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?

Comments

everything Could Be addictive

[turkeydance]

if you let it

Re:everything Could Be addictive

[thegarbz]

if you let it

This exactly. What is addictive? I find browsing the internet addictive. It releases endorphins and makes me happy so I continue to do it. I also do the same with wakeboarding, and tinkering with electronics.

Yes.

[Narcocide]

Anything can be addictive if you like it.

Re:Yes.

[rtb61]

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.

are we "addicted" to the workplace?

[Anonymous Coward]

Every day, i find myself spending 8 hours sitting in a bizarre grey cube doing what people who are called my "bosses" tell me to do. Mostly it involves typing things into a black box, which then shows me markings on a screen, after which i type more things into the black box.

Twice a month i receive "credits" in an "account" - essentially i am just making a number go up in a database. Much like a gamer.

If you count travel and lunch time, i spend 50 hours a week doing this activity. I'm starting to get worried. At this "Workplace" we are not supposed to talk about sex, drugs, racism, or anything controversial. There are cameras watching us all day long and recording our keystrokes. It can get a bit weird after a while. I wonder if I have joined a cult?

But mostly, when I tried to stop "doing work", i was told that I had to move out of my apartment, stop driving my car, and stop buying food! This "work habit" had gotten way out of control - i couldn't live without it.

I don't know if there is a solution, but I wish someone could help me. Even my psychologist asked me for "money" when I tried to talk to her about it! ! ! Crazy.

How about no

[Snotnose]

Do you foam at the mouth if you can't play a game when you want? Do you twitch when you can't get at your facebook profile? Do you break into people's houses when you can't get a grindr match?

You ain't addicted, you're a lawyer looking for a way to get your stupid ass client off whatever stupid thing you did.

Re:How about no

[jenningsthecat]

Do you foam at the mouth if you can't play a game when you want? Do you twitch when you can't get at your facebook profile? Do you break into people's houses when you can't get a grindr match? You ain't addicted, you're a lawyer looking for a way to get your stupid ass client off whatever stupid thing you did.

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.

Re:How about no

[Wycliffe]

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.

Re:How about no

[jiriw]

I'm addicted to water. Even daily doses don't cut it for mild withdrawal symptoms. I have to have a hit every couple of hours. If I go three days without it, withdrawal symptoms become murderous, literally. And it's not only me. Wars are fought over it. It's the most destructive drug on the face of the earth. Not only for about every living thing, but also for the earth itself... Erosion is mostly caused by water (related) processes.
More than 7 billion people and even most animals are addicted to the stuff, not to speak of basically most every living thing on this blue globe! Some creatures even need to swim in the stuff to survive!
If you think about it, how could it be otherwise? She (Earth) is tempting us with the stuff, let it seem to be in abundance. But there is, compared to total mass, very little of it, only at boundary of Earth's crust and atmosphere it's in 'abundance' and much of it needs to be pure enough for actual 'safe' use, else diseases spread like wildfire, worse than heroin and contaminated needles. There are some 'safe' adulterants for 100% H2O... certain minerals, some carbohydrates and derivatives. But they are mostly stop-gap measures and many only make you need more of the stuff eventually.
We really need to stop this addiction. Let's blow up the earth and never be addicted again!

(Disclaimer for those who don't get sarcasm: This post is intended as and should be considered sarcasm. I do not intend to actually blow up the earth. I'm not affiliated to any terrorist movement without or with capabilities of doing so, except a government that seems to have 'leased'/'allowed stationing'/'whatever' some WMD's of a certain bigger government that might be able to 'make a dent'... I repeat again: This post is intended as and should be considered sarcasm. That includes parts of this bracketed disclaimer that don't mention sarcasm.)

Re:How about no

[Puff_Of_Hot_Air]

it should only count as an addiction if it interferes with your life.

There are plenty of functional alcoholics, smokers, even users of heroin. Just because you've managed to incorporate it into your life doesn't mean your not addicted, or that it's a good thing. But in general I completely agree with you, it's just that most addicts are incapable of realizing that they have a problem on their own. (I.e. I'm not addicted! It's not hurting anyone!)

I'm sorry

[93 Escort Wagon]

The summary was pretty long. I did skim the first couple of lines, but - was there a question or something in there, somewhere?

- Sent from my iPad

Re: I can say, for the past 60+ crowd...

[Nidi62]

He is just board.

Well, I hope his favorite chair at least has good lumber support

Re: I can say, for the past 60+ crowd...

[Anonymous Coward]

>> He is just board.

> Well, I hope his favorite chair at least has good lumber support

I'm drawing a plank.

Easy...

[xlsior]

...Just count how many "computer addicts" are pimping themselves out to random strangers so only they can afford to play another session of WoW?

Computer addiction

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Dumb Question - Apps are meant to be additictive

[mykepredko]

I thought the whole idea of games, social media and other apps like these that they were designed to be addictive - otherwise how are users going to tell other people about them ("Man, I just can't stop playing this" or "This is the same game Alec Baldwin refused to stop playing when the plane was supposed to take off").

There's really two issues here. The first is that various apps are addictive and the answer to that is yes because they are designed to be.

The second, which I think is much more important, are the various apps not developing and harming long term thinking and reasoning skills? Are they turning us into purely reactive entities that don't think through their responses?

Is Donald Trump president?

Exactly

[bjdevil66]

There's a great video on addiction by Youtube user Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, that offers up the following: "The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection." It's almost too simple to be correct, but it makes sense.

Re: I can say, for the past 60+ crowd...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sycamore puns