Steve Jobs Pushes Dope

| Feb 17, 2010 | 3 comments

Is there really any difference between this and an iPhone?

Having been without my iPhone, I was anxiety-ridden and paranoid.  I could not communicate.  Okay – that’s hyperbole.  But being without my main means of communication simply reinforced how addicted I can be to technology.

I was dopesick.  I needed another electronic fix.  I needed to hear the reassuring ping of my iPhone from my pocket. I needed to hear my podcasts playing through my radio at work. I needed to be able to check Twitter on Tweetie.  I needed to see bank balances and emails from my personal accounts. I am addicted to my iPhone.

Are you a compulsive Facebooker?  Perhaps you tweet more than you should.  Or maybe there’s a blog that you check before you even brush your teeth.  Whether it’s an addiction to television, email, a website, an iPod, or a cellphone, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you are probably addicted to some modern convenience.

With TV on DVD, people now binge on programs, watching one show in a four episode block (the typical number of episodes on a disc). With Speed Dial extensions, people can hotkey their favorite sites to the exclusion of the rest of the internet.  With smartphones, social networking is only a button press away.

I am serious about tech addiction. As I left the AT&T store with my replacement iPhone, I actually felt a surge of relief. I would not be surprised in the least if, in fact, getting the iPhone activation message released endorphins into my system.  And there have been times when I have compulsively checked my emails and tweets and comments.

Technology is, of course, a boon. But in an increasingly anxious time in which many are to some extent dysfunctional, the temptation to glom onto an electronic security blanket is great. Whether it’s hammering the F5 key to see a response to a blog comment or a reflexive flip of a cellphone to see the text message that just came in, we may be moving to a post-electronic age of compulsion. As someone with diagnosed GAD/MDD with a family history of bipolar disorder and OCD, I know how the soothing routine of a timesuck can rapidly turn into a full-blown habit.

This is a time of addiction.  And it’s nothing new. There are those who are addicted to MMPORGs like World of Warcraft and EverQuest before it. For every person who jokes about pornography addiction, there have been cases of people becoming addicted to that little bit of endorphin that comes from whatever tech the user has fetishized.

Does any of this navel-gazing change my outlook towards my iPhone? No. It is a part of my life – a tool that actually does make my life easier.  However, we should take care that these conveniences do not, at least psychologically, become our masters.

Filed Under: Gadgets • Lifestyle • Technology

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Matthew Baron

About the Author

Matthew Baron fought in the Console Wars. He is the best starpilot in the galaxy and a cunning warrior. For years, he played video games on PCs, before the consoles... before the dark times. When he's not wasting time playing video games on his consoles, he's wasting time on blogs, wasting time with gadgets, and wasting time at clubs. You can contact Matthew via electronic mail at matthewbaron@mobilelocalsocial.com and follow him on the Twitters @OMG_Ponies
  • http://intensedebate.com/people/loriguffey loriguffey

    Its funny, the more technology becomes entrenched in our lives, the more I get a thrill from rebelling against the "reachable 24/7" mantra. People are astounded that I only answer the phone for a few select people while driving and that I can leave my laptop/palm pilot at home when I go on vacation. Ok, get back up off the floor. I've seen what the i-phone has done to previously sane individuals; it's like a cult where zombiesque pale skinned techies are on a mission to convert us all by incessantly telling us over and over and over and over what cool things their i-phone can do. I-promise that when you do this, I-think you are unstable not cool. just sayin, i-rehab might not be such a bad i-dea. o.0

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Matthew_Baron Matthew_Baron

    Well, it does make a perfectly cromulent beer coaster. Nothing like the looks of horror when I put a can of macrobrew on it.

    And I see that you enjoy the sport of Zealot Irking. Way back, I used to go out of my way to type "I-pod" and see who would get pissy about the seeming transgression.

    My iPhone delivers mail to me and helps me navigate with a UI that I'm used to. Additionally, I'm unfortunately a bit entrenched in the ecosystem so leaving iPhone would mean losing quite a bit of paid software (which is by and large worth the cost).

    AOL had a walled garden. Apple has a street corner to push dope from.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/loriguffey loriguffey

    LOL! i can literally imagine the looks of absolute horror on my techie friends faces if they ever saw anything on top of an iPhone, especially something with liquid. spoken like a true iPusher. not saying its not a great device, i'm just sayin. Takes all kinds ya know?

    I was not Zealot Irking! i am a PC so i don't know all the applites rules. there's no hyphen? so noted. Am I allowed to put small i's in front of other non product words or is that irksome too? (i am not being a smart ass, i'm asking. the addiction has a paranoia symptom associated with it for sure so just wanted to be clear.)

    And just for the record, I NEVER had an AOL account, not even when it was the cool thing to do. Just in case you were wonderin.