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Broadband Life and Internet Anxiety Disorder

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the do-what-now dept.

ChipGuy writes "Broadband brings the world right to your laptop or your handheld. With it comes information, and along with it comes desire to stay connected, and on top of everything. Om Malik calls it Internet Anxiety Disorder. 'The rush to catch-up and living a six megabits per second lifestyle, is what I think is going to be first major malaise of the 21st century - Internet anxiety disorder,' he says. Firefox developer, Blake Ross thinks that 'Internet hardwires developing brains with a click-happy sense of urgency that will not defer to reality. We are addicted to information and seek it even when we know it's not available.' Others have described this info-addiction as Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder."

8 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. True. by Poromenos1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    My line went down yesterday. Longest 10 seconds of my life.

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
  2. Women Rejoice by Physician · · Score: 5, Funny

    While nerds are kept busy with the internet and counseling sessions, gorgeous women everywhere are free to live their lives without fear of nerds asking them out.

    --
    Does God treat us as servants or friends? Check my homepage.
  3. One problem with the Internet by konkani · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks to the Internet, the majority are alienated from the mainstream.

    --
    please change me. - sig
  4. This is so old news... by joelparker · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've already read about this on Fark, Boing Boing, and Wired. Blogging on it's so last month and I've already IM'ed on it with my FOAF pals. If you want to know more-- oops gotta go-- my Treo's got an SMS!

  5. Anxiety disorder not new- Internet nothing special by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sure hunter-gatherers had the same desire to stay on top of everything in the forest. The brain can be overloaded at much less than six megabits per second. You can become paranoid without this so-called click-happy sense of urgency. If you really think about all the smells entering your nose, the wind through the leaves, the snapping of twigs in the distance, you can fully wig yourself out. It's not about technology, it's about devoting too much of your consciousness to any of your senses for too long. I suggest meditation, jogging, or any exercise that turns off that over-active cortex and sends you to another place. The internet is just a new form of stimulus that you can dwell on too much. Nothing special. Nothing new.

  6. N.A.D.D? by Deitheres · · Score: 5, Funny

    I, for one, am against the usage of any acronym that is so close to nad. In fact, the pronounciation would be exactly the same.

    That would like the Society for Trendy Undeserving People Instigating Debate

    --
    Just like driving a car:
    (D) to go forward
    (R) to go backward

  7. For a prime example of this by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shutdown slashdot for a few days, see whether all the geeks become anxious.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  8. We are information processing machines by kfg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's what we do. Information is always available, unless you're in a sensory deprivation tank or something, in which case you may well start hallucinating, because you aren't "addicted" to information; you require it for proper functioning.

    I think some people are addicted to labling everything as an addiction.

    Maybe it has something to do with our rather bizzare cultural perception that if you're enjoying yourself you must be mentally ill.

    Actually, now that I think about it, given the state of our culture, they might have a point.

    KFG