Addicted to Information?

SiMac writes "According to this New York Times article, two Harvard faculty members say that information causes a "dopamine squirt" in humans, a rush similar to that given by narcotics. Just as narcotics are addictive, information is as well. They've given the disorder of information addiction the name 'pseudo-ADD' because it tends to cause somewhat ADD-like symptoms."

Comments

Re:Everything enjoyable is addictive - Wrong

[securitas]

Uh, no. Addiction is more complex than what you outline here. Because something is enjoyable or pleasurable, that does not make it addictive, per se or not.

Here's the definition from the Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions:

Addiction is the compulsive use of a substance or activity resulting in physical, psychological, or social harm to the user; the user continues in this pattern of behavior despite the harms that result. Addiction is differentiated from psychological dependence and physical dependence. Psychological dependence is the feeling that someone has when they think that drugs or activities are necessary to achieve a feeling of well-being. Physical dependence is marked by the development of tolerance to a drug or activity's effects so that increased amounts of a drug or activity are needed to obtain the desired effect. Tolerance also reveals its presence by the development of withdrawal symptoms when the drug or activity is stopped for a sufficient time. These matters are more complex than often thought.

And here's the definition of addiction from the National Institutes of Health's MedLine.

Drug dependence (addiction) is compulsive use of a substance despite negative consequences which can be severe; drug abuse is simply excessive use of a drug or use of a drug for purposes for which it was not medically intended. Physical dependence on a substance (needing a drug to function) is not necessary or sufficient to define addiction. There are some substances which don't cause addiction but do cause physical dependence (for example, some blood pressure medications) and substances which cause addiction but not classic physical dependence (cocaine withdrawal, for example, doesn't have symptoms like vomiting and chills; it is mainly characterized by depression).

What you described is a voluntary lack of self-control. I think that's called gluttony.

The only mistake is to refer to it as a "disorder"

[LiberalApplication]

...because it has been a long-standing tradition in the study of anything, all things, in any field, to give every uniquely discernable (and not necessarily even reproducible) set of circumstances a name and a place in an ever-broadening taxonomical heirarchy of "things we gave names to".

This is simply how we study things. We now know that there are groups of people who react "differently" to certain sets of stimuli, and we have studied the phenomenon enough to have come to a general, but highly contested decision to treat such people with stimulants of various sorts. w00t. What now? Well, while certain researchers delve into the biochemical, genetic, physiological details of this condition, others will subspecialize in particular demographic slices of the group.

That's what grad school is for, isn't it? "Oh, oh, find something that noone else has really put too much time into and go write up a really long paper and come back in a few years so we can yell at you for a few hours".

Even outside of academia, the mentality is pervasive. This is why there's an aisle in stores for "cleaners". There are cleaning products for every imaginable material, for variants of materials. For vinyl, acrylic, plastics, laminates, polished surfaces, glass, concrete, stainless steel, silver, marble, stained wood, unstained wood, painted surfaces, etc... if we really didn't think that way, all we'd have is soap and water.

In any case, I'm glad we do these things. Of course, I am currently being strongly swayed by the prescribed afternoon dose of methylphenidate which is just now (aaah) breaking the blood-brain-barrier. Without people digging frantically into statistical data concerning behavior patterns, I wouldn't have my Ritalin.

Re:Internet addiction is no joke

[Billly Gates]

I also have serve ADHD so anything that makes my already bad attention span worse sucks.

I dropped out of school because of it. I would spend 3-4 hours checking slashdot and browsing the web at a time! After I post messages like this I somehow have to check them every few hours.

I saw a phsycologist who specializes in disabilities because my ADHD was alot worse and I began to show signs of lethargic-ness.( If there is such a word ). Nothing interested me anymore and I could not focus.

Eventually I unplugged from the net and went through withdrawl symptoms. I got a shitty job since I no longer was in school and the economy went into the crapper. I had trouble at first but my attention span improved.

You made a reference to white Castle (which has shitty burgers by the way) and food addiction. In some people who are severely depressed it can effect their lives and jobs just like Internet addiction. Some people are move vulnerable then others. But yes they can be serious depending on the individuals genetic makeup to dopamine overload. I come from a family who has a few alcoholics. In my case I am susceptible because of the way my brain is wired from my genes. ...and hear I am posting to slashdot with my new high speed Internet access and doing this when more important things need to be done. Someone get a gun and shoot me!