I read a book back in 2010 called, "Cyber Junkie: Escape the Gaming and Internet Trap," by Kevin Roberts. I'm going to guess there are even more books similar to this now, because at the time I had a hard time finding a book like this. I thought of this book today because of the Pokemon Go game. Now it seems like a normal thing that everybody is addicted to gaming and the internet and their phone and social media. Suddenly almost everybody is a cyber junkie. I wanted to look back now at what I underlined from the book and put some of that on here...
"Many people write off cyber junkies as unproductive losers and perhaps even brand us stupid. Quite the contrary, we are creative and imaginary souls. However, we fail to uncover ways to productively channel our gifts and form the human connections we crave. We dream of dynamic, purposeful, contact-filled, and exciting lives, but we just do not put together the steps needed to fulfill our vision. If you could peer into our minds, you would discover them bubbling over with insights and ideas."
"To keep from returning to games, we must find an adventure in the real world that is worthy of our skills. Our goal must be not to simply get these folks to stop their obsessive behavior, but rather assist them in channeling their enormous potential into exciting and worthwhile pursuits."
I agree with this to some degree, and I think it would work better for some people better than others. Even when I'm busy taking pictures, editing them, going places, spending time with friends, etc. I still have a hard time with being on the internet / phone / games.
The next part of the book goes into addiction itself. It says that the brain looks the same under a scan when someone is addicted to a game or the internet as it is to drugs or alcohol. It literally changes your brain. It's said that you sometimes get this in your DNA too, if you have family members who have been addicted to things. The chemicals in your brain are different.
It talks about how it's difficult when you use the internet for your job or you have a phone constantly in your pocket, and that even when you get one urge under control, such as not being on Facebook, chances are another will take it's place. I've definitely had that happen to me.
I remember a website called, "StumbleUpon" where you choose your interests and things you like to see, and then click the button and it takes you to a random website based on what your interests are, and you can give it a thumbs up or thumbs down kind of like Pandora, and it starts to learn what you like and don't like. It literally is a stumbling block. You find games and beautiful pictures and interesting facts and things that make you laugh and crazy things on google maps, and the list goes on and on. I can't remember the last time I went to that website because time escaped when I did that. It's similar with Pinterest though - you think of a board that you want to add to, and you scour the internet to add more and more things to your board. It's crazy.
I think that it's a weirdly interesting phenomenon the way the brain kicks into addiction mode. The book mentions that you have a wiring of survival mode, that if you don't get food you'll obviously die, or if you're under water too long your body forces you back to the surface to get air. Somewhere in that thought process addiction comes in to play, where it confuses an addiction with a survival mode - that if you don't play a game or get on the internet, you will die. Although that literal thought doesn't go through your head, it is the same feelings and chemicals in your brain.
I am going to see if there are more books out there soon about this. I'm sure more have been written in the past 6 years, as the rise of iphones came about around the year 2010.
