The first thing you'd have to know is that I'm online 7 days a week. I wake up at 5-6am, I'm online. At work, I'm online. I go home, I'm online, there's nothing else to do in Kabul other than working out and watching movies, especially since now I avoid all places with alcohol. On weekends I hang out at cafes, which are also wi-fi enabled. Unless, I walk around outdoors, most of my moments are spent in front of the tube.
An editorial in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry is pushing to recognize internet addiction as a mental disorder. The newspaper article said,
Like other addicts, users experience cravings, urges, withdrawal and tolerance, requiring more and better equipment and software, or more and more hours online, according to Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.I'd gladly label myself as one, but I don't think I can possibly spent more and more hours online. There you go, that means I'm fine.
Now comes this CNN story about an experiment in South Korea by a TV show where in 10 households, they shut down TV for three weeks. Here's what was observed.
"My eyes used to be glued to the TV but now I look at my wife, and find her prettier than before," the village leader, Choi Dae-mun, told the newspaper. "I help her put skin pack on her face at nights. Life's become more fun."OK, maybe they were brainwashed as well, as I can't imagine putting facepacks on my spouse at night, and telling myself I like it. My life is not that dull.
Or so I keep telling myself.
