An American couple found themselves in court after the wife abruptly stopped their intimate moments at midnight just to… check her email. In Finland, many young people are even using the excuse of being “too addicted to the Internet” to evade military service.
In just a few years, electronic devices have undergone a remarkable transformation: phones are taken everywhere, CD players paved the way for MP3 players, computers found new life thanks to the Internet, and DVDs made cassette tapes seem outdated.
Almost everyone has certain love-hate feelings toward technology as digital devices have become increasingly familiar to people. However, many people “revere” technology beyond normal limits without realizing they are addicted to it:
Forgetting Basic Functions
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| “BlackBerry on one side and you on the other.” (Photo: The Age) |
These basic functions include eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, and sleeping. How can they step away from their computers to perform any of these four “ordinary” tasks when they are surrounded by technology? Games may prevent kids from hanging out idly, but they also bring numerous other harmful effects. Last December, a young man in South Korea died after playing games continuously for 10 days. Three years prior, another individual in the same country “collapsed at the keyboard” after “battling” virtual enemies for 86 hours straight.
Tolerating Odd Accessories
“Look, there’s even a ‘chair’ for mobile phones!” mothers lament. Alongside phone holders that can flash a signal whenever there’s an incoming call, people are buying quirky clips to keep MP3 players from slipping, dancing robot dogs that groove to the music…
Checking Email at 3 AM on Sunday
Many people wake up at midnight to check if they have new emails. In the U.S., there was a rare divorce case for a trivial reason: the wife kept fiddling with her BlackBerry while being intimate with her husband. “If you can still reach for the button to receive emails while making love or indulging in serene moments with your partner, then you’ve really gone too far,” said Carl Honore, author of In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed.
Knowing Nicknames but Not Real Names
They hang out with Whitelie, Phoenix, Kira, and can chat for hours with Cinderella or some goofy cat, yet they have no interest in the real names of those they choose to share their deepest secrets with. Many people are now caught up in online activities. They are shy about face-to-face communication but are excellent at chatting through MSN or Yahoo Messenger. This phenomenon is common in Japan and South Korea, where strict academic regulations lead many students online for a release.
Finding Joy in Beeps
Some individuals download their favorite songs and set them as ringtones, while others choose odd sounds or standard music tracks and hum them all day as if they were the “best songs.” The sound of a computer starting up, a new email notification, or a buzz on Yahoo Messenger makes their hearts race. It’s no wonder the ringtone with the rebellious and quirky Crazy Frog created a sensation in Europe and the U.S., even becoming the best-selling single in the UK on May 29, 2005, surpassing Coldplay’s Speed of Sound.
Don’t Laugh, Just Say LOL
In the past two years, Vietnamese youth have started using abbreviations in SMS to reduce characters, such as lol (laugh out loud) or popular smiley faces in instant messaging services to express their attitudes. Author Carl Honore worries that this could affect the writing skills of young people in the long run. “Some people today feel that without a smiley, the reader cannot understand their intended meaning,” Honore noted.
Answering Calls at Inappropriate Times
Celebrities like Paris Hilton or Pierce Brosnan have also paused their intimate moments to answer calls. But what about in reality? A recent survey in the U.S. found that up to 14% of respondents admitted to making calls while being intimate. This has become so common that they view it as normal.
Communicating in Cryptic Language
They use dialogues like “My hard drive may be old, but my RAM is still plentiful” (I’m still sharp) or “You’ve got a virus, let me buy you some Norton pills” (You’re sick; let me get you some medicine)…
Some Notable Cases:
2000: A guy named Shane Warne caused a texting scandal by sending suggestive, vulgar messages to a married woman.
2002: A young man in Massachusetts (U.S.) committed suicide due to an addiction to the game EverQuest.
2002: A 24-year-old in South Korea “died from gaming” after playing for 86 hours straight.
2003: A young man in Alabama shot a police officer and claimed he was imitating the game Grand Theft Auto. The judge did not accept this defense and sentenced him to prison.
2004: A young man in Finland used Internet addiction as an excuse to evade military service.
2004: A young man in Shanghai stabbed his friend over the sale of a shared virtual sword in a game.
2005: A young man in South Korea died after 50 hours of gaming.
2005: A 19-year-old in Scotland spent $11,200 on texting over 12 months, sending up to 8,000 emails each month.
2005: PG Tips created the ReadyWhenUR kettle, which can be activated when users text “switch on” to a preset phone number.
2006: A 13-year-old boy in China died after playing online games for 36 hours.
2006: A British driver was fired for playing games on a handheld device while driving a bus.
