Second Life users were responsible nearly 90% of all in-world Second Life activity" (Linden). On the very high end, that is 22K people who are in-world 300 hours or more per month -- i.e., on average, ten-plus hours a day (Linden). However, each member that spends this much time on Second Life are not necessarily wasting away all of their time spent. There are many users who use the world for professional reasons. In a study that was done by the non-profit Social Research Foundation, they announced the results of a survey which was called, "Second Life Annual Survey," there were 1,258 survey respondents who are a part of the organization's First Opinion Panel (Think Balm). Only about a sixth (16%) of the 1,258 respondents admitted to using Second Life for business purposes related to their primary education (Think Balm). Although there seems to be a large number of people who spend their time living in this particular virtual world, not all of the users are spending these hours to waste time as they are using the world to advance in the work world or to use it as a part of their curriculum. The most common professional uses of Second Life are teaching and/or collaboration, and meetings (Think Balm). The results can be compared to Facebook because there are some online users who log onto to the social network for the sole purpose of professional business networking (About). Tiffany Monhollan, who writes the Little Red Suit blog on Generation Y and new media says, "I have connections with many that I know in the professional world on Facebook" (About). Monhollan explains, "With Facebook there's just so much other stuff- gifts you can send, friends you can poke, birthdays, parties, and other events, and wigets and tools for countless other applications. However, that's exactly what Facebook was designed to do and therein lies the dilemma for those who want to keep their personal life separate from their work life" (About). This implies that although both Second Life and Facebook can have the professional use available to them, the majority of Facebook users are conforming in order to keep up with the social networking while there is somewhat of a variety with those who are a part of Second Life. 

As discussed, not every Second Life user is involved for the business aspect as the majority of the users naturally play for the pure fun and addiction of the highly interactive virtal world. A particular aspect of Second Life that can be innocently addictive is the formation of virtual relationships inside this world. There is one particular devastating case of a woman who suffered a death due to a certain addiction to this Second Life game. Carmen Hermosillo joined Seond Life and when she first joined, Carmen did not just build a house. She enlisted a small army of friends and acquaintences to help her terraform and builf a breathtakingly beautiful medieval French city. Many of the members of her kingdom, like her, had deep experience with telecommunications technologies and semiotics, and, like her they were looking to engage and be engaged. One of the interesting indivuduals that Carmen met was a fellow named Riz. One of the things that Riz was helping to develop was a role-play system. But the two of them were sucked into an already extant massive roleplay community known as Gor (Meadows). There are about 300 islands in Second Life that are dedicated to Gorean roleplay and by some estimates around 50,000 individuals engaged in Gorean roleplay (Meadows). Throughout this bizarre society, Gorean slaves have masters in which get used for reasons to benefit the slave masters sexually, in other words, cybersex. This partof Second Life seems so much like the real world because even addicting sexual pleasures are available for the users and after some time, Carmen and her owner Riz became deeply invovled and soon enough their relationship evolved from the virtual world and into the physical world and soon enough Carmen fell in love with Riz (Meadows).

Carmen Hermosillo had written an article for the Second Life Herald which was called "Confessions of a Gorean Slave" and in this article she exposed her experiences and the life as a Gorean slave, "The psychological and emotional requirements exacted by the [slave] collar are such that they are also not easily left in-world, if, in fact they can be left in-world at all. One astute Master has written: 'You should realize that when you put a collar on somebody, even online, you are, in fact, fu**ing aruond with a person's real life.' I am not going to dispute the words of an experienced Master. I am just going to say: so much for the myth of in-world only" (Meadows). Evidently, Carmen had been spending too much time living in Second Life and becoming too involved with this virtual world. Carmen had been putting too many of her real life emotions into the Gorean slave land and too many of her emotions were being put into her love for Riz but unfortunately his feelings were not reciprocated as he did not always return her calls and did not have the same feelings that Carmen felt for him. An excerpt from Carmen's essay "Confessions of aGorean Slave," states that Carmen explained, "Several people in Sl have commented to me that theyexpect, at some point, to hear that someone has committed suicide over events/relationships in Second Life...Think about it."

In July, 2008, Carmen's addiction to Second Life had began to get the best of her. Her life seemed to be going down hill as she lost all close family relationships when her mother died and her relationship with her sister had gone to shambles. Carmen did not have a job and when she made the effort to apply for one, she was rejected every single time. Every time that she was depressed, she turned to the virtual world to help as a distraction and in order to feel as though Carmen was relieving her depression. Carmen soon began to realize that her virtual world was not all she thought it was to be when Riz "disappeared on her--in effect, he dumped her" (Meadows). According to Meadows, "Riz would leave her hanging for weeks at a time, unclear whether he was coming to spend time with her in their fictional world, vague about his health, and non-committal about his investment in the relationship. The result was that Carmen became increasingly panicked and unbalanced." About two weeks later, on August 8th, Carmen decided that it was time for her to delete her Second Life account and at the same time she ended her virtual world life, she ended her real life as well by making the choice to not take her heart medications anymore. Carmen's suicide was a result of her addiction to Second Life.

Not every person who involves themselves with this game or social networks become suicidal, becoming addicted can have detrimental side effects though. I find Facebook very addicting as do many of other students my age. However, living in the virtual world has many more features to offer and is so much more interactive than Facebook is right now. Addiction can have many consequences if one does not take care of and concentrate on how much time they are wasting on the Internet. Even though there are some professional workers who need these virtual worlds or social networks for business reasons, the majority of the avatars or Facebook account users are involved for the social aspects in which case the time spent living in these worlds should be monitored.

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