Not an Addiction

You can stay on the Internet all day. The ubiquitous smartphone and tablet made it even more so. Of course, those two “culprits” also result in people playing games or watching videos all the time. Since the activities mentioned last have nothing to do with the Internet (except if you are streaming movies), there’s a different term for that too: screen addiction.

Except that both terms (Internet addiction and screen addiction) always felt so wrong to me. But I couldn’t put my finger on why, until I read this article by Alan Jacobs. Citing 4 kids who spend all day playing World of Warcraft, being on Facebook, watching porn, and (gasp) learning to program using their devices, he says:
“They're addicted to certain experiences that they are getting access to via their computers. That is not at all the same thing…Now, some might reply that this is a frivolous response, that such language is an easily-understood shorthand. But I would counter that it's a highly misleading shorthand, because it teaches us to conflate extremely different experiences, to place them under a single umbrella, which is exactly where they don't belong.”

The lines above were one of those key-that-opens-so-many-doors moment for me. I will cite just 2 instances to convey what I mean. None of us would say that reading a Sidney Sheldon novel is the same as reading Carl Sagan or a biography of Mandela. Or that watching National Geographic or Discovery all day is equivalent to watching saas-bahu serials or masala movies all day.

Just as the terms “book addiction” and “TV addiction” convey a negative meaning, so do the terms “Internet addiction” and “screen addiction”. And all four terms are equally wrong.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why we Deceive Ourselves

In their book, The Elephant in the Brain , the authors describe this weird aspect of deception that we practice: deceiving ourselves! That is so weird: “If our minds contain maps of our worlds, what good comes from having an inaccurate version of these maps?” The Sigmund Freud school of thought treats self-deception as a defense mechanism, “a way for the ego to protect itself”. The mind seeks to protect itself from anxiety and other negative emotions. Many object to this reasoning: since accurate information is so critical to our survival, surely distorting information would be dangerous. Wouldn’t the goal of protecting our self-esteem have been better achieved by making the brain’s self-esteem mechanism stronger instead? The new school of thought explains self-deception as “primarily outward-facing, manipulative, and ultimately self-serving”. This is based on Thomas Schelling’s work on game theory: “In a variety of scenarios, limiting or sabotaging yourself is the winn...
Read more

Europe #3 - Innsbruck

The last city we visited in Europe was Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps. After the cold and windy experience (at times) of Paris and Netherlands, Innsbruck was a wonderful change – it didn’t feel that cold, it was not windy all of which made it easy to walk around. Something absolutely necessary given how scenic the place is.   Since the hotel check-in time was much later in the day, we left the baggage and went to the Swarovski HQ-cum-museum about an hour by bus from Innsbruck. The crystal exhibits were brilliant – colorful, bright, shiny. Jewellery aside, it was a display of what one can do with crystals. While my wife and daughter loved the jewellery, I liked the superhero themed exhibits of Batman, Spiderman, the Hulk, and Star Wars. We didn’t buy anything there, though we did buy stuff in the Swarovski store in Innsbruck – jewellery, not the superhero stuff.   Innsbruck is a major tourist attraction during the skiing season but now in summer, we saw many groups of ...
Read more

The Thrill of the Chase

So many people complain about the difficulty in making decisions while shopping. Do you buy Brand X that gives 20% extra free? Or Brand Y that has 10% off? Or Brand Z that gives something else free with it? Do you buy that flat screen TV today or wait for the sale at Diwali? Now since the customer is king, shouldn’t companies be simplifying pricing choices? Like maybe offering consistently low prices all the time? Not so fast, as the US store, JC Penney discovered to its cost. Turns out that while people do complain about pricing choices, they are irrational. Also, they enjoy the thrill of the chase. Huh? The word “sale” acts like a siren call for many people: it lures them in to make that purchase. Consistently low prices don’t do the same. Besides, if a competitor lowers their prices just one time of the year, and Poof! Suddenly that low price claim becomes suspect in shoppers’ eyes. Then there are those sites that offer coupons: have lunch at Restaurant A on Wedne...
Read more