Internet addiction¹ is now considered a clinical disorder² rather than a bad habit, a new Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) diagnostic manual approved over the weekend by psychologists has shown.

Lingering online for more than six hours a day instead of working or studying and having adverse³ reactions from not being able to get online have been identified as two major symptoms of IAD.

Based on the report, sufferers usually engage in five main activities: Online gaming, Net pornography, excessive involvement in virtual social networking, too much Internet shopping and general cyber-surfing.

The manual would be the first of its kind in the world if the Ministry⁴ of Health officially approves it, said Tao Ran, a leading medical professional on addiction in China who also headed the drafting of the manual.

The ministry is likely to give the manual the green light next year, Tao said.

The American Psychiatric Association is debating whether to include IAD in the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical⁵ Manual of Mental Disorders⁶, the profession's primary resource of categorizing and diagnosing mental illnesses, due for publication in 2010, US media reported.

China has taken such a lead in the study of the affliction because of its rise in the country, Tao said. About 10 percent of the country's 40 million underage Net users are addicted⁷ to the Web, a report released in August by the National People's Congress Standing⁸ Committee showed.

Research conducted by Internet media company InterActiveCorp last year also showed that 42 percent of Chinese youngsters polled felt "addicted" to the Web, while only 18 percents of Americans were said to have felt the same way.

Gao Wenbin, a researcher with the psychology⁹ institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the lack of family care, companions and real-life games are major reasons behind the rising number of young Net addicts¹⁰ in the country. "Most children in China are the only ones in their families. They are told only to study hard, but no one really cares about their needs," Gao said.

Questions:

1. List 2 of the 5 main activities sufferers of net addiction usually engage in.

2. What do the 3 letters IAD stand for?

Answers:

1. Online gaming, Net pornography, excessive involvement in virtual social networking, too much Internet shopping and general cyber-surfing.

2. Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD).