The United States could be rife with Internet addicts as clinically ill as alcoholics, a study suggested.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, said their telephone survey indicated more than one in eight US residents showed at least one sign of “problematic Internet use.”

The findings backed those of previous, less rigorous studies, according to the Stanford researchers.

Most disturbing was the discovery that some people hid their Internet surfing, or went online to cure foul moods in ways that mirrored the way alcoholics use booze, according to the study’s lead author, Elias Aboujaoude.

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News source: Yahoo! News