Difficult to separate a teenager from his connection. His computer, his mobile phone or his game console has become his oxygen bottle ... And this habit can quickly become an addiction. So much so that a survey of 100,000 young people in Japan found that one in ten Japanese teens are cyber-dependent.

Cyberdependence: The French teenagers concerned?

Nicolas Oliveri, professor-researcher at IDRAC, and specialist in cyberdependence in France and Japan, admits that " young French users are not more permeable to addiction than others ". However, he refuses to give in to " primary alarmism ". Indeed, according to him, the Japanese have a historical relationship with technology since the end of the Second World War. " Many economic reforms put in place at the time have installed in the minds of the Japanese the need for a mastery of technologies in order to be able to support the comparison with the West, then a model to follow", explains he.

Cyber ​​addiction: Can we really evaluate it?

Internet addiction is difficult to assess. "To date, there is no predefined number of hours beyond which a person would automatically be classified as cyber-dependent. It is rather the uses and the individual behaviors which are to be retained as valid criteria of a propensity to the dependency ", notes Nicolas Oliveri. Moreover, according to him, real cyberdependents are " invisible because they do not necessarily seek contact with others, let alone with an investigator wishing to question them" .

An addiction comparable to "classic" drug addiction?

State of withdrawal, stress, irritability, anger, addicts 2.0 can sometimes feel the same symptoms as a drug addict in withdrawal. Nevertheless, this is only an extreme case. These cyberdependents of another level are rare and represent, according to Nicolas Oliveri, only a minority of individuals.

Cyber ​​addiction: A threat to the health of young people?

With the exception of some extreme cases, cyber addiction does not directly threaten the health of young people, according to Nicolas Oliveri. In some situations, it can disturb the sleep of those concerned. More than a drug, this cyberdependence can hide a desire to escape especially in adolescents. Some teens in search of identity take refuge in a world 2.0 in which they can reinvent themselves as they please. If some people lock themselves in, most young people are quickly caught up in the "real life". Between professional life and private life, they naturally drop out of their cyberdependence.

Cyber ​​addiction: How to detoxify?

According to Nicolas Oliveri, the only way to overcome cyberdependence is communication. Who says dependency, says distress and therefore call for help. In fact, communicating allows one to expiate one's uneasiness, to share it, to understand it, but also to make others understand it. Of course, in some extreme cases, it is advisable to see a specialist who will take care of the cyberdependent.