On Addiction Education

Should addiction education be made part of the standard American school curriculum? I think our current generation is under-educated on the subject. This is unfortunate, because I also think the large majority of the current generation will face some form of addiction in their lives, even if some of their addictions aren't particularly serious. But our current educational system is all about prevention. They tell us “Don't touch these addictive things, they'll mess your life up.” What they don't do so well is tell us what it's like to be addicted to something, or how to try and get out of it. It's rather naive to assume that these are skills children won't need; on the contrary, modern technology is making it easier and easier to access whatever the subject of our addictions may be. If we don't do a better job of teaching our children how to deal with it, we run the risk of creating a future society seriously crippled by the chains of addiction.

Addicted or Passionate?

What is the difference between passion and addiction? One of the reasons that geeks tend to get defensive when confronted with the topic of technology addiction is likely that the two aren't so different after all. To identify as a geek is to proclaim a passion for technology. But both passion and addiction involve a very strong desire to return repeatedly to a specific type of activity, to the point of being willing to overcome significant obstacles to achieve the goals of those activities. Arguably, the strongest passions, belonging to the greatest inventors and creators of history, could also be classified as addictions. Cautions against addiction, then, are admonitions to maintain balance in our lives: but the line of where that balance should be drawn varies drastically, depending on who you ask. Therefore, to make progress against technology addiction, we're going to need a clearer line.

More on Hoarding

A Pornographic Plague

It's difficult to get accurate statistics on pornography usage, but from what we can gather, the percentage of LDS men who visit a pornographic website in any given month may be as high as 70%. Whatever the exact figure, we do know it is staggeringly, unacceptably high. Many Latter-Day Saints have heard President Boyd K. Packer's comparison of pornography to a spiritual plague. But I don't think many have stopped to consider the implications of how widespread this metaphor implies that pornography usage is, even among those active in the faith.

As a result, we treat addiction to pornography as problem only faceless, maladjusted, sinful strangers have. But if pornography is really as widespread as a plague, can we really believe that we don't know anyone currently addicted? Consider your group of friends and church acquaintances: if the statistics above are accurate, at least half of the men in that group likely struggle with pornography.

They won't tell you this. An individual addicted to pornography hides his addiction in the deepest, darkest parts of his soul. But if he is to recover from their struggles, this addict absolutely must seek out support from those he trusts. If he believes he is secretly part of that group of sinful strangers, and would be judged and shunned as such by any he approaches, he will remain trapped in his sin, bondage, and misery. Perhaps never before has it been more important that we learn to hate the sin, but love the sinner.

There is a danger to recognizing how wide pornography has spread. Satan is a master at convincing us it's okay to do something because “everyone is doing it.” But the sober truth is that nearly everyone will be impacted by pornography at some point, whether directly or indirectly. Therefore, as a culture, we desperately need more training and education on pornography addiction, so those ensnared can know where and how to turn for help, and those those they turn to can know how to support them.

A note to the far-too-many of you reading this who are struggling with pornography: If you haven't already, find someone to help you. You simply cannot beat this on your own. Start with your Bishop, and work from there. It may be the hardest thing you have ever done, but it is worth it to escape the misery of addiction. Educate yourself, find help and support, and rely on the Savior to do what you cannot, and you can be free from this trap. 

A Feminine Touch

A couple years ago, I met a self-proclaimed “gamer girl” at a church activity. I vividly remember that she was rather aggressive about proclaiming that even though she was a girl, she could hold her own and enjoy herself playing games like Halo or Call of Duty just as much as any guy. I also remember being somewhat disappointed with the encounter, though I attributed it to mismatched gaming interests at the time. Now, however, I wonder how much of her bravado was an act, a facade put on to try and gain acceptance in a culture dominated by aggressive males. And I wonder if I was put off by her because I wasn't looking for the “aggressive male” personality from a woman who identified with geek culture – instead, I was looking for someone who could provide a fresh, feminine perspective to the community. Why did I tell this story? Studies have suggested that one way of attracting more women to Computer Science would be to change our culture into something women can more easily identify with. Changing a culture is a difficult and sometimes scary thing. But if my experience is typical, we may find that our culture has a lot to gain from acceptance by more than one gender.

Rules of Engagement

It can be difficult to pin down a firm set of universal rules for moderating online discussions. Much of this is simply because what is considered acceptable varies so drastically from community to community. For instance, an official church message board will have very different standards than someplace like 4chan. However, if there is a universal rule of good moderation, it is that a community must have a clear and precise set of rules they promise to abide by. Writing these rules can be difficult, for the same reasons that it's difficult to write clear and precise programming specifications. But the process can also be a powerful tool to discover what it actually is that defines your community.  

The Corporate IP Hoard

One of the critical components of the intellectual property debate is the question of how differently we should treat individuals and corporations. Most people seem to agree that it's reasonable for individuals to expect ownership of their own work for as long as until their death. But corporations are more prone to hoard their intellectual property for as long as they possibly can. This hoarding was not part of the original intent of intellectual property: the intent was to promote innovation (hence why ideas can be owned in the first place) and to improve our country's general technical well-being. Right now, we have a system that does the first, but not necessarily the second: companies have inadequate incentive to let intellectual property go so the rest of the country can eventually use it.