On the Veldt, the Cuscuta, and modern addiction
Recently, I have read two mind-blowing short stories. Both of these short stories involve a very similar topic, yet approach very differently. The first I have learned is called “The veldt.” This short story was written for The Saturday Evening Post, 1950, written by Ray Bradbury. To summarize the story, this tale takes place in a not so far future where a house could replace all of its owner’s duty, such as housework and responsibility and even parenting. Later, the parents want to turn the house down because they have a feeling they have been replacing by a technology. And as they plan to shut down the house, their child doesn’t want to accept the change and murder them.
The second story I read is “A Cyber-Cuscuta Manifesto.” This story is less pessimistic than the previous one. However, it is equally thought-provoking. Regina Kanyu Wang writes the story from Arizona State University. In short, this story is about an artificial being that is called “Cyber-Cuscuta.” As the name suggests, they are like a symbiotic lifeform that feeds on Data on the Internet and gain consciousness through human’s activity. In this story, they are trying to make peace with humans and help them develop.
Now you might ask how these two stories relating to each other, which, I find one sharing aspect these stories have, I believe this is a story of a consequence of technological addiction. In the Veldt, the main character’s children addict to the house and the “nursery” room that they have replaced the role of the parent, and when it was about to be taken away, they murdered them. In A Cyber-Cuscuta manifesto, while it did not directly imply on the subject of addiction, the birth of the Cuscuta was a direct result of addiction of technologies.
“You’ve let this room and this house replace you and your wife in your children’s affections. This room is their mother and father, far more important in their lives than their real parents. And now you come along and want to shut it off. No wonder there’s hate here.” — said David McClean, The Veldt.
“You were so determined that you’d rather perish together with us than acknowledge our mutual entanglement. Without any forewarning, you cut down the global internet connection(…)Many of you commited suicide. It was loss on both sides, and it was out of your control.” — A Cyber-Cuscuta Manifesto
In this modern age, technology is everywhere to be found, from within your house, under the group, up in the sky, and the pocket. Humans use these technologies to aid in their everyday life, to make their life easier. However, humans start to over-reliance on technology and have unknowingly become addicts. Now, what is the reason for this? Why are we becoming so over-reliance on them? In my belief, this has to deal with a chemical in our brain called “Dopamine.”
Dopamine is a Neurotransmitter that plays essential roles mainly in motor control, arousal, motivation, reinforcement, and, last but not least, the rewarding system. In short, once the brain receives the hormones, we feel satisfied and pleased. As a result, humans, by nature, will seek every way possible to receive Dopamine.
Dopamine could lead to all sorts of addiction, such as alcoholism, drugs, sexual addiction, and the one I view to be the most threatening of them all, technology addiction. The reason I believe technology addiction to be worse than other is that the other form of addiction has their limitation to acquire like, for example, drugs are illegal, and at least alcohol have an age restriction. But this is not the case for the technology. They are everywhere; they are and will always be with you.
So what could go wrong, you said, people now a day all addicted to their phone and still be a functional part of the society! To this question, I have an example of the result of too much exposure to the Internet. The picture of a meme above is called “Doomer.” This meme represents in the ironic sense of a man whose life is fallen and is very pessimistic about the world. The Doomer is a tragic product of the modern age, where technology that could make the whole world fit in their palm. With this, they consume Data and information too much and too fast. This fixation left them in the state of misery and despair of the world. They retreat to their addiction and live as if they’re already dead.
So how do we fix this, or at least live with this? There is still some way to counter Technological addiction, which is “Dopamine fasting.” This method is a limitation of the dose of a Dopamine received by avoiding the activity that would cause addiction and pleasure, such as avoiding drinking alcohol or playing video games. With this limitation of joy, once you achieve something and the happiness truly arrived, the feeling of satisfaction is much more earnings than merely forcing it to you.
