The Net Rots Us Brains !

[Buff-horns]

10% of US net users 'addicted, needing therapy'

Other 90% too burned-out to respond

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco

Published Thursday 1st December 2005 05:41 GMT

The American obsession with therapy may almost be considered as a neurosis in its own right. But quacks see promising material in a growing number of internet addicts.

"6 percent to 10 percent of the approximately 189 million Internet users in this country have a dependency that can be as destructive as alcoholism and drug addiction, and they are rushing to treat it," reports the New York Times.

Staff at an Illinois hospital said they see similar signs of withdrawal in net addicts patients as in alcoholics or drug addicts, including "profuse sweating, severe anxiety and paranoid symptoms".

But is it so harmful?

Something very strange is happening, to be sure. Consider the reaction around the web to a column in the Los Angeles Times this week by linguistics professor Naomi Baron. She expresses concern that the shallow nature of reading on the web diminished her students ability to reason.

She's isn't the first to observe this. Academic researchers have found that net use creates a "problem solving deficit disorder" amongst children, and cognitive scientists have discovered the bombardment of email depletes IQ "faster than marijuana".

Baron wrote,

"If we approach the written word primarily through search-and-seizure rather than sustained encounter-and-contemplation, we risk losing a critical element of what it means to be an educated, literate society."

Two years ago one would have expected bloggers to leap up on the Professor, admonish her for being a Luddite, and give her a generally thorough 'Fisking'.

But instead her column provoked an outpouring of empathy.

"It actually destroys brain cells or something, because if I've been doing too much online reading, I lose the patience for following a sustained or subtle argument, or reading a complex novel," wrote Body and Soul blog's 'Jeanne D'arc'.

"As a fellow sufferer, lemme tell ya, the phenomenon that Jeanne D'arc is describing up there is real, and more than a little worrisome when you first notice it. It just feels so ... organic, somehow, like you've damaged a part of the brain itself," sympathizes blogger Jack O'Toole.

" I'll run into a sentence that suddenly reminds me of something — and then spend the next minute staring into space thinking of something entirely unrelated to the book at hand. Eventually I snap back, but obviously this behavior reduces both my reading rate and my reading comprehension," writes journalist and blogger Kevin Drum.

"Is this really because of blogging? I don't know for sure, but it feels like it's related to blogging, and it's a real problem. As wonderful as blogs, magazines, and newspapers are, there's simply no way to really learn about a subject except by reading a book - and the less I do that, the less I understand about the broader, deeper issues that go beyond merely the outrage of the day," he added.

"I'm not sure if that argument really has any validity....Hey look, a bird!" adds a wag.

Ironically, in a recent survey, 48.7 per cent of bloggers cited 'therapy' as their primary reason for maintaing a weblog. So this is a 'cure' that's turning out to be worse than the disease.

"I need to get away from the fast and facile and let my brain heal," says Jeanne D'arc, recommending blog breaks.

"It actually feels like recovering a bit of humanity that I forgot I had."

If even bloggers are rejecting the Wibbly Web, and getting back to books, then things are taking a turn for the better. ®

theregister.co.uk

[Baal]

Googlecation has destroyed a generation by creating cut/paste thinkers.

[chownah]

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....the internet is just a tool that helps them to see the mindless world they live in. Like any tool, however, it can be used or abused....if these people use this tool then they will start down the road to a better life....if they abuse this tool they will just wallow in their crapulance.

[bino]

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....the internet is just a tool that helps them to see the mindless world they live in.  Like any tool, however, it can be used or abused....if these people use this tool then they will start down the road to a better life....if they abuse this tool they will just wallow in their crapulance.

Right on Chownah....

Same was / is said about television.

[britmaveric]

Internet just a tool like any other communication device. Bloody useful, however doesnt prevent normal day to day life.

[Baal]

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....the internet is just a tool that helps them to see the mindless world they live in.  Like any tool, however, it can be used or abused....if these people use this tool then they will start down the road to a better life....if they abuse this tool they will just wallow in their crapulance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL, it has nothing to do with "AMERICANS", this report just happens to be about Americans.

You obviously dont know anything about Americans.

What "way" do you think Americans are exactly?

In fact its much worse in ASIA!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4327258.stm

Treating China's online addicts

By Daniel Griffiths

BBC News, Beijing

The internet is taking China by storm, with millions of people logging on in record numbers and web cafes busier than ever.

The clinic provides medical treatment and therapy

Internet addiction is reaching epidemic proportions in China

Man dies after 50 hours of computer games

South Korean left seat in Internet cafe only to use toilet, take brief naps

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8888579/

Second gamer dies after massive binge

Victim played for 32 hours non-stop

Nick Farrell, vnunet.com 22 Oct 2002

Just days after the first 'internet overdose', another addict has died after a marathon games binge.

The 27 year-oldTaiwanese man collapsed after playing computer games for 32 hours non-stop.

Get your facts straight.

[Baal]

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....the internet is just a tool that helps them to see the mindless world they live in.  Like any tool, however, it can be used or abused....if these people use this tool then they will start down the road to a better life....if they abuse this tool they will just wallow in their crapulance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Right on Chownah....

Same was / is said about television.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

YAWN....^^^^^

[Felix Lynn]

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

People actually think this way?

[Baal]

this thread is a fine example of the "Dangers" of the googlecation...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...st=60&p=567621&

[OlRedEyes]

Everyone has opinions, and the web simply makes it easier to share opinions. Before the net, it took quite a bit of application to get your opinions 'out there'. Now every idiot, like me, and the fately flawed OP article, can broadcast them.

Thing is, these seriously flawed opinions are normally posted at great length. Who has the time to answer all the holey points in all of them?

So, if any, one can only respond with short comments. Like what utter crap.

Edited December 2, 2005 by OlRedEyes

[camerata]

"If we approach the written word primarily through search-and-seizure rather than sustained encounter-and-contemplation, we risk losing a critical element of what it means to be an educated, literate society."

This may be true but there's no reason we can't do both. I use Google a lot, read online a lot, and also read books for 1-2 hours a day. Each is a different activity with a different goal.

I think the real problem is that kids are being brought up to rely on the Internet too much. They come home with homework assignments and immediately log on and start googling, but they don't know what is a reliable source and what isn't. And by pulling out snippets from a piece of text, they don't get a feel for what the text is about or what perspective the author had.

"It actually destroys brain cells or something, because if I've been doing too much online reading, I lose the patience for following a sustained or subtle argument, or reading a complex novel," wrote Body and Soul blog's 'Jeanne D'arc'.

"As a fellow sufferer, lemme tell ya, the phenomenon that Jeanne D'arc is describing up there is real, and more than a little worrisome when you first notice it. It just feels so ... organic, somehow, like you've damaged a part of the brain itself," sympathizes blogger Jack O'Toole.

The author of this article seems to be doing a good job of making bloggers sound like total morons.

[Baal]

Everyone has opinions, and the web simply makes it easier to share opinions. Before the net, it took quite a bit of application to get your opinions 'out there'. Now every idiot, like me, and the fately flawed OP article, can broadcast them.

Thing is, these seriously flawed opinions are normally posted at great length. Who has the time to answer all the holey points in all of them?

So, if any, one can only respond with short comments. Like what utter crap.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Excellent points ORE, reminds me of a quote,

This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.

-Winston Churchill

[kayo]

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....the internet is just a tool that helps them to see the mindless world they live in.  Like any tool, however, it can be used or abused....if these people use this tool then they will start down the road to a better life....if they abuse this tool they will just wallow in their crapulance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

internet being just another victim of american tendancies to blame their problems on others.....

[britmaveric]

Yanks invented the internet - once again its their fault!!!!

[khall64au]

Personally, I find it a huge problem having to rely on the internet for most of my research. Living in Thailand, or namely Phuket, I don't have much choice. I can't exactly nip down to the local university library to source up on my facts ....

[Baal]

Yanks invented the internet - once again its their fault!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually it was invented by a brit, he did however move to the US and now resides there.

[Baal]

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....the internet is just a tool that helps them to see the mindless world they live in.  Like any tool, however, it can be used or abused....if these people use this tool then they will start down the road to a better life....if they abuse this tool they will just wallow in their crapulance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

internet being just another victim of american tendancies to blame their problems on others.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yawn.

But thats understandable, you live in Guatemala, but thats owned by a Cuban American, and I know he considers himself a Cuban before he does an American.

[OlRedEyes]

You do seem to have a thing about Cuba. Not surprisingly?

[Baal]

You do seem to have a thing about Cuba. Not surprisingly? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

I actually came back to edit that bit out because after posting it I realized it was a knee jerk reaction to someone who is ignorant about Americans.

But you cant edit in this forum????

[kat]

Yanks invented the internet - once again its their fault!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually it was invented by a brit, he did however move to the US and now resides there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, the internet was invented by Americans. It's predecessor, DARNET, was an invention of the US Defense Department. There was a lot of research generated before and after DARNET which fueled the first actual external internet connection (in America, at American universities including Berkley and MIT), by British researchers, but they were chronologically behind some of the same research that was already being done in the states at MIT.

The Worldwide Web, however, was invented by a Brit. He is the **sole inventor, and he is the Chair of the Computer Science Department at MIT.

I know what some of you are going to say - - so before you do so, please use some logic before you tell me that the WWW and the internet are the same: so very, very boring and inaccurate*. One could not exist without the other, which is a fine example of most scientific "discoveries" or "inventions" - although in my experience many Brits on this board like to believe that England is the sole inventor of, well, everything.

*let's start with the dictionary:

In·ter·net n. An interconnected system of networks that connects computers around the world via the TCP/IP protocol.

World Wide Web n. Abbr. WWW

The complete set of documents residing on all Internet servers that use the HTTP protocol, accessible to users via a simple point-and-click system.

**World-Wide Web, networking, hypertext> (WWW, W3, The Web) An

Internet client-server hypertext distributed information

retrieval system which originated from the CERN High-Energy

Physics laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland.

My take on this is that alot of Americans were this way even before the internet was around....the internet is just a tool that helps them to see the mindless world they live in.  Like any tool, however, it can be used or abused....if these people use this tool then they will start down the road to a better life....if they abuse this tool they will just wallow in their crapulance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Perhaps you should try googling more often. You might find that many people of many different nationalities live in mindless worlds - even right here on this forum; especially those who make mindless statements

edit

Edited December 3, 2005 by kat