>    The American Medical Association met last month for it’s annual convention and considered, among other things, classifying “technology addiction” as a real mental disorder. I would characterize over-dependence and over-involvement with technology somewhat differently.  I’d call it “Abdication of Personal Responsibility Leading to Severe Energy Imbalance.”
    I know it’s a mouthful but it’s really quite simple.
    The internet is no different than a Big Mac…or in my case chocolate seven-layer cake. There are things in this world that we really want and, in moderation, are just fine for us. Then there are those things that we want which, outside the bounds of reasoned participation, are simply not good for us. Knowing where those boundaries are is what personal responsibility is all about. 
    I belabor the obvious but maybe the obvious needs belaboring.
    If I eat a piece of chocolate cake because it tastes good and I want it, fine! If I eat 3 pieces of chocolate cake and an hour later go back for more, well…not so fine. It’s up to me to know where the point of reason turns the corner and becomes overindulgence. It’s certainly not the responsibility of the American Medical Association to define or treat the exercise (or lack of exercise) of my will power or my Free Will, for that matter. That’s why I have Free Will to begin with.
    That’s the “Personal Responsibility” explanation of my definition of technology addiction.
    The “Severe Energy Imbalance” explanation goes like this.
    Many years ago I was on assignment in Southern California for 3 months and lived in a rented, furnished apartment. I had no television. That simple fact changed my life forever. In those three months I learned the importance of, and the freedom in, not overexposing myself  to energies that interfere with the proper functioning of my own natural, energetic patterns.
    Like the Internet, television is unnatural. By that I mean that the frequency at which they transmit is not in alignment with Circadian (earth) rhythms or our own biological rhythms. Since everything is ultimately just energy vibrating at different rates of speed, it’s important not to overexpose yourself to energies that interrupt or distort your own rhythms. Technology is out of alignment with all natural rhythms and, when overexposed to those energies, we become out of balance.  In reality, overexposure causes us to begin to resonate more in alignment with those energies, which makes it increasingly harder for us to relate to Nature not to mention other human beings.
    When I lived in California without television, I spent more time outdoors, I jogged each morning, I read more, I interacted with people more. I was inner directed and more at peace. That feeling was so profound and so enjoyable it has never left me. To this day I watch virtually no television.
    I do, however, spend more and more time on the Internet, especially now that I write to my blog each day. And I am beginning to feel the adverse effects of it all. I now need to exercise some of that personal responsibility before I find my own energies severely imbalanced.
    Personal respobsibility and balance. That’s the ticket.
    The AMA did not come to any conclusion on this issue at their annual meeting. They have tabled it for now.  I hope for all their sakes they don’t spend too much time between now and their next annual meeting on their computers going back and forth over this issue.
    Otherwise, they might find themselves with what they would call “a real mental disorder.”
   
   
   

Comments are closed.