Are you Internet dependent? I scoffed at the headline, but I read the story anyway (perhaps in part because it's from a college newspaper that uses the same Web service we use, but that's beside the point).

Basically, the article is about a guy who has started a program called MediaDetox, described in the article as a "weekly discussion group and part self-help group for students who think they are addicted to the Internet." Not surprisingly, the program has few attendees, as I assume people probably can't get away from their computers long enough to attend the meetings. I don't blame them, because I really don't have any inclination to join a self-help group regarding an issue that I don't consider to be an issue in the first place.

But maybe there is something to it, after all. I read the article, while a little voice in the back of my head reminded me that I really can't go a day without checking my e-mail. Today has been one of those hell-on-earth, run-five-directions-at-once types of days, but I still grabbed a few minutes earlier today to check a couple of news sites. A survey cited in the article said that a study of 1,300 students from eight different colleges revealed that 10 percent of the students were negatively affected by the Internet. These negative side effects included "grades, sleep time and interactions." I would be one of those 10 percent, since I stay up late and find myself hanging out online instead of going to bed. I also think my classes would go easier if I didn't have the lure of a high speed connection to distract me.

I'll end this soon, but I have a few questions. Feel free to answer them or consider them as simply rhetorical questions. At what point does the usefulness of the Internet end and the negative distraction begin? Is Internet dependence as big of a concern for non-students? What about today's elementary and high school students who will become the first generation of people who really won't be able to remember a time when the Internet was a common household convenience? Will there be National No Internet Day, just as there is a national Turn Off the Television Day?

And, last but certainly not least, what about RinkWorks? Where does it fit in? Does the fact that this site encourages and creates real interaction cancel out the addiction factor? Or am I just attempting to make an excuse for the fact that I might possibly be Internet dependent?

Ell"Read the article because it was published online; maybe that's irony in itself"myruh