Is the Internet a drug?

[odog24]

do u think the internet is a drug made to distract people from their everyday lives?

 

[sixthr33]

Not on a chemical changing level but it's definitely an addiction for a lot of people

 

[itsgettinhot]

Made to distract people?
As in.... the invention of the internet is a conspiracy?

 

[haddix]

Originally Posted by Nowitzness41

Originally Posted by ItsGettinHot

Made to distract people?
As in.... the invention of the internet is a conspiracy?

I straight up said it wasnt created that way though

 but social media and all these mindless games on the phone, on FB, twitter- YES i do believe these were made to keep people preoccupied with things that dont matter and to keep the morons happy and distracted

  

Never really thought of it like that but I agree. People can supposedly become addicted to porn etc so why not the Internet.

 

[jbpkickz]

if its a true life episode its a drug

 

[blakep267]

Originally Posted by haddix

Originally Posted by Nowitzness41

Originally Posted by ItsGettinHot

Made to distract people?
As in.... the invention of the internet is a conspiracy?

I straight up said it wasnt created that way though

 but social media and all these mindless games on the phone, on FB, twitter- YES i do believe these were made to keep people preoccupied with things that dont matter and to keep the morons happy and distracted

  

Never really thought of it like that but I agree. People can supposedly become addicted to porn etc so why not the Internet.

I dont think people get addicted to porn, as much as the masturbation side effect of it, which is just as stimulating to the brain as sex.
But I guess alot of things could be considered "drugs" if we are throwing the interwebs into the mix. And Im not sure why people who liked to be satisfied with such things are considered morons

 

[itsgettinhot]

Originally Posted by Nowitzness41

Originally Posted by ItsGettinHot

Made to distract people?
As in.... the invention of the internet is a conspiracy?

I straight up said it wasnt created that way though

 but social media and all these mindless games on the phone, on FB, twitter- YES i do believe these were made to keep people preoccupied with things that dont matter and to keep the morons happy and distracted

  

The OP did though?

 

[hankmoody]

"The naive optimism of the 18th century led some people to believe that technological progress would lead to a kind of utopia in which human beings, freed from the need to work in order to support themselves, would devote themselves to philosophy, to science and to music, literature, and the other fine arts…Instead of using their technological means of production to provide themselves with free time in which to undertake intellectual and artistic work, people today devote themselves to the struggle for status, prestige, and power and to the accumulation of material goods that serve only as toys. In effect, American all popular culture has been reduced to mere hedonism, and hedonism of a particular contemptible kind."
http://niketalk.com/topic/327993#.T-vf77UeP2Q

 

[cor23ey]

Yeah it's more addicting than cig's

 

[airthompson]

Originally Posted by jbpkickz

if its a true life episode its a drug

 I'm guessing you think being a overprotective boyfriend, a ******, or deaf is a drug too?

  

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

It's not a drug.. It's a addiction though..

 

[kramer]

No more then any other hobby is I suppose. But really people spend way too much time on the internet

 

[futuristic]

The internet is just like everything else, you can either use it as a tool or get used by it.

 

[witnessmycalm21]

Originally Posted by 6 rings MJ

It's not a drug.. It's a addiction though..

 

[young handsome]

Originally Posted by AirThompson

Originally Posted by jbpkickz

if its a true life episode its a drug

 I'm guessing you think being a overprotective boyfriend, a ******, or deaf is a drug too?

  

you cant be addicted to midgets or addicted to deaf... you tried too hard buddy... you'll get em next time tho. i believe in you.

 

[lil black jean jacket]

i would say so, which is sad

 

[michael0360]

no

 

[bamazing]

Originally Posted by odog24

do u think the internet is a drug made to distract people from their everyday lives?

depends what you use it for, of course. so much vital info that people before use had no access to.

 

[ijumpman]

I would say yes, it's quite addictive, and definitely can have a negative influence, but I still love it!

 

[odog24]

Originally Posted by ItsGettinHot

Made to distract people?
As in.... the invention of the internet is a conspiracy?

not a conspiracy. why would u call it a conspiracy? that doesn't make any sense.
i mean people's lives revolve around the internet. if someone is bored instead of reading or doing something productive or try to gain knowledge they go on FB or twitter. yes i also understand some people take advantage of the web and use it in a good way so they can gain more knowledge but the majority of internet users dont do this. which leads me to believe that it has developed into a drug that people abuse.

 

[itsgettinhot]

Originally Posted by odog24

Originally Posted by ItsGettinHot

Made to distract people?
As in.... the invention of the internet is a conspiracy?

not a conspiracy. why would u call it a conspiracy? that doesn't make any sense.
i mean people's lives revolve around the internet. if someone is bored instead of reading or doing something productive or try to gain knowledge they go on FB or twitter. yes i also understand some people take advantage of the web and use it in a good way so they can gain more knowledge but the majority of internet users dont do this. which leads me to believe that it has developed into a drug that people abuse.

You asked if it was "made to distract people"
As in, the purpose of the creation of the internet is to distract people instead of develop a highly efficient means of electronic communication.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

 

[sp raised]

The information superhighway ? No but people don't use it as intended, it's a big @+@ library to me. Some people do get caught up in it.

 

[sleaze jar omens]

anything that can influence dopamine production has addictive properties. I wouldn't call it a drug but addictive is a good word to use.

I don't think it's MADE to distract us, it's made to share information. but some websites and games are being used to distract, tame, and desocialize.

then we have video games with no real reward besides trying to reach imaginary goals. MW3 is a great example.


EDIT found the article I was looking for.

www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/us-brain-gaming-idUSTRE7AE1IE20111116

[h1]Keen video-gamers' brains may reward them more[/h1]

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By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Wed Nov 16, 2011 2:00am EST

(Reuters) - Teenagers who spend a lot of time on video-games have different structures and activity levels in areas of the brain that are linked to reward, scientists have found, suggesting they get more out of gaming than people who tend to play less.

In a study published in the Translational Psychiatry journal on Tuesday, researchers analyzed MRI scans of more than 150 14-year-olds who played video-games either moderately or a lot, and found the frequent gamers had a higher volume of grey matter in a key part of their brains.

Previous studies have shown a link between the dopamine-related ventral striatum, a structure of the brain's reward system, and video-gaming or computer gambling, but this is the first to look at brain structure and volume.

"These findings demonstrate that the ventral striatum plays a significant role in excessive video-game playing and contributes to our understanding of behavioral addiction," Simone Kuehn of Belgium's Ghent University and Juergen Gallinat of Germany's Charite University Medicine wrote in their study

Video-gaming has become hugely popular in recent years, particularly among teenagers. The average weekly usage in this experiment was around 12 hours a week.

There is an ongoing debate among doctors and researchers about whether excessive video-gaming should be recognized as an addiction and seen as a form of mental disorder.

While the German researchers found keen gamers had structural differences in their brains compared to those who played less frequently, they were not able to say whether this was a cause of eagerness to play video-games or a change that had come about as a result of their habit.

Henrietta Bowden-Jones of the neuroscience division at Imperial College London said the findings were highly relevant to clinicians because they "further close the gap" between video-gaming and other addictions, giving specialists a better understanding of possible long-term treatment options.

"The exciting next step will be to determine, as with other addictions, whether volumetric differences are a cause or effect of excessive human behavior," she said in an emailed comment about the study.

Luke Clark of Cambridge University's department of Experimental Psychology said the findings were "really provocative, because this is a central hub in the brain's motivational system and dopamine pathway."

"The burning question...is whether the structural difference is a change caused by the frequent game play, or whether individual differences in this system naturally dispose some people to more excessive play," he said. "For teenagers, parents, and clinicians to make sense of this finding, we need research monitoring brain structure over time."

 

[cap1229]

Originally Posted by 6 rings MJ

It's not a drug.. It's a addiction though..

Real life.

Mobile web and native apps but really mobile web apps

Changing the game for people especially with the ease that they can now be created. It's can have great effects but if the mainstream consumer can't unplug it will consume them.

 

[651akathepaul]

No. It's an obsession.