Is IT or Technology addictive ?? 1

[guestgulkan]

Probably a bit off topic - not really about Ethics, but I pose the question -
Is IT or Technology addictive ??
By this I mean, do you think it possible for a person to
come to depend on a peice of technology so much that it could be said that they have become an addict in the generally accepted sense of the word??

For example - take the moble phone.
I know people who have become attached to this item so much, that they feel depressed/anxious if they don't get a call or SMS text every minute.
Surely they can be considered as having a 'dependency' problem?

 

[palbano]

I'm addicted to the emoticons

and for those of you that are arguing against those of us that have stated that technology is not clinically addictive ( I will refer to you as GROUPB)

... (GROUPB)



-pete
_{I just can't seem to get back my IntelliSense}

 

[xutopia]

For lack of a better word we are in the latter stages of the "denaturalization" of the original word addictive (which originally meant devoted).

In the medical/psychological world they still use the term in the correct form that dgillz presented. Some addictions are so bad that if you remove the cause of the addiction the body stops functionning. Alcoholics are like that, if they have been drinking for years and stop cold turkey they can die from withdrawal. No one to my knowledge has died from computer withdrawal while camping (unless they get killed by a bear or some other natural reason).

Again in the medical world, something like what we would describe as an addiction to IT they would describe as a compulsive habit, not an addiction. Though today we use the every day word addictive to mean just about anything that someone can really like, it didn't use to mean that. Like dgillz I dislike this. The meaning of that word is being washed out till it doesn't mean anything anymore.

Actually I think what happened to the word addictive is very close to what is happening to the word Ironic (because of Alanis Morissette). If you ask any English teacher to listen to the song Ironic by Alanis Morissette they'll tell you that nothing in the song was ironic.

Most people today believe that irony is having rain on your wedding day. It's not! Rain on your wedding day is a bummer--not irony! Irony is setting out to write a song about irony and when we are finished it is about something else.

Soon though ironic definitions will be creeping up in dictionaries all over the place with the wrong meaning. This wrong meaning will one day be accepted as normal and we'll not question it anymore. Today we are in the later stages of the change in meaning of addictive. Soon (one or two generations) we'll only have written records that show a different more precise meaning to the word.

In that not so far future we'll call addictive anything with a propensity to compulsive reactions on our part (anything fun in other words). Then stuff that is truly addictive like cocaine, heroine, alcohol, etc... will be called clinically addictive or some other weird cocktail of words like "withdrawal degenerative syndrome". So we can all sound cool we'll call it WDS for short and we'll feel important because our generation created a new acronym for a seemingly inexistant word that could describe the same dang thing.



Gary

http://www.xutopia.com

Haran
==========================

 

[CajunCenturion]

I too, like many others, come down on the negative side of the ledger. IT is not addictive. Clearly there is no physical substance that the body has become dependant on, and the only longshot of qualification is perhaps some physiological consequence brought on by the anxiety of withdrawal, but not any physical withdrawal per se. Even that I think is too much of stretch due to the (lack of) severity and longevity of the withdrawal symptoms. I also agree with xutopia and dgillz that we should keep the traditional definitions and not allow convenience to alter our vocabulary.

<sarcasm>
xutopia - Do you really think that the IT community would condone the creation of a new acronym such as WDS in the future?
</sarcasm>

It's certainly true that many people would classify gambling as an addiction, but I think that's based on the mis-use as described by xutopia of the term. I agree with dgillz that it's more appropriate to consider gambling as a obsessive/compulsive disorder.

I would also question whether you can become addicted to IT because it many ways, IT is only a medium. I am not drawn to Tek-Tips because it's web-based, but rather because I enjoy the converations and discussions which could take place in a conference room (if moderated) just as well. I'm drawn by the content, not by the medium. The technology certainly increases accessibility, so it's easier to participate whenever or whereever, but it's still only the medium. It's the content that matters and is the draw.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[dgillz]

Sleipnir,
In terms of my credentials, I am a degreed accountant, not a doctor or psychologist, I just know a little bit about this subject due to family issues with addiction.

skiflyer
I meant no offense to anyone on this subject, I am of the strong opinion that words like &quot;addiction&quot; are tossed around too freely, and this thread is an example of that.

My apologies to you or anyone else I have offended.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Exact Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.trianglepartners.com

dgilsdorf@trianglepartners.com

 

[guestgulkan]

I think i see where you are coming from dgillz.
I spend some of my time working with a local drug agency and with disadvantaged kids.
The term addict is certainly now frowned upon. They are 'users' or 'have a dependency problem'.
Using these new terms, then some people would certainly have a dependency problem.
We have tried to use IT/computers as a creative oulet for local teenagers, but their interest does not stretch beyond Instant messaging (MSN + Yahoo in particular) and SMS texting.
These two things in particular have become the bane of my life.
I'm sure it's no coincidence that the reason given for their new behaviour ('social inclusion', 'their friend do it','attention seeking',etc..) are the same one given for their use of chemical stimulants.

 

[EricDraven]

dgillz

Going back a few years, my Grandfather was addicted to gammbling. He would blow a tonne of cash at the bookies, and then go and blow a damn sight more. According to your description of addiction though, he wasnt actually addicted to it because he wasnt inhaling anything (well actually he was cos he was a forty a day smoker). It seems a little narrow minded to clarify an addiction as only being an addiction when something is inserted into the bloodstream (i.e Drugs & alcohol).

Arte Et Labore

 

[EricDraven]

dgillz

In fact this article from only a few days ago actually mentions the compulsive aspect of gambling etc and then states that it is an addiction!

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/sports/5739720.htm

It seems to me that you are actually misinformed about the obsessive/compulsive disorder. More often than not this actually stems from a persons inner fears which is absolutely naff all to do with addiction! If you wish to correct you opinions of obsessive/compulsive disorder you can do so by visiting the obsessive compulsive foundation and reading exactly what is involved here!

http://www.ocfoundation.org/ocf1010a.htm

Arte Et Labore

 

[dilettante]

Much of this is simply political correctness.

People with addictions (and those around them) suffer plenty trauma of various sorts from the problem itself. I think those involved in trying to help them make a strong effort to avoid piling more burdens on them or adding more obstacles to recovery. One way they do this is to try to separate out the &quot;shame&quot; society piles on them.

Thus we hear things like &quot;alcoholism is a disease&quot; or &quot;not addiction, dependency problem.&quot;

I don't want to make things harder on people with these issues to escape them. Maybe anything that helps one person get past such a huge life impediment is a good thing.

But in general nobody is fooled and splitting hairs is pretty pointless too. We aren't in a counseling session here, and a spade is a spade. Though I'll temper that harshness once again by saying a rose by any other name doesn't necessarily smell as sweet. Words do make a difference, our heads are wired that way.

For that matter, would clear Coca-Cola taste like Coke? I had the impression that blindfolded-subject tests had conclusively shown that to be false. Don't trust a poet with your life - they aren't airline pilots you know, that ain't their job.

 

[KornGeek]

Addiction doesn't necessarily require a physical component. Cigarettes are generally (by medical professionals even) considered addictive, but it is merely a psychological addiction. Many drugs are like that, but I can't list them off the top of my head. Unfortunately, it's been about 7 years since I last did a report, so I no longer remember which are physical and which are psychological. This does not mean that cigarettes are an easy habit to break, just that there is no physical addiction.

 

[Provogeek]

Korngeek, I do need to ask you, are you a smoker or former smoker?

Do you understand what it feels like to go through the withdrawals?

It is easy for nonsmokers to criticize smokers for their difficulties in quitting because they have no idea what it feels like.

I do from personal experience. I quit smoking last year and I am on month 9 in my fight with nicotine addiction, a highly toxic substance. I will try to relay what it feels like so other may understand why it is difficult to break a smoking habit.

I was only a light smoker (10 a day), so my symptoms were not as hard or painful as others who smoke 40+ a day. You get a feeling in your lungs, it can be hard to breath at times and the one thing that takes the tightness you feel in your lungs and chest away is, a cigarette. The “addiction” is two fold, both physical and psychological. Your mind and body yearn for that next smoke. You get irritable with out it, and your hands start to get the shakes with out it. If the addiction was only physiological there would be no need for the patch, the gum, or the pill. To quit, all you would need is therapy, but that is not the proven case of quitting an addiction to nicotine.

IT or technology is only psychological because a distraction of the mind will curb your “need” to poke at those keyboards, or cast a hex on that harpy.

To better understand a physical addiction, stop drinking anything that contains caffeine, the drug of all geeks. This drug is also addictive, and there are physical ailments related to caffeine with drawls. These ailments include headaches and urinary tract infections.

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/addiction/messages/30262a.html

Brent Schmidt CNE,Network +

 

[skiflyer]

And don't forget the inbetweens. Alot of people say, if withdrawing causes clinical depression, that's psychological. However, most reasonable individuals recognize that clinical depression can be measured by concrete pyhsiological changes... not all of which are completely understood. So where do these things fall?

-Rob

 

[vaoldschl]

As someone who has been dependent on crank, cigarettes and caffeine at various times in my life and having severed those dependancies I can, in no uncertain terms, state I have never been addicted to those things.

If you examine the original meaning of the word from the latin then I am addicted to jury duty. I am addicted to Selective Service. The Latin addictus means to be assigned by decree. The English meaning of the word became, in the sixteenth century, to be attached through one's own inclination or to be devoted to a practice.

Shakespeare is the first writer credited with using the word in Henry V to say his knowledge of the church was marvelous as previously the king's &quot;addiction was to courses vain&quot;. Meaning he was inclined to activities of no value or importance. I guess using Shakespeare's definition I am addicted to Etymology.