Addicted to the internet? It could be all in your genes
Women who are obsessed with Facebook, Twitter and online shopping can now blame it on their genes, after scientists claimed internet addiction was hereditary.
By Stephen Adams, Medical Correspondent12:30PM BST 31 Aug 2012
Although the world wide web has been around for less than a generation, Dr Christian Montag from the University of Bonn, said they had found a gene in people who could not drag themselves away. Most were women.
Dr Montag said that, biologically speaking, internet addiction had the same genetic cause as smoking addiction.
He said: “Internet addiction is not a figment of our imagination. Researchers and therapists are increasingly closing in on it.”
Describing the impact of the genetic variant on those who had it, he said: “Within the group of subjects exhibiting problematic internet behaviour this variant occurs more frequently, in particular, in women.
“The sex-specific genetic finding may result from a specific subgroup of internet dependency, such as the use of social networks or such.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9511611/Addicted-to-the-internet-It-could-be-all-in-your-genes.html