Are internet or email addictions real?

There is great debate amongst professionals about what to label the growing army of people that suffer with some form of compulsion relating to the use of the internet, video games or technology. The debate centers on whether internet addiction needs to be classified as a new disorder, or is rather just a form of impulsive/compulsive disorder, manifested via the internet.

Semantics! And not helpful to anyone suffering with a very real problem with the internet, and wondering what they have ...and what they should do about it.

There can be no denying the addictive nature of MMPRPG'S - and mental health professionals are still trying to figure out what to label a disorder whereby healthy men and women, teen girls and boys, get so entranced by a virtual existance that they all but neglect their "real world" life. But are these gamers as crazy as they seem? Or have they simply made a choice to spend more time in a world with greater tangible pleasures - which doesn't sound crazy at all...