Omg, surely not !!! "Internet addiction 'disrupts brain'"

reply to post by solargeddon


Yes, being addicted to things that make you more aware and less automatically submissive to the systems put in place by humanity = bad. Its science! Oh wait, maybe its just malicious..

Double post

If the internet is physically damaging, then probably everything else anyone experiences is damaging as well. You might as well go ahead and say life is damaging, because it is. That is what life is, a series of physically damaging events.

reply to post by RSF77

True. Life eventually kills us, no matter what we do. You go outside for some sun and it slowly kills your skin until you're a wrinkly mass of cancer cells. Just one example. But that's fatalist. We all know we're going to die. We all know we can't stop the trickle that bleeds away our life. But this is all we got, right? There're no alternatives. If we don't do what we're supposed to then we wouldn't even be alive for a fraction of a second. Somebody somewhere has to do the right thing for someone to do the wrong thing. Thus, for each person that wastes away doing little to nothing there's another person slaving hard to make ends meet. It's conservation of energy. If that other person stops doing your work for you, you will die, no questions asked.

I think the true computer addiction is game playing. Games are addictive because they make us feel free and make us feel like we're more than capable of surviving in that world. They're like a good story that pulls you in. You forget all of your problems in RL. You explore the fantasy world and just feel like nothing is impeding you. It's very addicting. It's just like reading fiction...

RL and games are similar. They both have goals and strategies and stories and challenges and social environments and so on. They're both systems. But the key difference is that games have lower standards for entry and so pretty much anyone can survive in them. This is what starts the addiction and gets them hooked. They lose themselves in the fake life on their computer.

People escape RL a LOT of ways. They usually call this addiction if it's unbalanced.

I think computers are ok if you use them productively. We have a lot of people in this country who use computers all day in their line of work. Is that addictive? I don't think so because they'd rather be doing something FUN. Know what I mean? Work is when you do something you don't want to do. When you do something FUN you can get addicted to it, if it's not moderated...

If there's one thing I've learned from my addiction to games it's that instead of discouraging people from using computers, what we should be doing is encouraging people to do productive things. That could mean learning about the real world or learning about real skills. It could mean running your own website that has your resume on it and a section for family things or something. Maybe it would mean doing online courses for a college. Maybe it would mean working on software that has a beneficial impact on something (not just for entertainment). Something GOOD. This is what we should be doing. We cannot stop people from using computers. That's absurd and isn't going to happen. But we can compromise but to do this is going to take a lot of knowledge and experience and so on. This won't be easy.

We need a generation of computer users that're more productive with their computer use. The troubling part is that this is all so new. We're blind and in the fog. Takes time to adapt. I mean, we only just recently had computers. And the internet has been around for 15+ years. In evolutionary terms, it's brand spanking new. By comparison, our genetics are thousands of years old. We're supposed to be outside shoveling mud and building cabins and clubbing elk. So our genes really have no idea what all of this is and are perplexed at what to do next. For a similar reason, obesity has skyrocketed. Our genes expect famines and long winters and so they encourage us to eat. But now that we're in this modern world and do not have famines, we're overeating. Our genes are in the backseat and in the dark driving blind. There're many other instances of this where our genetics are just obsolete and unable to make sense of this world.

I'll not argue it. I'd suggest that this isn't the most interesting thing about some people's brains using this form of instant "memory recall."

But, those studies haven't happened yet.

I spend a rather insane amount of time online, and have spent quite a lot of time online for most of my life. 14 on and I'm in my late thirties now.

I just happen to work in a way that gives me constant access, as well as being on at home. I won't argue that it hasn't effected my brain.

However, can I walk away for a weeks or months at a time because I'm up to something else? Yep. So addiction might not be the right word. I'm busy, and most of the people I'd like to argue with are less likely to hide here than they do IRL, and the people whom I might enjoy talking to are.... rare(?) and not dense in the population.

By now, I mumble with my fingers. Typing my thoughts is second nature - it might be first nature.

Addiction? Maybe.

I have friends who use the internet a lot, religiously in other words. I also have friends who don't, and all they do is work at their menial jobs.

Needless to say... I find my "internet friends" have a um.. how do you say.. higher capacity for conversation, and critical-thinking. My "work" friends are simply not.. on this Earth. There is nothing more damaging to one's mind than a 8-5 job and the inevitable drinking problem to follow.

reply to post by jonnywhite


hya

that is the best response on this thread
i agree with you whole heartidly
cheers
dave

reply to post by solargeddon


How do we know it disrupts nerve wiring, when it could just be a different type of wiring. Any change in brain pattern is seen in the negative. But we do not understand the brain and the change being monitored might be good change..

reply to post by purplemer


Thats a nice take on it, and I sincerely hope you are right, but for me the tone of the article is quite negative, so I guess we may have to wait a while for the study which suggests this is a potentially positive addiction, if there could ever be such a thing

reply to post by jonnywhite


I agree with davesmart, you make some solid points. I almost feel honored that you were obliged to respond to me with such an insightful post.

I don't have much to add except that I think some games exercise certain parts of the brain that don't usually get much attention. Certain genres of games exercise certain things, for instance strategy/puzzle games might exercise logic while shooters exercise hand-eye coordination, RPGs maybe the creative part of the brain and of course I'm sure all of them would cross over somewhat.

It's all in the name of fun, but in way it does seem like it would make the individual better at specific things. A lot of people couldn't tell their butt from a hole in the ground, yet they can build cars or houses with an unmatched efficiency and quality. Same with video games, a gamer might not be able to find a job to save his life, but put him in the cockpit of an F22 and he would prob figure it out himself without any training.

Some people are just naturally drawn to this artificial world we have created, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but like you say some productive outlet needs to be made available to these types of people. Not that many gamers don't go on to do great things, many have, but I have a feeling those that aren't are doing so because it seems worthless to them, they don't wish to participate or learn about things that they don't enjoy and would just disregard anything they don't like.

I've played video and computer games on and off my whole life and I would say there are certain things I can do better because of it. In the end anything I do in any artificial reality is worthless in the real world, I only take from it a few things that I have nothing to show for except inside my own mind. All isn't lost though, many friendships are forged through games and online communities and the real world is about who you know after all, not what you know.

So it serves its purpose of bringing people together, but yea some people do get obsessed. I don't know how many times I've found a game I liked and pulled all-nighters trying to beat it or everyone else, in the midst of what seems like an army of foul mouthed, trash talking 15 year olds. I feel kind of special about it because I was born at about the exact right time to watch the internet (as we know it today I guess) grow and develop into what it is today, makes me happy to have been even a small part of a small part of it.

So yes your right, games and the internet allow us to have something we usually don't have in reality: To be judged by what is inside our minds and not what is out. I would say it is literally evolving our culture and intellectualizing our entire species somewhat. Now all the common knowledge of the world is a click away.

We have to keep this from becoming what television has... a propaganda machine.