Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Parsing Internet addiction
While I have no doubt that addiction is real, I would also like to point out the social labeling dimension of the phenomena. In class, I used the example of the person who is consumed by the pleasure they derive from playing an instrument, writing music, etc. I used the example of Lang Lang (check Youtube and see what an incredible virtuoso piano player he is) and Bruce S. All six of the criteria for addiction could be applied to these guys but you'd never use the word "addiction" for it. Obsession, maybe but not addiction. In short, are there "good" behavioral addictions and "bad" ones? and who gets to determine which is which? And if we adopt this "social constructionist" approach to the problem, what would be the policy implications? How about feeding a heroin addicts' addiction legally? The person comes in every day, gets their shot, and proceeds on their way. I don't want to downplay the suffering of the alcoholic but isn't the interesting question--who profits from alcoholism? We wag our fingers at the behavior but are happy to see advertising on TV that makes alcohol consumption look awfully pleasureable, even if in tine print it says, "drink responsibly". In short, maybe we shouldn't be trying to draw lines but instead look at the sociology of line drawing--who is doing it, who gets do it, what are social consequences of one line drawing vs another?
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I also believe that addiction, like many other things in our society, is socially constructed. I believe that powerful people, industries, etc market products or frown upon products in terms of what benefits them. One example of this idea that comes to mind is the difference in punishment between the use of Cocaine and Crack Cocaine. They are both extremely dangerous, but since Crack is seen as a lower-class drug while Cocaine is seen as a higher-class drug, the punishment for having/using Crack is much harsher than Cocaine.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even with the example of Lang Lang, I struggle to see this obsession/addiction as a completely positive thing. Although the outcome turned out positively because he had incredible talent, is the fact that he only played the piano as a child a healthy thing? He probably missed out on a lot of other activities that typically create a well-rounded person. Even when something turns out positively, I still believe that too much of it tends to be unhealthy.