Internet or Control-net

Internet or Control-net

Technology – trap or tool

Technology has been developed to make our lives easier. Whether we’re talking about the simple wheel, which makes it easier to transport heavy objects, or the internet, which has spread its network of information to every corner of the world. But for every action there is a price, there is no action without consequences. Even if we talk about efficiency and material progress, there are always some unpleasant consequences that we cannot anticipate from the start.  If you use the wheel, you’ll be able to carry a lot of weight with ease and thus complete much larger projects than you could complete with the force of your hands alone. But the awareness of your body’s limitations will reduce. Your feel that this tool is attached to your will, and so it is enabled to bring your plans to reality much more easily. And obviously, the feeling of power to control the environment increases. Yes, inevitably, technology gives us this sense of empowerment. It eases the effort and shortens the time between the things we want and the things we achieve through our actions. Using the internet does the same thing. The desire to communicate is normal, and today’s technology facilitates information exchange at an unprecedented speed. Through the increasing possibilities of virtual delivery of the message we want to transmit, we are given the appearance of connection at more and more compelling levels.  But what is the price we pay for this information technology? The sense that we are able to control the space around us through information is growing, but the sense of intimacy of our own experiences is diminishing. People become addicted to heroin online, give birth online, watch live sex online, not to mention what happens on the dark web. Gradually the public-private distinction is becoming increasingly unclear. The boundary between the known and the unknown is melting in the flood of information we pour out to each other. We merge into one great universal mind, and so the life of our private mind is killed, if I may resort to morbid language.

The uncontrollable, an opportunity 

All this need for control comes from our fear of things we don’t know and so we can’t master them. This fear turns the unknown into an enemy that seems to aim to destroy our fragile balance. The Internet seems to offer a solution with its unlimited flow of information, so feeding on fear, Internet addiction can thrive freely. This need to control can only be overcome by being aware of and embracing our own limitations and weaknesses when it comes to the unpredictable. Being aware of this possible chaos makes us aware of our very limited power, with regard to the finality of our plans. And although it is a threat to our plans, it is also the source of our freedom. This recognition can drive those who realize its implications to despair. But when we dare to open ourselves to something that is beyond us, beyond our limited understanding, and thus take on the burden of deciding freely moment by moment, we realize that what we do not know is for us and not against us. So that what we cannot control, gives us the possibility to get out from under the burden of controlling. The desire to control is born from a lack of awareness of one’s own fragility, and real power is born from assuming it together with the freedom to decide. In the words of the great psychoanalyst Victor Frankl: You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to what happens to you”.

Because we live in a cyber age, one that is increasingly seeking to digitize itself, I will talk in this text mainly about the effects that this new information technology – the internet – has on us.

Internet addiction

Internet addiction is a very general term. It covers a variety of sub-dependencies. They logically derive from the various vices that accompany excessive internet consumption. So we talk about social media addiction, we talk about pornography addiction, we talk about online shopping addiction, but not least we talk about information addiction.

Social Media

I’ll start with the common addiction to social media. And when I talk about social media I mean platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter etc. This reality affects all ages, as anyone can easily create a profile in such an application and start going out into the world with their virtual image. Through the things they post, they create a virtual self, a self that is a representation and not something concrete, physical. Beyond the temptation to polish the image you offer to others to the max, beyond the illusion that you are what you post and that the number of likes validates this truth, there are other more immediate behavioral consequences that fall into the range of addictions and come from the greed to control what happens to you. This desire for control is numbed by the false sense of connection and constant feedback you receive within your virtual friend group. The immediate need to check your notifications burdens you at every turn, you end up posting updates in an endless loop, and you start needing social validation all the time for everything you do. We say we’re becoming influencers, but all we’re doing is promoting the image of a person in control in every aspect of their life. That’s all that sells, isn’t it? We only associate ourselves with what is amazing and desirable and leave our fragility out of relationships. This is done even by so-called victims of the tyranny of the majority, by those who are not ashamed to publicly display their trauma. We would be tempted to say that this is an act of courage, or is it? Most of them promote the image of those who are beyond the desire to belong to today’s society. In this way, they try to eliminate social exclusion, reinventing society through the force of their indignation and anger. This becomes possible for them by displaying an image of control, they set themselves apart from the majority by not needing to be told what is normal. The violence of the majority against the minority can never be ended by the violence of the minority against the majority. Then there will be a new majority, which will tyrannize the new minority, it has always been so, history proves it. This vision of unstoppable force turns out to be a thin lie when we look at our human needs in their fullness. Our society is a very sad one because of what we cultivate in the public space. We miss our chance to become powerful by not even acknowledging that we are not.

Pornography

Pornography, could that be a problem too, some say? Porneia, the root from which the word pornography comes, is generally translated as fornication, i.e. sexual intercourse outside a legitimate setting. In the language of control, this would be a rejection of the constraints that characterize relationships based on commitment and fidelity, a relationship that would involve a constant exchange of emotions and resources. In the virtual environment of the internet, pornography can then become any form of representation (drawing, video, even a text), through which we are given the opportunity to explore our sexuality beyond the limits of commitment and mutual consent. Sexuality, from a gift of love, given to you by the other for the mutual joy of being together, becomes a commodity to which you have access whenever your desires dictate. You are no longer obliged to pay the price of the relationship, or even of the consent that random sex implies, but can always consume, even compulsively, as is often the case. You control who you see, when you see, how you see, and everything becomes centered around your immediate gratification. Pornography is a problem and can lead to a serious form of addiction because of the dopamine it provides instantly. The brains of those who are constant users of pornography look different from the brains of those who are not. With long-term exposure to pornography, the capacity for intimacy decreases dramatically and the ability to think about the other person outside of your sexual desires decreases. Your regular sex life becomes dull as pornography provides stimulation at levels far beyond a normal sexual experience. Growing children, at the most, become strongly conditioned negatively. They become accustomed to being sexually aroused outside of a concrete, physical setting that involves the reality of another partner. This happens because our brains are largely a learning and prediction machine. But when we’re talking about children that develop, their brains are very malleable, or impressionable, and open to assimilation for new behaviors.    So, if until recently, observing others having sex was considered awkward, today we make out of it the false comfort of our insecurities.

Online shopping

What can fill the void in us better than the latest clothes, technology or accessories? The merchants of this world dangle all these items before our eyes, wrapped in stories they say will surely end well. Can things really fill the void destined for our need for meaning? Those who sell you stuff will tell you that they do. They want to convince you that the thing is what you really need. But what will those of us who have overcome our need for control, who have accepted our emptiness and embraced the meaning of life beyond things, teach us? And so being free from the compulsive need to acquire new objects. The wise will tell us that we need nothing, that we are sufficient to ourselves and to others, because when objects disappear, what is revealed is the light of life. Nowadays, online shopping is becoming a new form of addiction. And that’s because the glow of objects that websites show us is so seductive. Because all we have to do to own the targeted product is click a button. The money that represents the value of the object sits somewhere in an account, without us seeing its physical value, so we can be easily tempted to make the transaction. And if you don’t have any money, all you have to do is get a shopping card and you can extend your desires beyond the income you have. The quick gratification that online shopping offers concerns real emotional needs, and the ability to silence those needs with a newly purchased item can quickly establish a cycle of addiction for those who fall for it. For a moment, in the ecstasy of purchase, we feel in control again, only to be reminded later, through the use of the object, that we are in possession of a new form of emptiness. Except that we’ve let ourselves be deceived and paid some money for it. The endless avalanche of objects available as possible purchases engages an intense flow of dopamine, only to find ourselves enslaved again by a new form of addiction. We are a consumer society, no one denies that, but online shopping accelerates this at an even greater level.

Information overload

And finally, I want to talk about something that often defeats me too, and that is information overload. Many people who use the internet, whether they access it from their phone, tablet or computer, become addicted to constantly searching for new information. They feel the overwhelming need to be connected to news, blogs, forums or other sources of information. More recently, even YouTube is becoming a consistent source of information, but obviously also of misinformation, as more and more channels become available. If information aversion concerns the fanatic, the one who tries to control reality by preaching his beliefs as the only form of truth available, information bulimia relates to the failed attempt to control reality through knowledge. The same story of control repeats itself in both cases. Information feeds the predictive power of our brains, and the need for exposure to information is natural and necessary for our health. But when there is a constant inclination towards excessive information, and if we end up secreting too much dopamine because we are always anticipating control through information, we are already talking about a serious addiction. It does not save anyone to overload with information, as long as we believe that openness to concrete reality is beyond our immediate possibility.

We are facing a growing crisis of internet addiction in all its forms. And today’s man, at the height of his technological development, is finding ever more ingenious and sophisticated ways to get lost among the information. He is seeking to escape from life, the life that seeks to make itself known to him. He tells himself that he is running from pain, but fear of the whole of life isolates him beyond joy.

Bibliography

1. The impact of technology on the contemporary human mind and life – Virgiliu Gheorghe
2. The impact of virtual information on humans  
3. Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari
4. Misunderstanding dopamine: Why the language of addiction matters | Cyrus McCandless | TEDxPortsmouth
5. I Got Addicted to Heroin in Front of 1.5 Million YouTube Subscribers
6. Does Porneia Mean Fornication?
7. The Effects of Pornography on the Brain by Dr. Donald L. Hilton Part 5
8. How porn is destroying young men | Gary Wilson  (Key Points Talk)
9. Andrew Huberman – How Porn Addiction Destroys Men’s Brains
10. Addicted to Shopping? | Psychiatrist Explains | Dr Elliott
11. NEUROSCIENTIST: “You Will NEVER BE ADDICTED Again”