I just read in “Caught in the Web” at WashingtonPost.com that they’re a physical symptom of computer addiction.

I haven’t heard much on Internet addiction in a while, and I had no idea that the American Psychiatric Association is considering listing it as a disorder in the next edition of its diagnostic manual.

The APA is considering whether to take up this issue when it updates its official manual of psychiatric disorders in 2012, said William E. Narrow, associate director of the association’s division of research. If such behaviors begin affecting a person’s life and “they feel like they can’t stop, [then] that’s the type of thing that we would start to have concerns about,” Narrow said. It’s also important to consider, “Are there any other disorders that can account for the behavior?”

You might want to step away from your computer for a while.

If you can’t, you might want to click over to the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery’s website or the website of the Center for Internet Behavior.

;-)

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.