Kitabı oxu: «How your gadgets are turning you in to an addict»
Copyright
How Your Gadgets are Turning You in to an Addict contains material first published in The Fix by Damien Thompson, first published in 2012 by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk
Text © Damien Thompson 2012
Illustrations © HarperCollinsPublishers; Shutterstock.com
Damien Thompson asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of his work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Hardback ISBN: 9780007436088
Collins Shorts ebook edition © DECEMBER 2012
ISBN: 9780007506996
Version 2018-07-13
Contents
Title Page Introduction Chapter 1 About the Publisher
It’s not obvious to us now, but the most far-reaching social development of the early 21st century is our increasingly insistent habit of rewarding ourselves whenever we feel the need to lift our moods. More and more of us are being pulled towards some form of addiction, even though we may be unaware of the fact and never become full-blown addicts.
When our hand creeps out towards yet another square of organic chocolate, or when we play just one more game of Angry Birds before setting off for work, or when we check a secretly bookmarked porn site for new arrivals, we’re behaving like addicts. The activity in question can be innocent or shameful. Either way, it reinforces the addictive streak in human nature.
That streak is there because our brains have evolved to seek out immediate, short-term rewards. Our ancestors needed to stuff themselves with energy-rich berries and to respond quickly to sexual stimulation; we wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t.
Our problem is that we’ve built an environment that bombards us with rewards that our bodies don’t need and that do nothing to ensure our survival as a species. Yet, because they are rewards – that is, because they provoke specific feelings of anticipation and pleasure in the brain – we grab them anyway.
To put it another way, we reach out for a fix.
That’s a word we associate with helpless addicts. They talk about their ‘fix’ because it feels as if they’ve temporarily fixed themselves when they take their drug of choice. There’s no mystery about this. As a result of heavy exposure to the drug, they have become dependent on frequent chemical rewards. Their brains are in a state of hypervigilance, waiting for the blessed relief of a chemical that, once tolerance develops, merely allows the addict to feel normal, as opposed to anxious and ill.
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