Do you hate your own children and wish they would just stop being so freakin’ annoying? Do you pray that they’d just go the fuck to sleep for once so you can watch The X Factor in peace? Luckily, a new pair of high tech pajamas called “Smart Pajamas” will do your parenting for you. Ain’t the future grand? Read More
There’s already email addiction, Facebook addiction and wholesale Internet addiction. Next up on the psychological disorders docket? Kickstarter addiction: people who are “addicted” to the rush of finding and backing fledgling projects on Kickstarter.
The notion of “Kickstarter addiction,” as defined by VentureBeat, encapsulates the do-gooder rush and risk-averse anxiety rooted in crowdfunding. Throwing money at half-formed ideas and projects is kind of like gambling, argues VentureBeat, except you don’t have to be situated on a sketchy boardwalk and coated in cigarette smoke to get your fix. There’s just one snag in their theory. The only evidence of this “growing number of people” addicted to Kickstarter is a single thread on the Geek and Sundry message boards. Read More
Sometimes, it feels like the Internet is one big, never-ending challenge to one’s powers of self-control. Sure, you could sleep… or you could watch two hours of Say Yes to the Dress on Netflix. (Theoretically, of course.) Cleaning out your closet is one option… and this slideshow of “20 Dogs Who Don’t Want the Summer to End” is another.
But if ever you find yourself unable to disconnect for an entire day, perhaps you can take some solace from this report, which says that yes, Internet addiction is a real thing and, what’s more, it’s rooted in your genes. It is, therefore, not your fault that you can’t ignore your FarmVille game for more than a day without getting itchy palms.
Look, we are among the worst offenders of 24/7 digital connection. We rudely pull out our phone during dinner and we check our email when we wake up in the middle of the night and sometimes we think our Netflix queue *gets* us in a way no person ever has or will. But when it comes to disconnecting for 24 hours, putting that device in a drawer and going out and enjoying the sunshine? It’s not something we really fret over.
But perhaps we are in the minority. The Reconnect Project, which is planned for this Sunday, September 2, urges the 84 percent of people who said they couldn’t go 24 hours without their mobile device to disconnect for the day and reclaim their lives IRL. Read More
Good news if you’re Richard Stallman! According to a travel survey conducted by Intel, Americans are so obsessed with keeping their devices tethered to their fast-typing fingers that they’re eschewing the comforts and hygiene of modern life just to keep them charged. We call this the “Stallman Quotient”: The more you embrace technology over showering, the higher your Stallman Quotient grows. The maximum Stallman Quotient score is 10, otherwise known as “eating something from your foot while being filmed during a lecture.” Read More
