Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Computer Addiction Leads to Drug Use

  Dr Abe V Rotor 

Did it ever occur in your mind that drug abuse is connected with computer addiction?

      People, especially the young – children and adolescents - who sit before the computer hours and hours everyday – even before they start using drugs, are already potential drug users. This is a thesis which I shall try to present and defend in this article.

     These are premises of my contention.

        Computerizing whether for school assignment or just entertainment consumes precious time and energy.  Time for hobbies, rest, reflection, exercise, socialization, or for quiet and peace.  In short we have disturbed regular time management – the way our predecessor in pre-computer time made use of 24-hour cycle – so with 30-day monthly cycle and longer. In short the computer has not only reset, but tinkered with, the biological clock.

     What does this mean?

      We do not follow our regular sleeping habit, because the computer demands no strict time limit or schedule. Imagine also that a favorite program on TV is on the computer, especially DVD programs. Computer addicts may become night owls. Others have developed cat napping which can compensate partly lost sleep. Not following regular sleeping habits may lead to insomnia.  Many drugs today are for insomniacs.   Abuse of sleeping pills is reminiscent of some prominent victims, among them was Marilyn Monroe who died of overdose.

     The ever increasing features of the computer making today’s state-of-the art in computer shades the 1960 predecessor a hundred folds more proficient. Pretty soon we will be groping and grappling with artificial intelligence like dealing with a university professor, and a genius at that. Already chess games with the computer is like playing with Karpov or Kasparov. War games need the intelligence and skills of  Napoleon Bonaparte on land, and Horatius Nelson at sea. The computer does not only trace the campaign of Alexander the Great who attempted to create the largest empire on earth, but continue the campaign even after his death.

     Entertaining, isn’t?  Definitely yes, but at what price? Hear this. Hour-after-hour uninterrupted concentration.  Irregular meal substituted with fast, if not junk, food. Strained eyes (and also ears).  Sustained suspense leading to cold hands and feet, and increased pulse rate and heart beat, while the muscle contract – an antithesis of balanced exercise. Soon you need a drug to calm you down, such as valium and prosac. Headache and therefore you take analgesic. Hallucinations in your sleep which may lead to insomnia. 

     So what is the pre-occupation of the young today?  It appears to be a syndrome instead, a syndrome of three components, namely:

1.     Mental Concentration
2.     Social Detachment
3.     Physiologic Imbalance
4.     Time Waste
5.     Indeterminate Purpose


Pose for a moment before proceeding to read this article and imagine yourselves as a victim of this modern syndrome. 

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