I’ve known that I have a strong addiction to my laptop for a while now.
Photo from: http://www.cfdlearn.ca/importance-internet-research-implementing-law/.
When I was growing up, I lived in a low-tech house. We didn’t have cable or television (only VHS), and I didn’t get a cell phone until high school. I was sheltered from the constant company of electronics. However, when I moved to university, I bought a laptop. It immediately became glued to my side. This sudden availability and ease is irresistible and I have no control.
More information at: https://www.addictions.com/news/netflix-addiction-americas-latest-binge-obsession/.
I hate the emptiness of silence, so I constantly have episodes playing on Netflix. It lets me blur out the world, my life, and the pressures of work and school. I don’t think, I just absorb. It’s reached the point that I am physically uncomfortable when I don’t have something playing.
Photo from: https://techinfographics.com/college-students-and-netflix-addiction/.
Even outside of Netflix, there’s so much information available in the internet that not exploring it feels like a waste. I have trouble sleeping most nights because closing my eyes feels like giving up on life for that day.
It’s unhealthy. My laptop is the first and last thing I see every day. I feel a bit sick after I’ve been online too long. I get disgusted with myself for not doing enough with my life outside my room.
This sounds horrific, like I’m isolated and sick. In some ways that is true, and I do think that my laptop has reduced my social life. I also think that completing my classes would be impossible without it. Without internet access, I would never have become the person I am because I would not have been exposed to as wide of a base of literature in such a short period of time. Libraries have limits.
It seems that the internet is the only clear way to approach topics relating to the Anthropocene because there is no faster more comprehensive way to intake and disseminate knowledge, ideas, and facts. It is also a reflection of the Anthropocene because it exploded into being. The internet is cloying, powerful, and the idea of losing access to it leaves me shaky from withdrawals. If we don’t find a way to reduce our impact or geoengineer a better future, we will face the collapse of all our addictions, internet included. The only alternative is to make the conscious choice to create better habits and exploit less resources. How can I reduce what feels like something I need into something I want? Would geoengineering just be the creation of a new, self-perpetuating addiction? Is my internet access opening doors for me, or is it confining me to my room? I honestly don’t know anymore.
