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This is a horrible format for providing the transcript, and a long and boring conversation, so I didn't read much of it...but from what I can tell, they're just
by caymanjim 5y ago
This is a horrible format for providing the transcript, and a long and boring conversation, so I didn't read much of it...but from what I can tell, they're just trying to redefine the word 'addiction' to a narrow, specific, and arbitrary meaning. I've consumed plenty of supposedly-addictive chemicals, and aside from nicotine, none of them have the kind of pyschological hold over me--or rewarding brain-chemical satisfaction--as video games. That's a more narrow focus than "technology", but these days everything is being gamified, so there's no clear delineation.
- Sigmoid 5y agoAgreed. I personally think one problem with this article is their cult following of science. I guess there isn't conclusive scientific evidence that social media or video games are addictive or detrimental to you. But should I wait possible decades for more conclusive research? I rather not. I know I have been addicted to video games and it has negativity impacted my life. The reason people are making these 'assumptions' about social media/video games being addictive is because they can see it in their own life and the life of others. The 'hard science' this guy is talking about just hasn't catched up.
- visarga 5y agoYet another call to trust personal experiences, stories and subjective opinions as more authoritative than science. It's a bad trend.
- louis___ 5y agoScience should be a tool, not be a religion that you MUST trust. When the voice of the people does not matter anymore because some guy in a white coat said "Science, you know", this is another kind of bad trend.
- visarga 5y agoThere are opinions and personal experiences - valid for one or a few people, and then there are scientific concepts that are universal and generalize everywhere. The Mars helicopter flies OK even though it wasn't designed on Mars. Science works with or without people's approval. My main concern with stories is that they are prone to emotional appeal and cherry picking of facts. We live in the era of fake news and critical justice mobs after all, we need to be skeptic. What if the story proposes an agenda that is just supporting another group against your own, not including a balanced view of the situation? What if the underlying message is that of social war, non-inclusiveness and dehumanizing towards the "oppressor group"? The Bible itself is a story with many many victims during the last two millennia.
- louis___ 5y agoI get what you mean. I agree with you, some scientific concepts -at our state of understanding-, may seem universal and generalize everywhere, such as Einstein's work on relativity that the Mars helicopter must be using. What I wanted to emphasize is that, humans are deeply political and biased animals, and will always use a scientific concept to their own interests, even ever so slightly. Just look on the horror of the stuff psychiatry has done the past century : accusing women of being frigid if their child was autistic, saying that their genitalia made them prone to psychiatric disorders, the list goes on... In my opinion, the concept of "addiction" falls into the 2nd category. Humans are just so complex, that we will never isolate the gene of addiction, but nevertheless, this is not a requisite to start saying that junk-food or smartphones can damage your quality of life.
- rasen58 5y agoDo you have any advice for breaking video game addiction? I feel like it affects me a lot.
- formerly_proven 5y agoDepends on the kind of game. E.g. multiplayer games, especially with persistence, are just very addictive, so if you know that you are vulnerable to those addiction triggers, it's best to abstain completely. That's of course only useful for avoiding future addictions, and doesn't really help with an ongoing addiction, which are hard to control, but withdrawal should be mild, so going cold turkey (uninstall, sell/delete account(s) and perhaps the hardware) should be viable. Oh, and it's not particularly nice to people, but if it's game that's only played within a community, you could also grief / troll / insult / cheat for a day or so to get permabanned / ejected from the community and burn your name.
- rasen58 5y agoHaha that's a good idea on trying to ban yourself. Yeah I think I just need to abstain from all games in general since even if I let myself play some single player game I'll eventually let myself play a multiplayer one again later.
- emerged 5y agoSee if you can transfer the addiction to a fitness game? Suddenly the addiction becomes a virtue and is strengthened by the endorphin highs.