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Should Addictive Tech Come With a Health Warning?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the nanny-state dept.

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.'"

4 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. Heh by Clay+Pigeon+-TPF-VS- · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  2. Re:Absolutely Not by milsoRgen · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I actually had to RTA, and it just got worse...

    Another question is whether the costs of addiction are felt directly enough by companies for economic factors to make them act. If they are only felt by employees, pressure from outside agencies like governments could be the only way to save us from an addiction epidemic. Sometimes it just isn't worth logging on...
    --
    I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
  3. Everything fun has addictive properties.... by WGFCrafty · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  4. Re:Absolutely Not by t33jster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No kidding! What would such a warning label look like?

    Surgeon General's Warning: The likelihood of a psychological addiction to this device is approximately equal to your own tendency to become psychologically addicted to stuff.

    I work in a place where they hand out blackberries like they're candy on Halloween. IMHO, people don't get 'addicted' to their blackberries, they become addicted to making it look like they're doing something important. Either way it's pathetic, and no warning label will fix it.

    --
    Take off every 'sig' for great justice.