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There is a wide discussion about whether Internet addiction is a real pathology, but more and more institutions are concerned about its evolution. The educational community and the media such as the Newspaper of León echo news such as those of “Proyecto Hombre” from Spain that “fears that the marked abuse of new technologies will turn into addictions” (LNC, 2019). This institution is dedicated to recovering people from different addictions related or not with drugs, providing support to 2,150 adolescents in 2018. This is a figure that grows every year, especially among adolescents because the brain in this stage of maturity has a different evolution in its different areas. This is the case of the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex, whose maturation in this stage results in more marked impulsive processes, which increases the risk in the adolescent's behavior (Tereshchenki and Kasparov, 2019).
According to Griffits (2000), Internet addiction is a non-chemical type of addiction also called behavioral, which involves human-machine interaction. In this sense, Internet addiction is an addiction without substance, which means that it is a behavioral addiction that depends on the attitude of the addicted individual. It is not yet considered a pathology by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2014), although the latest advances in this sense indicate that it will soon be accepted. Recently, online gambling addiction has been registered as a pathology by the DSM-V, which shares several risks with Internet addiction (Critselis and col, 2013). In addition to this approach, there are others of a biopsychosocial nature, authors such as Tereshchenko and Kasparov (2019) consider that this addiction combines both psychosocial factors or problems and intergenerational psychopathological risk factors. These psychosocial problems involve troubles with peers and/or adults. Here the family has an important role in the coexistence with subjects whose characteristics are compatible with those of an addicted subject since the positive or negative relations with the family influence the progression of the addiction.
The consequences of Internet addiction related to the development of pathologies or disorders are really shocking: depression, anxiety disorders, attention, deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, obsessive, compulsive disorder, social phobia and aggressive behavior.