An Internet addiction epidemic is being unleashed across the United States, a report of 5000 people in the US has found today.

The report ‘We’re all Internet Addicts Now’ released by Stop Procrastinating found that 78% of respondents believed they had no control over their use of Internet-based products and services, such as social media, email, instant messengers and web browsing. 

Of these respondents, 65% were worried at what they thought was their compulsive behavior and lack of control of their use of the Internet. 67% of respondents claimed the level at which the Internet distracted them was significant and worrying.

The survey also revealed that 48% said they had suffered from anxiety of fear of missing out (FOMO) from what they had seen their friends posting on social media.

58% of respondents believed they had alienated or offended a friend or family member because they’d been distracted by the Internet instead of focussing on them. 

The reasons they gave for alienating friends and family included checking social media during a family meal or event, such as a wedding, checking social media during a meal out, and being angry with a friend because they were envious of what they had posted on social media and felt left out. 

A staggering 82% of respondents believed their memory and concentration was worse as a result of over-relying on the Internet for information and knowledge. 

The survey also revealed 65% of Americans say they have been distracted from completing work by checking emails, browsing the web, and engaging with social media.

The survey found that people were more likely to spend time communicating with friends on the Internet, either through social media, such as Facebook, or via an instant messenger, such as What’s App. 56% of respondents said they contacted friends via social media or instant messengers as their primary way to communicate.

However, American’s were more likely to use social media and the internet to communicate with friends or set up social events at work than at home. 66% of those using social media and the Internet in this way said they regularly used it communicate at work, admitting that they had become distracted from work by it. 

Of the 65% of people who said they had been distracted at work, 37% said they cost them an hour a day browsing the internet at work to read an interesting article, book a holiday or a culture event, or visit amusing internet video websites. Some 12% of respondents admitted to taking a smart phone or tablet into the toilet to stream a TV programme they couldn’t wait to stop, suggesting a worrying lack of impulse control. 

76% of parents in the survey were also were likely to be worried about their children’s use of the internet than last year, claiming that they didn’t know for sure what they’re children were doing on the Internet. 

Other findings from the survey included 54% of respondents admitted that the reduction in productivity caused them dissatisfaction and unhappiness.  

The survey also found that 52% of people thought that checking their emails and social media while trying to get work finished revealed a worrying lack of impulse control. 66% said they lost their chain of thought because they checked and responded to an email or social media alert while they were working on a report or longer piece of written work.

Tim Rollins, director, said: “We’ve been working towards making Stop Procrastinating free and our announcement today looks like it is just in time to help people over their compulsive use of the Internet.

“The Internet, social media, emails are pervasive and eating into our quality time. We need urgently to put ourselves back in control. 

“We’ve always had distractions in our lives, but we have never had to deal with a technology that is everywhere at once and influences every part of our lives. It is unprecedented the level of distraction we have to cope with.

"Our survey shows that uncontrolled use of the Internet or Internet addiction is affecting the vast majority of people. It is clear that everyone needs an Internet blocker in their lives. Now that Stop Procrastinating is free there are no excuses," he said.