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The 1995 movie Strange Days was about the distant, high-tech future that would bring amazing and dark technology to our world in … the year 2000. Yeah. If you can get past that part, the film could be seen as fairly prescient. The main character (played by Ralph Fiennes) is a space-age drug dealer who peddles software for your virtual reality gear. You know, so you can “jack in” and “wire trip.”
Don’t laugh. We’re nearly 14 years past the dawn of the millennium, but we now now have virtual reality headgear. It’s called Google Glass. And with it you can virtually trip all day watching porn or whatever else you like, if you so desire. And that, says a Southern California researcher, could be addictive indeed.
Andrew Doan, San Diego-based director of addictions and resilience research for at he U.S. Navy’s Substance Abuse and Recovery Program (SARP), recently authored a case study on Google Glass addiction.
The paper, published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, focused on a man who had come to SARP for treatment of his alcoholism. Doan says he recognized the patient’s “internet addiction disorder.” According to a summary of his case study:
… The patient exhibited significant frustration and irritability related to not being able to use his Google Glass™. The patient exhibited a notable, nearly involuntary movement of the right hand up to his temple area and tapping it with his forefinger. He reported that if he had been prevented from wearing the device while at work, he would become extremely irritable and argumentative.
More at the LA Weekly.