On the Click Track

Via Yule Heibel, this article is the best explanation I've seen of the brain chemistry behind our addictions to Twitter, texting, email and other types of seductive/obsessive behaviors.

Comments

[Dana]

Yes. This pretty much sums up my relationship with many things, including writing, reading, learning, theorizing, teaching/mentoring, research and discourse/debate:

"For humans, this desire to search is not just about fulfilling our physical needs. Panksepp says that humans can get just as excited about abstract rewards as tangible ones. He says that when we get thrilled about the world of ideas, about making intellectual connections, about divining meaning, it is the seeking circuits that are firing."

It also explains why I have built my life around seeking others who also seek in the ways I seek -- who make seeking their priority.

Object attachment is perhaps an additional way to frame our addiction to things like Google and Twitter. You should read "Love + Sex with Robots" by David Levy. It deftly explores the relationship between human-human attachment and human-object attachment. The book focuses on robots as objects, but the object could just as easily be an android, any form of AI, a concept, a computer, a technology, an idea ... any sort of electronic interface.

[beth]

Hi Dana, thanks for the comment. Yep, the article pretty much summed up how I feel and act, and it makes sense that we attach to people who do likewise. I'll look for the book you cited too.

[mens track shoes]

Thanks for taking the time to help, I really apprciate it.