Somewhere in my Intro Psych notes (I teach the course from time to time), I must have some lecture material on “addictions.” What is an addiction? Are there good addictions? etc.
The concept of a technology “addiction” surfaces from time to time in a negative way. The “message” in such concerns might be that – “Kids need to get outside and stop spending so much time in front of the computer” or “People don’t talk anymore – they just send emails”. I remember in the early days of email and the Internet, there was a notion that technology was leading to shallow interpersonal relationships and a greater incidence of depression.
I tend not to think of such issues in a personal way – I just spend more and more time using technology to do my work and my life. Perhaps I should consider what my use of technology is doing to my inner child, my relationships, etc.
OK – after a few seconds of thought, I have decided everything is fine. Or, more accurately, I have decided that my life, imperfections and all, is my life and this life simply includes many experiences that involve technology. These are real experiences that involve real people, real emotions, and the real world. I communicate with technology because it is an efficient and effective way to communicate. My wife IMs me when she is done teaching her class and we can go to lunch. I take digital pictures instead of capturing images on film or the more personal “sketches or paintings”. I enjoy the process of collecting digital images, I can’t draw, and while I enjoy nature in my face it is -20 today and there is nothing much about that is green or moving. How I interact with people or the world around me is less significant than is that the fact that I interact.
I suppose these “concerns” resurface with each new technology. I read Toffler’s “The Third Wave” many years ago and remember Toffler’s observation that with each new wave of change there is a certain nostalgia and even attempts by some to move back to the lifestyle of an earlier time. He observed that often the good old days were not actually as good as we remember or as are reported by those who romanticize and do not actually experience.
ABC News offers the comments of several experts on the topic of Computer Addiction or Just Modern Life.
