How Addictive Are You? - Internet Addictions Test

Many of us may have experienced the situation when yourself or someone does not admit own addictive behavior towards internet. It is because we do not know the standard of considering one as Internet Addict. Have you wondered how addictive you really are towards internet?

Internet Addiction Test (IAT), a reliable and valid measure of addictive use of Internet, developed by Dr. Kimberly Young. It consists of 20 items that measures mild, moderate and severe level of Internet Addiction. Let's try it out!

Answer the following questions by using this scale:-
1 = Rarely 2 = Occasionally 3 = Frequently 4 = Often 5 = Always 0 = Does not apply

1. How often do you find that you stay on-line longer than you intended?
2. How often do you neglect household chores to spend more time on-line?
3. How often do you prefer the excitement of the Internet to intimacy with your partner?
4. How often do you form new relationships with fellow on-line users?
5. How often do others in your life complain to you about the amount of time you spend on-line?
6. How often do your grades or school work suffers because of the amount of time you spend on-line?
7. How often do you check your email before something else that you need to do?
8. How often does your job performance or productivity suffer because of the Internet?
9. How often do you become defensive or secretive when anyone asks you what you do on-line?
10. How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Internet?
11. How often do you find yourself anticipating when you will go on-line again?
12. How often do you fear that life without the Internet would be boring, empty, and joyless?
13. How often do you snap, yell, or act annoyed if someone bothers you while you are on-line?
14. How often do you lose sleep due to late-night log-ins?
15. How often do you feel preoccupied with the Internet when off-line, or fantasize about being online?
16. How often do you find yourself saying “just a few more minutes” when on-line?
17. How often do you try to cut down the amount of time you spend on-line and fail?
18. How often do you try to hide how long you’ve been on-line?
19. How often do you choose to spend more time on-line over going out with others?
20. How often do you feel depressed, moody or nervous when you are off-line, which goes away once you are back online?

Total up the scores for each item. The higher your score, the greater level of addiction is.

20 – 49 points:
You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

50 – 79 points:
You are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because of the Internet. You should consider their full impact on your life.

80 – 100 points:
Your Internet usage is causing significant problems in your life. You should elevate the impact of the Internet on your life and address the problems directly caused by you Internet usage.

Have you found out your addictive usage level of Internet? Do you have high level of addiction or low level of addiction? I hope that this test could help you in finding out more about yourself on your internet usage. Let's reflect your behavior on internet usage and started taking note on the habits on internet usage before it gets worse. We shall talk about the research done for this IAT and discuss more about the things we can do about it!