" In my experience, the internet is not the disease but rather the symptom. "

I read a href=”http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.18ab052adf1eedf7d84a49d4e4d17883.31show_article=1″with interest a short newsbite /aabout how spending too much time online is straining Irish marriages (via a href=”http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/80904/”Instapundit/a): br /br /blockquoteToo much time spent on the Internet is causing increasing friction between couples in Ireland, a marriage counselling service said Friday. br /br /Some seven percent of couples seen by ACCORD, the Catholic Church’s marriage care service, say too much time spent in cyberspace by one partner is their main problem, according to figures for the first half of this year. br /br /John Farrelly, its director of counselling, said the problem had come virtually out of nowhere in the last three years. /blockquotebr /br /A commenter in response to the news story, I think, hit the nail, on the head, “the internet is not the disease but the symptom.” br /br /If a marriage is good, one will want to spend more time with their spouse, and perhaps if strained, will try to escape in various ways, which might include going online. Or, in my case, both spouses could spend a lot of time online and then use it to make their marriage better. Glenn and I discuss stuff online all the time and always have something fun to talk about. I have never laughed as hard at some of the things I read or had to think so much in response to some of them. So, I guess, like any hobby or vice (take your pick), it depends on how one uses it as to whether it is positive or negative. br /br /If you wonder if you are “addicted” to the internet,there are all kinds of helpful books out there– even one specifically geared towards Catholics called a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0867168048?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=0867168048″emBreaking Free of the Web: Catholics and Internet Addiction./em/aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=0867168048″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / The title makes it sound like “addiction” to the internet is always a bad thing.. .but I think it has its place.