Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Are Interactive Computing Devices Addictive?
This question came from two things noticed by Slashdot reader dryriver:
"Myself and just about every other kid I was friends with in the 1980s were definitely addicted to computers when we were young, and stayed that way until we reached college."
"There is increasing concern about everybody from young kids to people 60+ staring into smartphone, tablet computer and laptop screens for hours and hours every day and not partaking in other activities they used to before the "glowing screen" hooked them."
His question: Are interactive computing devices, whether networked or not, addictive in nature? What kind of applications appear to be the most addictive? (AAA games? Casual games? Social media? Texting?) And could the addiction have something to do with "Neuroplasticity", the fact that doing an activity over and over again each day that you place great importance in, and pay great attention to, can actually rewire the neurons in your brain?
Nicholas Carr once argued that "We're training ourselves, through repetition, to be facile skimmers, scanners, and message-processors -- important skills, to be sure -- but, perpetually distracted and interrupted, we're not training ourselves in the quieter, more attentive modes of thought." Slashdot readers seem uniquely qualified to address this, so leave your own attentive thoughts in the comments. Are interactive computing devices addictive?
"Myself and just about every other kid I was friends with in the 1980s were definitely addicted to computers when we were young, and stayed that way until we reached college."
"There is increasing concern about everybody from young kids to people 60+ staring into smartphone, tablet computer and laptop screens for hours and hours every day and not partaking in other activities they used to before the "glowing screen" hooked them."
His question: Are interactive computing devices, whether networked or not, addictive in nature? What kind of applications appear to be the most addictive? (AAA games? Casual games? Social media? Texting?) And could the addiction have something to do with "Neuroplasticity", the fact that doing an activity over and over again each day that you place great importance in, and pay great attention to, can actually rewire the neurons in your brain?
Nicholas Carr once argued that "We're training ourselves, through repetition, to be facile skimmers, scanners, and message-processors -- important skills, to be sure -- but, perpetually distracted and interrupted, we're not training ourselves in the quieter, more attentive modes of thought." Slashdot readers seem uniquely qualified to address this, so leave your own attentive thoughts in the comments. Are interactive computing devices addictive?
It is all about brain states. Any activity that produces a individually desirable brain state ie happy will inherently be addictive, why would you not want to feel more content, that is the way a normal brain is genetically programmed. So some individuals find exploring thoughts more fun, more comfortable than exploring people or exploring the environment, whilst others are the opposite. The problem is in the nature of control freaks who demand that you alter your activities to suit them, their ego, their greed and their warped lusts.
As far as society is concerned, your behavioural addictions just need to be allowed and be usefully incorporated in that society, not that you be psychological tortured for the rest of your days to feed the egoistic demands of the minority who have usurped control of that society from the majority.
A developing society is all about individual specialisation working collectively to promote the greater good of the majority. That individuality, those personal behavioural addictions, allowing different minds to approach, different problems, from different directions, so as to produce the best possible solutions for those problems and allow the continued advancement of that society.
They are addicted to those behavioural patterns that their brain finds most genetically suitable, why the fuck would you force them away from it, psychologically torture them to fit your mild, your desires, which is what psychopathic capitalism does, which is what we currently do. Enslave the minds of people to feed the ego and greed of a minority.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
At 91 my eyes are not what they used to be and my energies also have dropped somewhat. To have a desktop which puts me in immediate touch with any news event, any comment, any reference for arcane information at the touch of a keyboard plus that the type can be easily enlarged to meed my visual decline. If anything, my contacts with the world and people of similar interest is far more intense than ever before. To characterize this as an addiction is, to say the least, a total misinterpretation of reality. Are people these days addicted to automobiles rather than horses, to airplanes rather than dreaming at isolated spots of seeing the world? This judgement strikes me as most peculiar.I think far better these days now being far better informed of the dynamics of the planet. I do not feel deprived of sitting beneath a tree and studying the bugs.
There are varying degrees of drug addiction - from caffeine all the way to alcohol, opiates, cocaine, and the even stronger addiction to nicotine. Withdrawal symptoms vary too, from mild, to uncomfortable, to excruciating, to deadly. Previous posters in this thread have noted, (perhaps tongue in cheek, but there's truth there nonetheless), that 'anything can be addictive'. Anything that causes a pronounced, consistent, repeatable physiological and / or psychological response has addictive potential - all the way from 'healthy' things like meditation and running, to life-destroying hard drugs. Smartphones, TV, and the like fall somewhere between the two extremes.
I would also argue that just like a psychological disorder, it should only count as an addiction if it interferes with your life. If someone plays video games 4 hours a day but is happy with their life and is still able to pay their bills and takes care of what needs to be done, how is that different than someone who likes to take long walks in the evening or even someone who works a second job. There are plenty of people "addicted" to their job so much that it affects their life whether it is divorce or something else. On the other hand, if you're content working 2 jobs, working out at the gym 4 hours a day, or playing video games 4 hours a day, other people might not agree with your choice but it doesn't matter if you are fine with it.