Category: Addiction

Night at Home: Three Soccer Fans Sitting on a Couch Watch Game on TV, Use Smartphone App to Online Bet, Celebrate Victory when Sports Team Wins. Friends Cheer Eat Snacks, Watch Football Play.

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Peter Biles
Date
January 31, 2025

Categorized
Addiction, Sports

Tagged
Rachel Epstein, Sports gambling}

Sports Gambling: The New Addiction Storming America

_{Making money off your favorite team just got wildly popular. But is it healthy?} _{Peter Biles
January 31, 2025

3

Addiction, Sports}

Super Bowl 2025 is less than two weeks away, with the Philadelphia Eagles finding themselves in a rematch with reigning champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Sports engagement has ballooned over the past few years through the medium of online sports betting. Formerly illegal, sports betting has taken the U.S. by storm, with major celebrities and sports stars going on air advocating the practice. Making money off your favorite team just got wildly popular. But is it healthy? A recent article titled “I Got Divorced Because of Sports Betting” shows the dark side of the gamble. Pitched as an easy way to make money online, no one talks about the mad fury that ensues after your bet fails to deliver, your Read More ›

Happy tween girl making dancing video for tiktok social media on cell phone in bedroom

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Heather Zeiger
Date
January 27, 2025

Categorized
Addiction, China, Social Media

Tagged
TikTok, TikTok algorithm, TikTok and China, TikTok and Donald Trump, TikTok and US Congress, TikTok and US First Amendment, TikTok vs other social media}

TikTok Is Banned in the U.S. No It’s Not. Yes It Is. No It’s Not…

_{The political stew aside, we need to look at the key ways TikTok differs from typical social media} _{Heather Zeiger
January 27, 2025

6

Addiction, China, Social Media}

When the app serves up extreme, sometimes perverse, content to a young user, that data is stored on Chinese servers and could be used later. Read More ›

Vintage woodworking tools on the workbench

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Doug Smith
Date
January 26, 2025

Categorized
Addiction, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)

Tagged
Amusing Ourselves to Death, Bootup script, BS as philosophical concept, ChatGPT, Fear of missing out (FOMO), FOMO, Hallucinations, Humans as bootloaders, Large Language Models (creativity issue), Neil Postman, Non-Computable You (Discovery Institute Press 2022), Sam Altman on the merge, Tool trope, Understanding Media (1964)}

AI and the Destructive Lies of the Tool Trope

_{You've heard this, right? “Technology isn’t good or bad; it’s a tool, it’s just how you use it that matters.” False.} _{Doug Smith
January 26, 2025

13

Addiction, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs)}

Because LLM AIs never understand a single word, image, video, or line of code, they can’t know whether anything they say is right, true, or good. Read More ›

The guy is dancing on the phone camera. A view of the phone screen standing on a tripod. Social network. Blogger

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Richard W. Stevens
Date
January 23, 2025

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media

Tagged
First Amendment and TikTok, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Free speech and Tik Tok, TikTok and China, TikTok and USSC decision 2025, TikTok Inc. v. Garland}

TikTok Is Not Just Overgrown Chatting and Email

_{Foreign adversary’s AI-empowered threats to national security tip Supreme Court scales against TikTok} _{Richard W. Stevens
January 23, 2025

5

Addiction, Social Media}

Social media like TikTok today interconnect active speakers and active viewers in all directions. The system monitors and stores all the communications, extracting volumes of data for each individual user. In China where the law allows it, the government can scan and analyze not only the speakers and viewers but can also retrieve specific facts about all of them. The government can restrict messages based upon speaker, viewer, and content — and use AI to craft and send personalized, tailored messages aiming to influence users’ buying and voting decisions, not to mention their psychological well-being. TikTok and the First Amendment Broad-band internet services, multi-billion-dollar social media, and expanding central government are merging into a muscular octopus of surveillance, data Read More ›

Cellphone, mental health and woman in her bed with depression while watching videos on social media. Tired, sleepy and depressed female with insomnia networking on a phone in her bedroom at home.

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News
Date
December 17, 2024

Categorized
Addiction, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Social media addiction}

Australia’s Social Media Ban and Children’s Mental Health

_{An Australian psychiatrist hopes that his job might become easier in the future due to Australia's coming ban on underage use of social media} _{News
December 17, 2024

9

Addiction, Law, Social Media}

Is it any wonder that Silicon Valley CEOs ban their own children from social media? When did a phone become more fun than parties and people? Read More ›

Composite collage image of delighted black white colors person hold telephone raise fist celebrate like notification facebook instagram tiktok

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Peter Biles
Date
May 1, 2024

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
addiction, Facebook, freya india, Jonathan Haidt, mental health, Narcissism, pleasure, screens, social media, virtue}

Beyond Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health

_{Social media addiction can harm more than our moods} _{Peter Biles
May 1, 2024

3

Addiction}

A young writer, herself a member of Gen Z, has dared to point out the obvious about social media. Sure, it’s verifiably making us sad and anxious, but it goes beyond that: it’s turning us into bad people. Freya India, a columnist at Quillette and a new contributor to Jonathan Haidt’s Substack After Babel, notes that while it’s important to talk about social media and mental health, it’s just as vital to talk about what this stuff is doing to our character. She writes, Our loss of empathy, our lack of regard for others, our neurotic obsession with our own image — it’s taking a toll. Maybe subconsciously. But I think deep down we know it. We know when people are using Read More ›

Man praying on his knees against large smartphone

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Peter Biles
Date
April 8, 2024

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
Arts and Culture, David Foster Wallace, fiction, film, internet, novels}

David Foster Wallace: If Screens Are Your Main Media Diet, You’re Going to Die

_{The novelist warned about the pitfalls of the online life} _{Peter Biles
April 8, 2024

2

Addiction}

“If we ate like this all the time, what would be wrong with that?” So asks David Foster Wallace, compellingly played by Jason Segel, in the 2015 film The End of the Tour. Wallace is in the car with a Rolling Stone reporter, David Lipsky, cramming down sweets from a gas station when he says that. After Lipsky quips back about obesity, Wallace says, “It has none of the substance of real food, but it’s real pleasurable.” The End of the Tour is set in 1996 shortly after Wallace’s gargantuan novel Infinite Jest hit the literary scene and impressed the nation with its length, wit, tragedy, and insight. A massive book about loneliness, Infinite Jest takes place in a semi-futuristic Read More ›

Closed up image of a Female using TikTok application on a smartphone in home. 5 September, 2022. ChiangMai, Thailand.

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Peter Biles
Date
March 13, 2024

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
addiction, AI, Culture, Gen Z, habits, Instagram, iPhones, Technology, TikTok, Twitter, X}

Escaping the Dopamine Cartel

_{We can't even be bothered with "entertainment" anymore.} _{Peter Biles
March 13, 2024

3

Addiction}

Ted Gioia investigates the impact of the "dopamine culture," our modern tendency to flit among tabs and scroll endlessly through fifteen-second-long video clips. Read More ›

Young woman using smart phone,Social media concept.

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Richard W. Stevens
Date
January 14, 2024

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media

Tagged
dopamine, Kids, Meta, phones, Smartphones, social media, youth}

Facebook and Instagram Allegedly Hook Youngsters with Dopamine Triggering Tactics

_{Richard W. Stevens
January 14, 2024

8

Addiction, Social Media}

If parents don’t want their children addicted to stimuli and behaviors in the same manner as to drugs or tobacco, then parents need to protect their kids. Read More ›

young unhappy woman suffering from depression, and stress

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Peter Biles
Date
October 24, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media

Tagged
addiction, Instagram, Jean Twenge, Jonathan Haidt, mental health, Technology}

Is This a Moral Reckoning? 41 States Sue Meta for Knowingly Addicting Young Users

_{The lawsuit claims that Meta's platforms are harming its young users. The data backs it up.} _{Peter Biles
October 24, 2023

3

Addiction, Social Media}

The lawsuit coincides with a new article from Jean Twenge, known for researching "Gen-Z" and their painful relationship with addictive digital media. Read More ›

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 28, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Neuroscience, Panpsychism, Peer Review, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Dan Falk, eliminative materialism, Panpsychism vs eliminative materialism}

In Neuroscience Flap, Science Media Tackle “Pseudoscience” Claim

_{As the leading theory of consciousness is tarred by neuroscientists as “pseudoscience,” science media struggle to outline just WHAT science is} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 28, 2023

6

Addiction, Neuroscience, Panpsychism, Peer Review, Philosophy of Mind}

If materialism collapses — and this episode seems like an early warning — what will science look like? Will the same people continue to dominate? Read More ›

Young anxious woman lying in bed staring at smartphone screen at night, reading about depression symptoms in internet, phone addicted female can not stop scrolling news media before bedtime. Anxiety.

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Peter Biles
Date
September 4, 2023

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
addiction, Cal Newport, dopamine, Focus, social media, Work, YouTube}

Cal Newport: Overstimulation Is Ruining Your Life

_{Turns out the solution is simple: don't use things that overstimulate you.} _{Peter Biles
September 4, 2023

2

Addiction}

"Don't use things that cause overstimulation," Newport says. "The dopamine system is powerful, so don't give it the targets it's going to fire up for." Read More ›

Hispanic man staring sadly at his smartphone

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News
Date
August 15, 2023

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
addiction, sex trafficking, social media}

The Real Issue With the “New Drug”

_{Pornography is a drug, through and through, and is used mainly to alleviate negative emotions and meaninglessness} _{News
August 15, 2023

2

Addiction}

One of the biggest harms of the Internet is online pornography. While prostitution (which has the root word porneia) has been around since the dawn of human history, never before has access to explicit content been so easy and varied. Today the porn industry rakes in around $100 million globally, with the U.S. making up $12-14 million of that revenue. According to this report, 40 million Americans regularly view pornography, and 25 percent of all Internet searches are porn-related. These stats are shocking, to say the least, but it begs the question of how we best understand and treat porn addiction in today’s context. While most of us would naturally assume such addiction is related to sexual impulses, “Dr. K,” Read More ›

instagram filter Himalaya mountains nepal

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News
Date
May 12, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Environment

Tagged
Boy Scouts, Culture, Digital media, Lawsuit, Nature, Robert J. Marks, Technology, Trail Life}

Boy Scouts and Tech Addiction

_{You can't mimic the reality compared to what you see on the screen} _{News
May 12, 2023

2

Addiction, Environment}

The Boy Scouts of America once enjoyed a booming membership. But over the last decade especially, due to some policy changes, abuse scandals, and a giant lawsuit, the once great organization has seen a colossal decline. In last week’s podcast, Robert J. Marks sat down with former Boy Scout leader and his cousin Kent Marks. Together they talked about the tragic decline in the Boy Scouts program, which coincides with the enduring need to help boys navigate the many distractions and difficulties of growing up in a digitally mediated world. Today, Kent continues to lead boys on wilderness expeditions and believes that getting guys away from the screens and into the beauty of the outdoors is a key to their Read More ›

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Robert J. Marks
Date
February 21, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media

Tagged
addiction, Adolescents, Depression, god, Revival, Robert J. Marks, social media, suicide, TikTok}

The Asbury Revival and the Cure for TikTok

_{In the age of social media addiction, young people need to know they can be imperfect and yet loved} _{Robert J. Marks
February 21, 2023

3

Addiction, Social Media}

Social media portrays a world where everybody is happy and having a good time. Everybody, of course, except for you. There must therefore be something wrong with you. You are a loser. Teenage boys without girlfriends feel like social freaks. One in three teenage girls who use social media suffers from body image issues. Social Media and Depression Young adults who use social media are three times as likely to suffer from depression. Depression can lead to suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, female suicides aged 15-24 increased by 87 percent over the past 20 years and male suicides increased by 30 percent. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says suicide is now Read More ›

Multi-racial friends scrolling smartphones ignoring each other, gadget addiction

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News
Date
January 13, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media

Tagged
Andrew McDiarmid, Contemplation, Eric Metaxas, Featured}

Andrew McDiarmid and Eric Metaxas on Thinking for Ourselves

_{Social media makes it very easy to farm out thinking until finally we do not know what or even whether we think} _{News
January 13, 2023

4

Addiction, Social Media}

Recently, Andrew McDiarmid wrote a piece in the New York Post on the neglected benefits of sitting quietly and thinking for oneself: … a recent study reported in the Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests that the act of “just thinking” can be more rewarding than we might realize. The authors of the paper acknowledge that the ability to engage in internal thoughts without external stimulation is a unique characteristic in humans, yet we regularly underappreciate the benefits of doing it. This might be one reason we’re so quick to reach for our phones — we don’t know what we’re missing. Andrew McDiarmid, “If you make one resolution in 2023, it should be this: experts” at New York Post (December 31, Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
January 8, 2023

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
Featured}

This New Year, Resolve to Dive Headfirst into Life

_{Dr. Anna Lembke urges people to abandon isolating addictions and choose honesty and relationship instead} _{Peter Biles
January 8, 2023

4

Addiction}

With the new year in full swing, people are considering resolutions and asking themselves what habits they need to change. For me, my negative habits almost entirely revolve around technology. Too much time checking social media, email, browsing Twitter and YouTube, going down the cat video abyss. Skimming news, articles, photos, and videos, diminishes the attention span and leaves one feeling empty, restless, and in greater need of a “fix.” It’s a socially acceptable drug, but no less addicting than the others. Lembke, medical director of Stanford Addiction Medicine, asks us in her book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton 2021), Why, in a time of unprecedented wealth, freedom, technological progress, and medical advancement, do we appear to be Read More ›

beardy guy sitting alone on a river coast, enjoying the sunset, thinking

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Andrew McDiarmid
Date
January 2, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Education, Social Media

Tagged
Featured}

If You Make One Resolution in 2023, It Should Be This: Experts

_{Humans were born to think. To pause in order to think. Excessive social media use disrupts that ability} _{Andrew McDiarmid
January 2, 2023

4

Addiction, Education, Social Media}

This story originally appeared at the New York Post (December 31, 2022) Remember those bathroom readers filled with trivia, factoids, and stories? They’ve been entertaining in the throne room since 1988. Though the 35th anniversary edition came out last fall, it probably won’t hit the bestseller lists. The truth is most of us have something else to distract us in the bathroom — our smartphones. We pull them out on the john, at stoplights, in line at checkout, while we pump gas — virtually anywhere we have to wait for more than ten seconds. The lure of social stimuli gives us a dopamine hit that keeps us coming back any time we get a minute. But what if we’re cheating ourselves out Read More ›

Girl is running with a dog (Beagle) on a leash in the autumn time, sunny day in forest. Copy space in nature

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Andrew McDiarmid
Date
August 30, 2022

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media

Tagged
Doug Smith, Featured, Jacques Ellul on social media addiction, Social media addiction, Tom Holland, Unintentional (book)}

Why Tom Holland’s Social Media Break Is A Good Idea For All Of Us

_{We don’t need Spider-Man’s “spidey sense” to see that too much social media can be “very detrimental” to mental well-being} _{Andrew McDiarmid
August 30, 2022

5

Addiction, Social Media}

This article ran at the Daily Wire (August 22, 2022) where it is available by subscription only. Last week, Spider-Man: No Way Home actor Tom Holland made the bold decision to delete Instagram and Twitter and take a break from social media. In a video shared with his 67 million Instagram followers, Holland called both of the apps overstimulating and overwhelming. “I get caught up and I spiral when I read things about me online,” Holland added, “and ultimately it’s very detrimental to my mental state.” The strength to stop something as addictive and sometimes harmful as social media is a superpower all on its own. Forget spidey sense — Holland will soon start to experience new levels of clarity, Read More ›

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News
Date
July 15, 2022

Categorized
Addiction, Social Media, Spirituality

Tagged
Andrew McDiarmid, Authentic technology concept, Featured, Jacques Ellul, Marshall McLuhan, Robert J. Marks}

Taking Our Lives Back from Big Tech, a Step at a Time

_{If we don’t have the time to stop and reflect because we are too busy checking our social media…} _{News
July 15, 2022

13

Addiction, Social Media, Spirituality}

In a recent podcast, “Weaving the Technology of Our Lives” (July 14, 2022), Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed tech and culture writer Andrew McDiarmid on the deep ways Big Tech governs our lives — ways of which we are often unaware — and concrete steps for taking control back: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/Mind-Matters-195-Andrew-McDiarmid.mp3 Here’s a partial transcript and notes. Additional Resources follow: Robert J. Marks: We have been talking about Jacques Ellul’s concept of technique… Andrew McDiarmid: Well, Jacques Ellul was a French sociologist, theologian, and philosopher of technology … Ellul’s lifetime spanned almost the entire 20th century, 1911 to 1994. He wrote books and articles throughout his career on how he saw technology impacting the “human adventure,” as he Read More ›