There’s a tech addiction clinic in India that just treated it’s first Netflix case! A 26-year-old unemployed man was admitted for Netflix addiction and it’s reportedly the first case involving addiction to a streaming service.
The unidentified man reportedly watched more than 7 hours of Netflix a day and it came with “physical, social and occupational consequences.”
“It was helping him to relax and overcome environmental distress,” Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, a professor at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences in Bengaluru, told ABC News. He added that the dependency “led to preoccupation with show series, loss of control and psychological withdrawal in [the] form of irritation, if [he was] not allowed to watch.”
According to reports, his treatment included “a combination of relaxation exercises, career guidance and psychological intervention to help him overcome the debilitating condition.”
So how do you know if you are “addicted” to Netflix and chillin’? Eytan Alexander, the CEO and founder of UK Addiction Treatment, said it’s all about if you are missing work or isolating yourself from your family and friends.
“With Netflix, just because you go and watch a series from start to finish in one evening, does that mean you’re an addict? No,” he said. “But if you miss work, or you are isolating yourself from your family because you’re compelled to watch Netflix, then maybe you’ve got to ask yourself some questions.”
He added: “Addiction mimics mental health and mental health mimics addiction… It is a compulsive obsessive disorder that gets you to do the same thing over and over again and thinking ‘This time it’s going to be different’ and it’s not. Because experience shows you it’s going to go badly.”
Thoughts, Roommates?
