ADDICTION OR NEW ANSWER?

Wow that sounds impressive for a blog that started out with love. Nevertheless, I do spend some time thinking as well as just hankering for a bit of virtual hugging.

I entered my virtual world as a normal (usual, typical, not extraordinary, mentally and physically sound, average) educator and speaker, on the hunt for some superficial research into the Web2.0 space. What was it and why was interest in it becoming less than a trend -- and more a reality?

In I plunged! I tried several sites and then this virtual world. I wasn’t all that sucked in by any of them as I tried to identify the rationale for their popularity. One thing was for certain; the virtual world was far more complicated than I had anticipated. Every time I went in, I learned something new!

Then suddenly, I saw an interest in the media about Web 2.0 and especially virtual reality. I bought all the Matrix films and had a forced sit through them. My goodness that will make you sweat and want to buy one of those, what my Daddy always called a “Dago T-shirt” (not too clear on who Dago was, but it might have been named after my Dad’s Dagwood sandwiches).

I watched them again and pulled out a copy of Tron (see: Turner's blog: http://turnerbroadcasting.blogspot.com) and thought about this new arena for connecting people.

WOW!

Over the past few years an increasing number of people have cocconed and bunkered in to the safety of their lives behind closed doors (http://www.faithpopcornreport.com/ or just go buy The Popcorn Report, by Faith Popcorn), and the result is that physical and emotional isolation is growing deeper and wider.

For instance, shops are run by automatons, no one pumps petrol anymore, there are no customer service people at the end of the phone lines, even the coffee shops are more interested in efficiency that effectiveness. Neighbours don’t dare speak with their neighbours, you can’t trust the police, you can’t speak with children or … well you get my drift. We have chosen to be separate to “protect” ourselves from evil (take note the great Turner!).

Children can interact easier with a computer than with other children or just people altogether. Adults carry cell phones so they can call their friends who are in the next room or even walking beside them! Too frequently we fail to look at the people around us to recognise that that longing to “connect” haunts the eyes of many who are rushing through their lives.

Where does this LEAVE us?

So the Internet begins to inexorably change the way we communicate and connect with others. From emails to accessing empowering (and sometimes even dangerous) information, to VOIP (voices that come right through the Internet line), to online job hunts, online dating to virtual worlds… the changes are upon us.

The virtual world I live in a few too many hours a week offers me many things. If you haven’t ventured in yet you won’t understand the adjustments you might make in your life to accommodate this new social structure (like not watching TV much anymore, for instance).

However, it can also affect RL (real life) relationships, if you aren’t careful. And those who care about you may feel shut out and curious or even threatened. Recently someone came to me to perform sort of a formal “intervention” or “exorcism” against the evil (see Turner again) that lived in my laptop and distracted me from them lately. They were sure I was addicted!

Oh no….was I addicted?

And there began an Alice-in-Wonderland adventure of falling into a very interesting topic that I can’t completely cover here right now – but will over the coming weeks. Bottom line:

“The word ‘addiction’ carries with it a great deal of cultural baggage, and deciding whether a novel behaviour tied to a novel technology is an ‘addiction’ is anything but a simple matter.” -- A study of “The Psychology of MMORPGS (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-play Games).

By now, you’ve guessed I try to define things carefully, creating parameters of clarity around them. So what is “addiction:

Well, not surprisingly, the word ‘addiction’ is a very loaded topic and complicated concept and there is no way I can do it justice with the variety of people who may read this from addicts to experts.

However, the dictionary defines it as: a habit that has become impossible to break, especially one involving physical and psychological or/and physical dependence on the intake of harmful substances such as alcohol or narcotic drugs.”

So, some people become actually physically addicted to the caffeine in coffee, cola or chocolate. Some people become addicted to marijuana, which is NOT actually physically addictive, but can be psychologically addictive. Some people say they are addicted to TV, or Krispy Kream donuts, or running -- these are neither physically or psychologically addictive (well Krispy Kreams might be). What they mean to say is they REALLY like doing these things a lot.

Even, of all things, falling in love or having sex can become a kind of psychological addiction to some that can enable or disable people.

Virtual Worlds Are Unique

So where am I going with this idea? Just here: virtual worlds are a unique, unexpected social environment. They have long since topped (for Turner) the concept of games. You see in virtual worlds it is not the AV (avatar) you see, jerkily wandering around in expensive, unlikely clothing or forms, doing incredible and physically impossible things -- it is the people behind those Avs. The reality of lives parading through reasonably lifelike, complicated improvisation. It creates a new world of danger and hope and hate and love. Where real people can get really hurt or really healed or challenged or learn new things --- or fall in love.

And speaking of love….where is the great Turner?