• by Jeff Einstein , March 9, 2005

As we become increasingly obsessed with media -- exactly as the media intend for us to become -- we replace more and more meaningful ritual in our lives with the rituals borne of our obsessions and addictions. Such is the case with all obsessions and addictions, however: Time and resources devoted to them always replace time and resources devoted to other (usually more constructive) things.

Dr. Drew Pinsky (of Dr. Drew fame) suggests that addiction is less a failure of volition and more what happens when the self-defense mechanisms of the brain are overwhelmed by the faulty wiring of our internal reward systems. Addiction, he suggests, is a biological disease that kidnaps the default self-defense mechanisms of the brain, those functions concerned with little things like personal responsibility, eating, and procreation. Addiction usurps those same functions and puts them to work instead, on behalf of the addiction itself.

The above observation parses with my own assertions in this column and elsewhere that among the more insidious potentials inherent in media and technology abuse is the notion that our obsessions and addictions eventually assume the role of moderator of all internal debates. Our addictions eventually dictate what, when, and where we eat, how we spend our money, and -- more important, still -- how and where we spend our time. Rephrased: If the medium is the message, and the medium is addictive, what happens to the message and how would we -- as addicts immersed in the ether of our own pathologies -- know?

Some highly visible examples of the addiction stepping in as moderator of the debate include the War Against Drugs, the War Against Tobacco, and the War Against Obesity.

The popular War Against Drugs is more or less confined to a small subset of illegal substances, and thus has devolved from dialogue to monologue, one that by definition precludes any mention of the media themselves as potentially abused substances. So, too, with the legitimate products of all the equally legitimate advertisers -- pharmaceuticals, easy credit, fast food, liquor, tobacco, sex, gambling, etc. -- who pay the commercial media freight.

Similarly, the dialogue surrounding the War Against Tobacco has been usurped by Philip Morris, and McDonald's now counts itself among the nation's leading purveyors of nutritional information in the War Against Obesity (right up there with the American Beef Council and the American Dairy Association).

Hence our obsessions and addictions to media deliver a uniquely potent one-two punch: Not only do the media constitute viable obsessions and addictions in and of themselves (even when measured exclusively in the amount of time and money we devote to them), but they become the great enablers and promoters of virtually every other major obsession and addiction pathology as well.

Among the more ruthless characteristics of obsessive compulsive and addictive behaviors is their tendency to overwhelm and replace our more meaningful and life-sustaining, self-defense mechanisms (and the rituals that protect them), per Dr. Drew's earlier observation.

What happened, for instance, in the confluence of frozen foods and television back in the mid-1950s, when the network evening news suddenly replaced the family and neighborhood news of the dinner table for millions of American families? What happened to our waistlines? What happens now that we know more about the intimate lives of Michael Jackson and Jennifer Aniston than we do about the lives of our own children?

What happened when we opened our homes to the Internet and other digital productivity tools of the 1990s, around the time we lost our ability to distinguish between work and leisure? What did we give up in the exchange of microchip-driven speed and convenience for privacy and the opium dream of cashing in and retiring young?

What do we surrender to our obsessions and addictions every morning when we step into the office and check our e-mail first thing, before we do anything else? How much does our own obsessive compulsive and addictive behavior cost us, both personally and professionally? What's the true price tag?

What do you think?

Many thanks, as always, and best to you and yours&

Please note: The Einstein's Corner discussion group at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/einsteinscorner/ is dedicated to exploring the adverse effects of our addictions to technology and media on the quality of our lives, both at work and at home. Please feel free to drop by and join the discussion.