The internet is probably the most significant invention of the 20th century after penicillin, the abdominizer, the sodastream and the filofax diary system. Some psychiatrists estimate that up to 10 percent of the population have an unhealthy relationship with their computer or ipad and now use the internet to satisfy all of their emotional and sexual needs. When the wifi connection is down, these people suffer withdrawal symptoms similar to heroin users. The rest of us just burst into tears and reaquaint ourselves with a book while cursing our provider. Check out Dr. Jerald Block on google, the leading expert on internet addiction. You'll find references to patients dragged kicking and screaming away from online games so they can be force-fed in hospital.
Away from the home or office and into the streets these same people, that's you and I by the way, only look up from our mobile phones to avoid cars, or steer them occasionally between those vital texts, calls and Angry Birds.
Some say that the internet and mobiles are tools like a cavemans axe and not dangerous in proper use. Others, like Dr Susan Blackmore, believe that because of the digital revolution, we may be evolving into a new species.
The internet offers a total universe in which we can live, love and inhabit if we choose. But it is not the only universe. There is the other universe that bore us and we can never really forget our parents, even if there is a period of adolescence where we try hard to do just that.
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