1811 i-Addict

I've written before about how obsessive-compulsive some people get with their smartypants phones and devices. There are even municipalities that have banned "texting while walking" because of the accidents such behavior causes.
And who among us has not been inconvenienced or annoyed by some fiddling techonaught who slows down a line or screws up a perfectly good theatre experience by flashing and beeping on his or her device?
As my tendencies run to the obsessive-compulsive, I've avoided acquiring iPods, iPhones, or iPads. The "I" in each of them, if you ask me, stands for narcissism, the endless love of fiddling around with oneself. Always a danger for me.
Well, the world of science has finally caught up with what the rest of us knew already. Technology addiction is a real thing. And a destructive one. Not just to community but to self.
The Silicon Valley tech giants are encouraging their employees to step away from the internet and connect with nature again to get a mentally healthy perspective on life. And the world of psychology has come up with a new sickness. It's called "Internet Use Disorder." That's right. Next year for the first time "Internet Use Disorder" will be listed in the appendix of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
An actual psychological sickness, you say, how could that be? Well, for one thing every time you get an email bing or a text reminder tone, your brain squirts out a little pleasure-inducing dopamine. And you actually do become addicted.
Me, I'm more worried about the name. Internet Use Disorder devolves into the acronym I.U.D. Which sounds like either an improvised bomb or a mechanical contraceptive.
Maybe they should make it Internet Preoccupation Use Disorder. I-P-U-D-.
That way they could say an iPod or an iPad could lead to iPUD.
America, ya gotta love it.