Member Advice on Ciao Addiction > Reviews (87)

I have re-written this review in the light of current events on the site which prove the existance of Ciao addiction.

SYMPTOMS

Have you ever found yourself on the site at Ciao, so enthralled by what is going on in guestbooks that it becomes more important than what is going on in your life ?

Have you ever gotten yourself pulled into reading so many reviews because you want to be a bigger and better colour ?

Have you ever craved the next colour ?

Have you ever written reviews, even when you know that your reviews are at best mediocre simply because you want to be in the charts ?

SYMPTOMS INCLUDE

Getting so involved in the site that you feel it is more real than real life.

Repetitive motion syndrome, i.e. hands that hurt from typing too much.

Re-boot syndrome - Here, when the site freezes or you cannot get into the site, you search for reasons on your own machine, because you can;t possibly believe that a site as large as Ciao could crash !

TREATMENT

There are all kinds of treatments available for this desease and here I will list the ones that are obvious to most that are not "addicted".

1. Switch off the computer and go take part in real life for a couple of days til the online life gets back in focus.

2. Question your motives. I have done this on a regular basis, and think I now have the balance right.

3. Introduce your kids or husband or next door neighbour to your computer, and let them use it so much that your addiction is starved.

4. Throw away your computer.

MEDICINES AVAILABLE

There are several medicines available for this illness. Believe me, many of them work well, although some addictions are stronger than others and you have to "want" to get better, as in smoking and other addictions, plus you have to actually get to the stage where you admit your addiction.

The best medicine is a hot toddy, because it relaxes the brain and lets you chill a little.

Onother known medicine for this type of addiction is rabbit interferon. What this involves is letting your rabbit get near to the telephone line and chew until the problem goes away.

REALITY CHECK TREATMENT

So, we admit we have an addiction, but admitting it, and doing nothing about it is destructive. We believe everything we read, we weep when things are sad, laugh when things are joyous, but we carry on trawling through guestbooks, amazed at new members that tell us things that new members could not possibly know, and going back into life thinking about friends that we have online and how we let them affect our lives.

I have done it. Many others have as well. There are actually different levels of addiction. I have experienced them all.

1. Total addiction. Life does not matter any more. You wake early in the morning, switch on ciao and stay there all day.

2. Semi addiction. You tell offline friends about your online friends and they all think you are a pretty weird person.

3. Abusive addiction. So wrapped up in ciao that your life revolves around the people on it and get involved in on site squabbles and real stress factors that your life would be better without.

HOW TO BREAK THE CYCLE

There is a button at the bottom of the screen that says START. Well this is not where is starts. It starts when you are so enthusiastic about a site that you really do feel it is more important than life. Yes, we have had examples of this since I have been here, obsessional behaviour that is not only destructive to the person involved, but also to those around them.

Press the start button, then press the SHUT DOWN button, and go back into real life and appreciate what little you have in your life, take a look at how your ciao activities have lead to not really giving your best in life, and realise that Ciao is a consumer site, with nice people and also with people that consume all that you are and all that you feel. Those real people will be in your life tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, and Ciao friends may not be.

Ciao addiction is easy to get into. Read, rate, comment, jump from one account to another. That is healthy ciao activity. Get so involved in characters and character assassination that you feel uncomfortable - then that is the start to an addiction that is neither helpful to the site nor to you.

Believe me I have been there. Recent events have shown us that you can die on line and get loads of sympathy, but believe me, the sympathy wears thin. Since I have been on here, I have read rape stories that were not true, stillbirths that did not happen, and I am now adapted enough to recognise who are real and who are not. That is when ciao addiction gets manageable. When you know who are telling you it like it is.

Be careful, be happy, and if ciao makes you unhappy, then think carefully about whether you are getting to the addicted stages.

Rachel