For the first fourth dimension ever , psychologists have treat an individual for internet habituation disorderliness induce by overuse of Google Glass . The patient role had been exhibit withdrawal symptom when not using the gimmick , and even dreamt he was wearing it .
It ’s debatable as to whether “ internet addiction disorder ” ( IAD ) is indeed a affair . It ’s not listed in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM ) , but it ’s list in the appendix as a precondition worthy of further investigation . Some psychologist do recognize it , however , characterizing it as the debatable use of online videogames , electronic computer use , and mobile handheld devices . individual with IAD exhibit severe aroused , social , and genial disfunction in a act of areas of day-after-day activities owing to their overutilisation of technology and the internet .
“Problematic Use”
In this unprecedented shell , and as describe in the peer review journalAddictive Behaviors , it ’s the first diagnose and treated case of IAD involving “ the tough use of Google Glass . ”
The patient , a 31 - year onetime US navy serviceman , had been using the gadget for no less than 18 hour a day , removing it only to sleep and wash . He plain of feel peckish and argumentative without it , and began to have from involuntary movements , cravings , and memory problem . And in the two months since he bought Glass , he started to know ambition as if view through the gimmick ’s modest gray-haired window .
Perhaps revealingly , the man has a account of depression , societal anxiety , and obsessive compulsive disorder ; he may have a psychological proclivity towards dependence and dependance - alike behaviour .
And in fact , he was being treated at the Navy ’s Substance Abuse and Recovery Program ( SARP ) for potomania when psychologists began notice how frustrated and cranky he would become when not allowed to practice Glass ( in addition to taking away drugs and inebriant , all electronic equipment are confiscated as part of the treatment ) .
He told the psychologists that he was go through withdrawal from his Google Glass and that it was greater than the alcohol withdrawal he was experiencing . The human used the equipment to improve his execution at work , where it allowed him to become more efficient at his line of work of fix inventory of convoy vehicles for the Navy .
Also , he …
… exhibited a noteworthy , nearly involuntary movement of the right hand up to his temple region and rap it with his forefinger [ as if in an attempt to turn on the machine ] .
In act , the patient was put on a 35 - day treatment course of instruction , resulting in a noticeable reducing in irritability , along with a diminution in the hand movement towards his synagogue . His inadequate - term memory and clarity of idea physical process also improved , but he did continue to experience the odd dream of him look through the equipment .
A True Addiction Disorder?
“ There ’s nothing inherently sorry about Google Glass , ” noted psychologist Andrew Doan in a Guardianarticle . “ It ’s just that there is very footling time between [ the bang of using the gimmick ] . So for an individual who ’s bet to escape , for an someone who has underlie mental dysregulation , for multitude with a predisposition for addiction , technology provide a very commodious fashion to access these rushes . And the peril with wearable applied science is that you ’re allowed to be almost constantly in the closet , while appearing like you ’re present in the here and now . ”
in person , I think a case can be made that this represent a true addiction . What relate me in particular is the ensuing petulance , impairments to short - condition memory , and deficiency of mental clarity .
But it needs to be said that Glass — like other augmentative or wearable computation devices — does in fact neuter our experience in the world and how we engage with our environment and others . What ’s more , it becomes a form of prolongation to the human thinker and body . For some would - be cyborg , including University of Toronto prof Steven Mann , it ’s like take a tree branch .
We therefore need to exercise carefulness when potentially over - thinking the addictive qualities of thing we use and need on a everyday foundation in society to function in the modern world .
Read the entire scientific studyhere .
[ ViaGuardian ]
Image : Hattanas Kumchai / Shutterstock .
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