I think you can become addicted to anything, so yeah i think its real

Forget drugs. We’d rather be on the internet
Young people are more interested in social media than cannabis, drug charity suggests

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/forget-drugs-wed-rather-be-on-the-internet-8191049.html

Judging by the article it seems very real but I suppose this is a small sample and not representative of the population at large.

Internet Addiction Harms Brain ’Like Cocaine’ http://news.sky.com/home/technology/article/16147572