Slashdot Mirror
Should Addictive Tech Come With a Health Warning?
holy_calamity writes "Academics researching how technology addiction affects businesses and employees say 'habit-forming' gadgets like Blackberries should be dispensed along with warnings about the effect they can have on your life. 'We don't want to be in a situation in a few years similar to that with fast food or tobacco today. We need to pay attention to how people react to potentially habit-forming technologies.'"
Any behavior comes with a risk of psychological addiction. To stipulate a health warning on devices is absolutely ludacris.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
As if just looking at the folks who play these games isn't warning enough. Oh, wait. They never go out so we can see them!
(Former Eve Online player here!)
In need of warning: "iPhone: Your friends will wonder why you don't talk anymore."
Oh please, big government, save us from ourselves by outlawing more things! We don't need to be personally accountable for our own actions!
Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
It's the person not the tech that has the addictive properties!!!
It's the person not the gun.
It's the person not the blackberry.
It's the person not the _____.
Why didn't someone warn me about slashdot?
Then there will be debates on what is "habit forming" and what isn't... Eventually, websites will have addiction disclaimers on the fronts; I.E, sites like Slashdot and 4chan.
There's no mechanism for physiological addiction. In most cases, I'd say the tech doesn't even create the same brain opiate rush that activities like gambling do. What, should products come with a warning that they're too fun?
Problem isn't the stuff, it's the people with obsessive personality issues.
for Slashdot?
It's coming to the point where warning labels are on absolutely everything.
Why not just have a paper you sign at graduation (and one you sign for your child when it's born) that's a coverall warning for all those little common-sense things that you should know:
"Life contains hazards. Use at your own risk."
Yes, some warning labels are necessary--but really, anyone with a grain of common sense and the least bit of personal responsibility should be able to take care of themselves as regards addictions, whether electronic, chemical, or psychological--if they end up addicted, then let 'em have some help with it, by all means, but don't annoy the rest of us with asinine warning labels on everything.
Besides, at this point, who actually reads warning labels anymore? They're everywhere; to actually bother reading 'em is too much of a hassle for most people. They just fade into the background--does anyone here know how many different "Surgeon General's Warnings" there are for packs of cigarettes? Or that there's more than one?
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Company's lawyerspeak on package: Warning: This product may lead to psychological addiction, not having a life, lack of sleep, and other ill effects.
Teenage or young adult customer: COOL! I gotta have one of those!
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Just imagine warning labels on every single porn site and movie, talk about killing the mood
If it is something useful and usable, you would get addict playing with it; if it is not useful or buggy, you might addict trying to improve/fix it.
And there is no proof that such additions can be avoided.
I can quit slashdot any time I want.
As long as doing something (gaming, gambling, alcohol, drugs) potentiates the production of dopamine, then it has the potential to cause addiction.
Doing things you enjoy are fun, usually when you're having fun dopamine levels rise significantly in your brain.
Dopamine is commonly associated with the pleasure system of the brain, providing feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate a person proactively to perform certain activities.
SURGEON GENERALS WARNING: Iphone batteries contain toxic lead.
SURGEON GENERALS WARNING: Blackberry use causes obesity, divorce, carpal tunnel syndrome, myopia, and high blood pressure.
GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, infants should not use iphone during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Use of Iphone impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause marital problems.
Personally, if there's any addictive activity that I think should have a warning associated with it, it's foisting responsibility off on another person or object. Nothing is anyone's fault anymore, it seems.
I've been addicted to popping bubble-wrap since I was a kid. Put me any where near the stuff and I twist, tear, and jump on the stuff to the point I exhaust myself and forget to keep up relationships or do my work (I used to be a shipping clerk, that was a bad idea). Since it's been seen as so innocent for so long though people won't see the dangers, so I believe we should warn people of addictive inventions. Lets be the Amish 2.0 and say "good enough" to things right now!
I really cant see myself or anyone getting addicted to using any electronic device. Games, of course, but an addiction to using a phone/PDA? Get real. The only time I use my own is when I am actually working on it, or when i am very very bored waiting for something. I have a few games on my PDA, but they only are fun for about 10 minutes before I get bored. I doubt many people huddle in their basement browsing their contact list for hours on end.
If they're going to put health warnings about the possibility of addiction on casinos, beer and chocolate, to name a few things... or even Qdoba, my own personal demon. ;) That's not even mentioning things that are physiologically addictive. Coffee anyone?
i think its time to issue some sort of a warning to all those F5 beaters who refresh, ahem.. read slashdot instead of bashing some xls in their favorite cubicle.
Quit /.?
Nooooooooooo!!!
June Cleaver: "Ward, I caught Beaver and Wally using a blackberry behind the garage --- What should We do about it?"
..."
Ward Cleaver: "I'll talk to him about it"
Later that day
Ward: "Beaver, your mother said she say you and Wally behind the garage using a blackberry. What do you have to say about yourself?"
Beav: "Gee dad, Wally and I were just seeing what it was like. All the kids at school have tried blackberries --- Some even use it at school!"
Ward: "I don't care what the other boys at school are doing. If all the other kids were smoking giant ganja bud spleefs while wearing bellbottoms and tea-shades, would you follow them?"
Beve: "Nah, I guess not dad. I'm sorry. I'll go ask wally to flush that blackberry down the toilet before we get into more trouble with it. I learned my lesson. Thanks dad."
Ward:'OK son. Now get Wally over here so I can ask him what he and Eddie Haskell were doing with that gallon of Mazola and 15 boxes of golf balls in the basement
I have been more and more accostumed to always get more... for example, with cell phones... they come simple, then they add another feature, and if you actually start using that feature, you will not want a simpler one again... and this becomes recursive. It is, in fact kind of addictive.
If we think historically, most of today's citizens of urbanized and developed areas hardly would be able to go back and actually live in the conditions of our ancestors.
I, for one, have a hard time dealing with situations where I have no connectivity to internet. I can barely manage it if I have a laptop where I can at least do some work.
That's my point of view to addictiveness of technology. In a certain way, it is the addictiveness of the evolution we inflicted in ourselves.
Onda Technology Institute
Before taking a measure to fix a problem, one should first know whether that measure will actually fix the problem in question. It's not enough to look like you're doing something, real solutions are supported by data. A priori, it seems reasonable that a warning label would discourage people, but people need to read them, think about them, and then decide to follow them. As we see with cigarettes, some people have trouble doing that. There may even be some segment of the population that disobeys warnings just to be contrary. Is there any data out there on how effective warning labels actually are?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
When did they start putting warning labels on fast food? Is fast food addictive?
Useful tools may be useful. In fact you may find the need to incorporate them into your daily life. Electronic communication tools such as "e-mail" and 'the internets' (A.K.A. the tubes) may also be found to significantly improve productivity. Use with extreme caution.
Bender: Don't worry I don't have an addictive personality - chugs beer, puffs cigar, jacks on
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
"with a warning label this big you know it's gotta be fun!"
Warning: this quote is for hardcore fans only. If you can only relate 60% or less of your daily life to a futurama quote then please disregard this post
http://greenobyl.com/ please.... think of the children!!
Why don't we just put a warning on everything!
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Apparently the nanny staters have proceeded to the point where their nonsense about fast food isn't no longer a scare tactic, but the benchmark by which to define some new scare tactic!
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Absolutely. I'd like those two years I played warcraft back.
Alcoholism runs in my family. It was pretty easy enough to avoid that potential fall. I had no idea that warcraft was just as addictive. I'm not saying everyone who plays warcraft is addicted or prone to it, but I certainly was. I'd get the shakes if I stopped playing for a while.
You can say its my personal responsibility to limit my game playing time. I don't disagree, but when you are addicted to something its very difficult to stop. Call it a flaw in my personality, or whatever, but I think a warning would go along way to letting people know of potential problems and allow them to make good decisions ahead of time.
I think that the warcraft addiction is much like gambling. pull lever get purple.
I'm not sure the problem is the Blackberry. I have one, and far from being addicted to it, I ignore the motherfucker as much as possible.
Maybe we should just affix a single, generic warning label to everything. "Health Warning: Due to the possibility that you are a thoughtless jackass, unthinking jackassery on your part might arise from use of this object. On the other hand, if you actually are a thoughtless jackass, you probably won't read this warning, or care about it if you do read it. Luckily, it's pretty much a free country, so jackass or not, do whatever you like with this object."
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: The Surgeon General Has Determined that Watching Television is Dangerous to your Health.
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Women Who are Pregnant or Nursing Should Not Watch Television.
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING:Television May Result in AD(H)D, Premature Laziness, and Decreased Brain Function.
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Quitting Television Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Intelligence.
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Television Contains Advertisements.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
I've been warned that it might be addicting. Some years later we learn that it isn't addicting at all. However, the avoidance has cost me enormously in opportunity.
I'll suggest a simple symbolic warning label.
A smoking cigarette.
It's been beat into our heads how bad that is for a good 20 years.
edebris bonus!
Public education needs to get back to the basics.
How to cross a street.
How to handle a gun.
How to behave around dogs and other animals.
How to behave in general.
How to cross railroad tracks.
How to identify a blasting cap.
How to dress a chicken.
I, like many slashdotters, was a fairly early adopter of computer and internet technology. In the mid 90's I had a couple-year spell of IRC addiction. The I realized what a dumb waste of time it was and got over it.
I think the general population is just going through a similar phase, now, that many of us went through years ago.
Of course, there are always those without any common sense who don't realize their lives are being ruined by Crackberries, WoW, or some other thing which isn't really as good or fun as it seems at first.
expandfairuse.org
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
As with everything else in life, you should exercise moderation. Anything enjoyable can be addictive, whether it be a drug, sex, video games, or an electronic gadget. It's all in the responsibility of the user/consumer. I'm addicted to Call of Duty and accept full responsibility of a ruined social life.
... is to keep Administrators with fucking retarded ideas like this out of our lives. Perhaps tattooing a warning on there forehead like, "Warning, this is an Administrator and will needlessly complicate and inconvenience your life if only by wasting profound amounts of your time." Well, perhaps more then there forehead, but who cares. They're just Administrators and deserve what they (should) get.
"Do not attempt to swallow gaming disk or insert it nasally, into the ear canal or rectally. Oh and using said disk for gaming may be addictive."
Hey at least they make nice coasters.
We can see that warnings just don't work that well. Using a strap that comes attached to a new device that you just got _should_ be intuitive. Nintendo plastered warnings about doing this wherever possible. Yet, a noticeable portion of Wii users still managed to bypass these warnings and do damage, and then complain about said damage.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
The idea is crap. I don't even know how these ideas get out of someone's mouth without setting warnings off in the brain's "Bad Idea" filter. Like any good programmer, people need to treat warnings as errors and fix them before they infect the whole system.
As a society, we don't need more babysitting. Leave us the hell alone.
We're turning into Demolition Man. I can't believe I live in a society that could produce such a poignant story and fail to grasp the meaning of it. Britain wants to ban salt, we've already banned trans fatty acids, we have our leaders preaching that their should be limits on free speech, cigarettes have almost reached criminal status, and it's illegal to treat terminally ill patients with marijuana, god forbid they miss out on all the pain and anguish of slow deterioration. Yet we're still talking about what other areas need restricting. I'll decide what's good for me and however I end up, it's on me. Big brother can piss off.
To equate "habit-forming" to addictive substances in really rude and incosiderate to those who suffer from real addictions like tabacco, alcohol or drugs. These addictions are life threatening, and are biological addictions, not habits.
Second, are these devices the source of the addiction? Aren't we addicted to what these devices "can do for us", as opposed to, "are". We are addicted to communication, information, and entertainment. Anything that enables these natural pleasures will get used. But to say the blackberry or cell phone brings a new addictive ingredient to the mix, seems a bit awkward. We are addicted to "being able to get the news whenever we want", and not "being able to transmit data packets over the airwaves".
Further, it turns out that those unfortunate people who do get diagnosed with conditions such as "internet addiction", usually have underlying issues like depression, or escapism. Nothing about the internet or handhelds will cause a normal person to loose control of their senses or their lives.
There is nothing special about a Blackberry. It is a device that can be used as a phone and a very simplistic internet device. I have one, and it is not even close to the habit forming level of cigarettes, drugs or alcohol. If you need a warning label for a Blackberry then you fail at life.
I'm with the person who complained that no one seems to be held responsible for their own actions anymore and so a warning has to be given to avoid legal liability. This is nutty.
But the addictiveness of recent technology is I think unquestionable. Probably the best antidote to it though is public discussion not required warnings. Personally I prefer mockery. I don't say that to be mean. I just think that it is one of the most effective tools for changing social behavior. Once Davie Letterman or someone similar starts poking fun at someone or something no one wants to be seen with that person or doing that something. So enough jokes about how silly adults look in meetings pecking away two-thumbed at their blackberries might be more helpful than anything else in at least getting the possibly addicted to step back and look at their habit. As I said I do think light mockery is the most effective means. Barring that just talking about it as in this thread has got to be more helpful than warnings.
It only appears like an addiction. When actually we just have nothing better to do.
If work was more fun than playing with our blackberries and iphones and web surfing, we'd be all for it. And we'd be "addicted" to our work.
There's a lot of posts about why we shouldn't have warning labels if they don't protect the person, or if the person doesn't listen, etc. I think everyone is missing the point. Warning labels are not about protecting the reader. It's about protecting the person who made the product. I like to think we as a society aren't so stupid as to think warning labels make a difference. Everyone knows they don't. To keep pointing out the obvious that they won't stop anyone from doing something stupid and expecting the system to change is a complete failure to understand the system.
Warning labels exist not because a woman was stupid and burned her lap with hot coffee. She was stupid. Everyone knows that. They exist because she decided to sue and wasn't laughed out of court. She wasn't laughed out of court because everyone likes to attack the big companies. Because if yer on a jury with this poor burned woman on one side, and a megacorporation on the other, yer going to make the coorporation pay just because it's the liberal-ish thing to do. And so now companies have to protect themselves. I would too, if some person could sue me for a hundred billion gajillion USD. I'd put warning labels on every single thing I made.
When you see a warning label, replace 'warning' with 'disclaimer' and suddenly the whole system makes a lot more sense. Warning labels are not indicative of a nanny state or anything like that, it's indicative of there being a huge risk of someone deciding to sue you, and actually winning.
Having so many stupid warnings is not only useless, but harmful. I mean besides hindering the process of natural selection where people dumb enough to stick their hands into lawn mowers have a higher chance of being eliminated. As it is, there's too much clutter. I mean, seriously, there's pans that say things like "WARNING: May be hot when heated." Anyway, the problem is that in the midst of "Do not hit yourself in the head with this object" you're liable to miss warnings that may actually be important that may not be obvious to everyone. You know, like how you shouldn't use that bleach with that ammonia product since it might melt your lungs. If any time you saw a warning, you knew you'd better read it, it'd actually make a difference. Nobody reads the orange-bordered text in 2 point font that tells you not to be an idiot in 5,000 words. So when the 5000-5004 words are important, people miss that, too.
Actually, it's all my fault. Everything I think comes true. I made you say that.
Joking aside, my above silly statement is an example of Magic Thinking. I always felt it was the opposite of victimization, the idea that everything I think and do affects the world.
Personally I feel that the concepts of "self" and "other" are illusory. Everything is interconnected. Just by reading this sentence I typed, your brain has been physically altered forever. Addiction is just the result of mental processes, feedback systems reacting to internal and external stimuli. It's unlikely warning labels would help. Electric shocks when you use them too often would do nicely.
Posting on slashdot can be addictive please do not over use. If you percieve signs of grammar nazi-ism or trolling, please consult a professional.
Blazing Spiders
I'm hopelessly addicted to looking out for everyone else's well being.
...because, I tell ya, I simply cannot eat my Cheerios without a spoon, no matter how hard I try not to. Put those warnings on couches too - my butt seems to be endlessly attracted to the couch. And I think the absolute worst offender, the most addictive technology - is the car. Without my car, that 5 miles to work seems impossible. I get tremors when the car is in the shop.
Anything that has value can be psychologically 'habit' forming. Do people honestly expect to be able to claim "No one warned me that I can become hopelessly dependant on this product!" and be recompensed for their "trouble?".
Jesus christ, never make a successful product again...anyone...ever.
Check please, i'm out of the universe.
Ice Cream has no bones.
... but it sounds like a feature, not a bug. Is this going to be like those explicit lyrics warnings on CeeDees? Heck, it may just sell more electronic devices. I don't know if I want to buy anything I didn't really wanna use all the time.
That "situation" is a symptom of human nature. It is not related to fast food or tobacco. Or gadgets. If you don't want that situation, then get to work on engineering Homo Superior.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
But I like to have addictions the old fashioned way with booze and cigarettes.
I suppose being addicted to a blackberry would be cheaper and better on my health on the long run, but it just doesn't have that wonderful taste in the mouth after drinking my brains out since 9 in the morning the day before.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
From myself.
Stupid nanny state. Grr
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I've never attempted to eat my technology... so why should it come with such a warning?
1&1 - Cheap domain and web hosting.
everyone i know with a blackberry or similar phone with a qwerty keyboard is totally addicted to it. i've had phone conversations where i could hear someone clicking buttons, sending texts while talking to me. i have to wait on people at my register at work, who, every single day, will be on their phone. every time i see them, every day. i don't think a health warning would keep anyone from using it, but it's not that bad of an idea. i don't even have a cellphone. it's pretty easy to live without one, believe it or not.
I mean, I could stop anytime I wanted. Hold on, just let me check my blog stats. Got to give it another 2 mins to update. Ok like I was saying, technology is not addictive, just because I posted to 7 blogs today and responded to 23 comments doesn't mean I have to. Its just something I enjoy. Gotta reply to this txtmsg, BRB. Kay, anyway ooh 2 mins up. Oh yeah 12 more visitors. Where the hell is Riga, Google says Latvia. Hang on, laptop compile is done, sweet. So anyway, damn IM, hell yeah I want to raid. I gotta go, but my point is Technology isn't addictive, it is empowering, bringing people together and then letting them talk smack to each other.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
Just because some people depend on technology to do things that otherwise would be impossible, things that ignorant luddites don't understand, it does not mean that aforementioned luddites should be allowed to force the idea upon society that those things are bad. This is the same kind of thing as anti-abortion groups running TV commercial announcing "counseling" for nonexistent mental conditions they claim to happen in women after performing an abortion.
There are plenty of things government can do to improve the lives of people (this is why every form of government was invented in the first place), ostracizing people who drive the development of technology and culture by inventing bogus "addictions" associated with their working habits isn't one of them.
HAY GUYZ, I AM ADDICTED TO WRITING SOFTWARE FOR EMBEDDED SYSTEMS IN LINUX ENVIRONMENT, PLZ THROW A ROCK AT ME!
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
fastfood and ciggs? Are you serious? Since when did using a blackberry give you cancer or make you fat? Ok if you sit around all day and use your blackberry I guess that can qualify for fat, but think about it... if you are using blackberry you probably aren't sitting around your house when you HAVE A COMPUTER!
The only thing this warning should say is "Health Warning: staring at this device might give you eye cancer, but the possilibity is nill to shit"
Seriously, we don't need the government adivsing people how to use technology. If your life is centered around a device.... thats your choice... now where my liquid speed with no health warning.....
"All we ask is five hours a day" - slogan from an ABC-TV promotion to the industry in Hollywood around 2002.
Now that's addictive.
Only if you are going to make the dating sites label OCD people as such, and whacko crazy people as such... Hmmm perhaps we can put up big signs outside fundamentalist christian churches that warn of the dangers the present to their members. That might work better than the protests against $cientology?
Why does EVERYTHING have to have a fscking warning label? Concrete is hard, and you would wear protective equipment when bouncing out of cars onto it. Can we get that engraved instead of water shed grooves?
Life is a terminal disease, can we get a warning for that?
Keyboards were used in nearly 100% of all Internet downloading copyright violations, can we get a warning for that too?
damn
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Why should we limit absurd warnings to technology? How about a warning on religion?
Quack, quack.
-- Tennyson
At least it's not marked as disease-causing yet.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I'm waiting to see bras that say:
Warning/Danger: May be habit forming. Not for use by persons under the age of 18.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
True enough and I have no hard evidence, but you can't tell me physically fit people leading an active lifestyle wouldn't be less likely to engage in addictive behavior? And even if they still are just as likely to engage in addictive behavior, any negative health and social effects would easily be offset by their lack of need of other more serious health resources.
As for "well adjusted", yes that's very subjective. But since we're talking of mandating warning labels, why not mandate psychological tests when you renew your ID/drivers license, that way you could target those individuals deemed to have problems or exhibit signs of at risk behavior and deliver them more comprehensive out reach programs.
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
With no money, you too, will become a ward of the state.
Warning: This Yo-Yo could potentially creating an annoying habit of showing your friends every little trick you've 'almost' learned.
I always think they should have issued a health warning for desktop tower defense, that thing is killing me.
Have a warning "pastry may be hot when removed from toaster"; I knew we were doomed, then...
We just need to instill the lemming instinct on the Morons...
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
Should Addictive Tech Come With a Health Warning?
Yes, because people today are way to f.ing stupid to take any personal responsibility for their own actions. Technology is not like heroin. It does NOT form a physical addiction.
And the yes is sarcasm. Stop trying to regulate and legislate common sense, stupid people...
God, what's next... a warning label on my weed? My bathtub? The forehead of that girl over there?!?!
Warning: prolonged use could result in love and cause a significant changes to your life and lifestyle.
Your post (which by the way, I agree with) reminds me of another issue though that I have contemplated for some time and not been able to figure out -- the matter of information on making decisions.
While adults should be left to their own decisions for the most part, is it safe to assume that *everyone* has read all of the medical papers, scientific journals, safety instructions on a particular object? I do not see how this is possible, as I can barely keep up with all of the papers related to my field of research, let alone all of the other things being done on the planet. It's not a matter of I'm lazy or not willing to find it on my own, but simply that I *do not have the time* to wade through all of this research on whether or not a particular thing is a good idea for me to do or buy.
Thus comes my dilemma: do we assume everyone will find out about the results of this research and therefore have the knowledge necessary to make an informed decision, or do we push a bit harder for people to hear our message by forcing warning labels? I personally like the idea of a well-informed public (I know if chocolate pudding caused cancer, I would DEFINITELY want it reported immediately, which could potentially require government intervention as I imagine few pudding companies would want to put this on their box voluntarily), but I also realize this sort of thing has a huge potential for abuse (i.e., spreading misinformation and bias), and that perhaps some citizens will not care anyway or feel they are being picked on as a result.
You'd have to find a way of informing everyone in a clear unbiased manner (which removing bias from people is near impossible), while simultaneously not demonizing people for making what are ultimately personal decisions (which is also near impossible for many people). So yeah, I'm not sure how to balance that any better than the way we have right now -- which isn't always very balanced in itself.
Warning: The use of mobiles communication devices may be annoying to those around you. Bodily harm may result if you continue to obnoxiously dick with your cell phone in public. Put it away, disconnect yourself from the world on occasion, and get a life.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
I'm normally a very peaceful person. But when I see stories like this, I just want to beat the shit out of people like this! Just because they are unable to live their own lives without constant supervision doesn't mean the rest of us can't cope with the vagaries of existance.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
!!WARNING!! StumbleUpon may cause insomnia, RSI in the mouse finger, loss of social life, drowsiness at work, accidental clicking of the refresh button on non-stumble browsers, and a wealth of interesting but otherwise useless information.
You want fun, go home and buy a monkey!
If tech needs a warning than maybe porn needs a carpal tunnel warning attached as well.
Nothing is anyone's fault anymore, it seems.
That's because it's all Bush's fault.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Excessive use of a Crackberry may cause your thumbs to permanently lock in a non-opposable position, thus undoing several million year of evolution.
Welcome to Costco. I love you...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Pretty much any API that involves threads should have a warning about potential loss of hair.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Humor aside, the whole idea of warning labels has gotten way out of hand. It's perfectly reasonable and sane to put warning labels on things that might not be obvious on first inspection (for instance, many non-technical people don't know that the capacitors in television can hold a charge long after the set has been unplugged), but for common sense items like coffee, it's just obnoxious. Starbucks should not have to put warning labels on their coffee because Joe Sixpack does not understand that hot coffee is hot. The fact that not putting these irritating labels on everything opens companies up to liability is one of the downsides of our legal system.
On a related note, I'm getting really tired of hearing about all these "studies" demonstrating that using technology X increases your chance of addiction, heart disease, cancer, depression, or (insert FUD term here). Guess what: living is the leading cause of death. Driving to work every day statistically increases your chances of getting killed in an accident, but most people don't complain about that because they accept the cost of risk in exchange for the supposed convenience of driving. Last time I checked, there wasn't a label on my steering wheel informing me that if I drive the vehicle, I might die in an accident.
Yes, there are risks inherent in most technologies, but what we need to focus on is risk versus benefit. Only by taking both of these factors into account can we determine whether the risks, if any, are worth taking. But I guess that reasonable analysis doesn't generate catchy headlines.
Cause, realizing the stupidity of religion is just a fad.
Mever nind the typos.
<pre>
[user@laptop pts/4] python
Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Oct 5 2007, 13:36:32)
[GCC 4.1.3 20070929 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-16ubuntu2)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
Please be aware that this technology has addictive qualities; use with moderation.
For more information, speak with your doctor or call 1-800-TOO-MUCH
>>>
</pre>
Blearf. Blearf, I say.
remove all warning labels and let natural selection do the work for us..
Can anyone recommend a good therapist for me.. er.. my schizophrenic network card?
Public Service Announcement: Habit-Forming Technologies
It has come to the attention of this institution that certain technologies and innovations developed over the course of human history may, in retrospect, be habit-forming and could lead to addiction. Citizens are encouraged to exercise caution and restraint in their use of the following list of technologies and are further encouraged to be vigilant for the sake of their friends and family members, lest they become too deeply involved in these potentially dangerous activities.
Help is available. If you or a loved one, friend, or acquaintance finds himself or herself excessively attached to one or more of these technologies, contact your local branch office of the Ministry of Progress immediately.
List of recognized potentially habit-forming technologies:
Is it excessive 'respect for experts'? Is it some sort of neurosis that requires people to defer to some sort of authority figure? I simply can't understand how the default response seems to be "let's have the government warn people!" I mean, any reasonably sane person can control their own actions EVEN when something is extremely entertaining or enjoyable.
Life isn't safe. As organisms, it's our OWN responsibility to evaluate our environment both in the short- and longterm in terms of its dangers to our health and well being. Yet it seems that there is a (segment? class? political party?) in the US that believes that wisdom and security lie in building a state which carefully delineates every aspect of everyday life.
I simply don't get it. In the first place it's patronizing, in the second it has follow-on effects on individual sovereignty that I find repellent: it's a small step from giving a government the ability to define what's safe to letting them MAKE something safe (for the greater good, of course). Once they have that power, you as a citizen surrender much of your autonomy.
Take the push for socialized medicine in the US. Once the US gov't is providing your healthcare, don't they then logically have a say in what you can and cannot do? You can't smoke a cigarette or have a drink - too bad for your health. You can't go parasailing - way too dangerous!
The idea of warning labels for self-evident danger is truly the camel's nose of the nanny state. It can stay out of my tent, thanks very much.
-Styopa
A big difference between being addicted to an iPhone and being addicted to tobacco is that iPhones do not kill you. 1/5 of all deaths in the US are directly attributable to tobacco, even though only 1/4 of people smoke. Second-hand smoke kills more people in the US each year than car accidents and gun violence combined. To put "addictive" tech toys in the same category as this deadly poison is simply ridiculous.
Warning!!! Using Microsoft Windows could be hazardous to both your computer and your health!
Let's put warnings on all things addictive, not just computers/technology products that are addictive. We all know that people that use addictive products actually read and seriously think about these warnings right? You know, like the ones on cigarettes. People have stopped smoking because of labels right?
Let's see, what should we do next. Put labels on BigMac boxes that mention that eating too many of them might be fattening?
This is a very good point, and one I hadn't considered before.
Your brain is not a computer.
"we could arrest and imprison someone for their own safety if they decide not to wear a seatbelt"
I'm all for freedom and personal responsibility, but I think requiring the wearing of seat-belts is a good idea. Dunno about your straw-man of imprisoning non-seatbelt-wearers tho...
"If you place no restriction on marketing and selling self-destruction to people, corporations are going to devise ways to most efficiently get people hooked on their product."
Furthermore, such behaviour is already occurring. If you think about cigarette and alcohol advertising you realise that corporations are doing exactly that.
Absolutely not! Dig a little deeper: why are most people instantly in financial trouble if they lose a job? Usually because they are living hand-to-mouth at best, or are underwater and merely piling up debt. Disruption of income would then mean instant problems.
Whatever happened to such things as saving, putting money away for a rainy day or hard times? Granted, it isn't always the easiest thing to do, but then again, no one forces debt upon "consumers" in the first place!
Actions have consequences. True Americans in the traditional sense will take responsibility for all their choices.
Addiction is defined by physical dependence on a substance, and withdrawal symptoms. You can get addicted to heroin. You can't get addicted to the Internet, BlackBerries, or WoW. These compulsive behaviors are only bad if they are annoying to the person who is examining the behavior. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addiction
Answer this - is coffee supposed to be:
a) hot
b) not hot
If you answered (b) you're wrong. And while we're at it, McDonald's is not a "restaurant". A restaurant is somewhere you go to eat something that might taste nice, not something sprayed off a dead cow. McDonald's is somewhere that you go when you don't have a choice.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
It means something, it just doesn't mean anything sensible. It means any behavior a person partakes in regularly which the wider public does not like. Great example: Gaming is seen as an addiction if you play videogames, say, 8 hours a day on a weekend and 4 hours a day on a weekday. Watching TV on a similar schedule, or longer, is not seen as an addiction. Of course there are real videogame addicts - the guys who quit their jobs, shut themselves off from society and play Warcraft all day - but someone who did the same with TV would, at that point, be labelled an addict as well, because of how extreme the behaviour is.
More examples:
Spending huge amounts of your time and money on a car - addiction.
Same with a house - not addiction.
The people into these hobbies that commonly get slapped with the addiction label recognize how silly it is and even throw it around jokingly. Good example: http://www.treoaddicts.com/
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
*Puts down sign* WARNING: Do not drink juices oozing from corpse. Corpse juices may be addictive.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Slashdot's secretly being spammed under our collective noses.
Had a sudden craving for some gangsta rap earlier? Now you know.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
What ever happened to personal responsibility? It's not like these things are laced with heroin. All I have to say to the people who think this way is that you better push for the outlaw of TV. Look at how many lives that box of junk has ruined. People let their bodies rot away to giant piles of blubber sitting in front of that thing. They leave it to raise their kids. Kids know commercial jingles better than the US Pledge of Allegiance. The Blackberry has NOTHING on TV. It's just that the Blackberry is new - TV has been ruining lives for dozens of years (so I guess that makes it ok). Talk about an overprotective society. We are abstracting all our individual responsibility away to a faceless mass called "society" or "government". All that does is make people care less about their decisions because it is someone else's problem.
...to get a job already. Sheesh!
I'll sell you this Playboy seeing as how you are 18, but I am required to warn you that this is the first step on a long and lonely road. Sure, today you'll whack it once or twice, then maybe not again for a few days. But I guarantee you, you'll be back. This is a habit-forming product, my friend, and it won't be long before you'll be whacking it whenever the opportunity arises.
WoW should definitely come with a warning on the side of the box with a anorexic looking Korean who didn't wash for 3 weeks and looks like he spent his time in Ethiopia...
"This game is highly addictive, and should you need to use it, here is a 1-800 number in case
you need help....getting back into reality and the real world."
"Until they come out with WoW2, make mine WoW"