I think I'm becoming an internet addict as an escape from caregiving. Is this affecting anyone else?

I am a live-in caregiver for my 95 year old father and my 76 year old sister who is suffering from cancer and effects of chemo. I rarely get to leave the house, so I have been using the internet excessively to somehow see and connect with the outside world. I stay up late online for hours when they are sleeping and get very little sleep. I have been clinically depressed for many years, and it seems to make me feel better for a short while. When things get bad here, the first thing I want to do is get online. I am definitely not at my best to take care of them, and I always feel hung over as if I had been drinking or something, but I just can't seem to avoid it. I do some design work online, and use it for necessary things like organizing appointments, bills, and supporting causes I care about, but one link leads to another. I was an addictions counselor years ago and I see some similarities between this and alcohol and drug addictions.