The grind of the 21st century throws up obstacles at every turn. Nikolaus Oliver is on hand with advice to guide you through. This week: why the internet is bad for our health.
It's 25 years since a company called Symbolics registered an internet address ending in .com - the first in history. What it started has become a global phenomenon. It took from 1985 until 1997 for one million dotcoms to come into existence. During the following two years the number rose to 20 million. The past decade has added a further 57 million and dotcoms are continuing to pile up at a rate of about eight million a year.
Personally, I sometimes get sick of the internet. Mainly, it's the advertisements that pop up everywhere and the spam (spam makes up 90 per cent of the world's e-mail traffic). Above all, it's the unpredictability: the random outages and disconnections, the way things abruptly grind to a halt and the site you've been searching for freezes while you can only sit and fume. And then there's the fact that every search risks bringing you into contact with mountains of irrelevant and eccentric material put up there by the socially maladjusted and underemployed.
But there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that the internet can damage your health. Apparently, 1.2 per cent of web addicts are addicted and this manifests itself chiefly in depression. What's worse, internet addicts suffer much deeper depression than those of us who inhabit the real world. Five times deeper, I'm told, although I've no idea what the unit of depression depth is - surely not fathoms?
The question is, does the internet sap your spirits and make you feel gloomy or is it that when we're depressed we turn our backs on real life and try to lose ourselves in the virtual world and then feel even worse? We just don't know.
Some experts go further and suggest that the internet is actually changing the human brain - that we are ceasing to be human in the traditional sense and are rapidly evolving into Homo Interneticus, a creature who is isolated, lonely, distracted and has an index finger that is permanently clicking invisible mice.
Nonsense, obviously, but it shows that the internet causes certain people (scientists, technology buffs etc) to lose their grip on reality.
The path to health in the virtual world is not to take things too seriously, and not to let the virtual world interfere with genuinely important things like work, family and trying to get a ticket for next year's Formula One.
The biog
Birthday: February 22, 1956
Born: Madahha near Chittagong, Bangladesh
Arrived in UAE: 1978
Exercise: At least one hour a day on the Corniche, from 5.30-6am and 7pm to 8pm.
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi? “Everywhere. Wherever you go, you can relax.”
MATCH INFO
Norwich 0
Watford 2 (Deulofeu 2', Gray 52')
Red card: Christian Kabasele (WatforD)
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
THREE POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS
Khalfan Mubarak
The Al Jazira playmaker has for some time been tipped for stardom within UAE football, with Quique Sanchez Flores, his former manager at Al Ahli, once labelling him a “genius”. He was only 17. Now 23, Mubarak has developed into a crafty supplier of chances, evidenced by his seven assists in six league matches this season. Still to display his class at international level, though.
Rayan Yaslam
The Al Ain attacking midfielder has become a regular starter for his club in the past 15 months. Yaslam, 23, is a tidy and intelligent player, technically proficient with an eye for opening up defences. Developed while alongside Abdulrahman in the Al Ain first-team and has progressed well since manager Zoran Mamic’s arrival. However, made his UAE debut only last December.
Ismail Matar
The Al Wahda forward is revered by teammates and a key contributor to the squad. At 35, his best days are behind him, but Matar is incredibly experienced and an example to his colleagues. His ability to cope with tournament football is a concern, though, despite Matar beginning the season well. Not a like-for-like replacement, although the system could be adjusted to suit.
