A recent study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, which we get for the lovely penmanship and nothing else, has revealed that women are more likely to get hooked on the internet.
The study found evidence of a new genetic variant which makes people less likely to stay away from their computers and the link tends to occur in women a bit more frequently than in men. The same variation is found in persons with other forms of addiction, including nicotine addiction, loneliness and depression.
The survey covered 800 people and focused on 132 individuals who were deemed the most hooked to the internet. Many of them had the same genetic variation, also linked to nicotine addiction.
Researcher Dr Christian Montag concluded that the same genetic mutation is essential for both nicotine and internet addiction.
"Within the group of subjects exhibiting problematic internet behaviour this variant occurs more frequently - particularly in women," he said. “This could be linked to a subgroup using social networks like Facebook."