Internets Anonymous

In this cartoon we can see two men, one sitting in front of his desk, using his computer, and the other one, standing up and looking at the first one. They are dressed in the same way (same shirt, blue trousers) so we can guess they are probably workmates and that they are at work, in the firm they work in. The man sitting on the left looks very pleased, self satisfied and shows that he is overjoyed. The man on the right though, seems worried, confused, puzzled.

The man on the right is saying to his workmate that he is going to "internets anonymous" which is probably an organization, like alcoholics anonymous, to kick an addiction, here, addiction to the internet. But he says that internets anonymous volunteers... Meet in a yahoo chatroom! This is an ironic cartoon, which satirizes the situation of internet addiction. So basically, the cartoonist means that this man is going to try to kick his habbit by using it, it's a paradox. We could say it is like if somebody was trying to quit drinking, and to do that, he would go in a bar and have a beer with the other alcoholic anonymous. The goal of the cartoonist is maybe to alert people to the fact that internet, when used too much, can be like a real addiction, a bad one, and that it can be as hard trying to quit it as trying to quit drinking or smoking.

In a way, I think this cartoon is representative of today's world because the internet is playing a bigger part in the world every day. People started to use it about 20 years ago, so it's kind of new, but already, everybody is a little addicted to it, because it's so easy to use. The internet helps do a lot of things like writing to people, meeting people, buying things, working, etc... a lot faster then before! Nowadays, most of the communication is mostly made through the internet.

I don't really feel concerned about this cartoon because even though I use internet a lot, and my phone is always in my pocket, I'm not completely addicted to it. I can live without it for days, and go out instead, have a social life... I don't need  the internet, but I like it a lot, and use it, like everyone else.

Internet addiction can be a real problem for some people, because when addicted a lot to the internet, you stop going out, stop socializing, you stop doing everything that a normal human being does, and you become like a vegetable. The internet can show you and teach you a lot, but if you use it too much and not in the right way you become stupid, like the man in the cartoon, who is not even aware of his addiction. Also, if only 20 years after the real beginning of the internet, everyone is so "addicted" to it already, what will it be in 10, 20, 50 years?