Internet sex causes depressionNo longer affects eyesightBy Nick Farrell: Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 9:47 AMPEOPLE WHO visit online sex sites have "alarmingly high" rates of depression, anxiety and stress, according to boffins.The research, conducted by the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, discovered that punters who seek out cyber sex waste hours a day on the 'hobby'.This is because the people searching for online sexual thrills are overwhelmingly male and the quest for a female who will engage in the practice is a bit like searching for the holy grail.Still, the Australian research also revealed that people involved in cyber sex were well-eductated, which is nice to know because it takes a university doctorate to write the phrase "wot r u wearing?" one handed.Most spend more than 12 hours on the sites each week mostly chatting, participating in cyber sex with webcams, downloading video and images, or sending erotic emails.More than 65 percent of the 1,325 American and Australian men surveyed said they had met someone off line that they had first encountered online.Marcus Squirrell, a doctoral student at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, said what concerned the boffins was the high rate of poor mental health among the sample group. Sounds like Squirrell is obsessed with nuts to us.More than 27 percent of them were moderate to severely depressed on the standard scales.Another 30 percent had high levels of anxiety and 35 per cent were moderately to severely stressed.Apparently the more they engaged in online sexual activity, the higher their level of depression and anxiety was. No statistic was gathered on failing eyesight, or mouse and keyboard replacement.
