Visual Cocaine

One of the greatest inventions of all time. An invention with a powerful impact on humanity. An invention that changed me. An invention that has been attached to my life since the mid 90s. An invention that I perceive as a “substance abuse” type of machine. An invention that is used for watching advanced television beyond the basic TV set. An invention that brings us together like social media. An invention where we gain access to countless variety options and programs. An invention that is just as dominant as mankind. You get the idea.

The internet is one hell of a drug, right? Pretty much. We use the internet as a type of visual cocaine mechanism, but at the same time, since the internet has exploded during the late 20th century, we have turned the internet into a mandatory environment. Mandatory as well as leisure. I remember like it was yesterday, going to college, taking classes such as math and journalism, where I was constantly doing homework online, and even turning in homework online. That was the trend since the internet became a routine for education at some point. The internet expanded to a lot of courses in college. But in addition to that, the internet expanded to businesses to where we use internet for communications, transactions, emails, etc. So in that sense, the internet is a visual cocaine for important reasons. Yet we all know that when we use the internet for leisure reasons, the visual cocaine effect is a lot more powerful.

I can go online, either on my laptop or my phone, and play billiards or even those various matching games, and I am in an addiction zone as a result. Or I can simply listen to podcasts to learn any recent news that is going on, as well as videos that I have saved in my “Watch Later” section on YouTube. So of course it’s not just a visual cocaine, but it’s also a sound cocaine, since the eyes and the ears detect the strongest senses in the human body.

I look at the computer as a type of environment where it’s as of I’m in their spotlight, or already in the spotlight, yet I’m fed off by it by staring and listening. Adult content videos is a perfect example. Seeing powerful films and responding with a stimulation behavior as a result. You see why the internet is very useful. Just the screen itself has me warped into its world. I understand that it can strain my eyes, but it’s what it is. Imagine I went a few days to a week without a single droplet of internet. I would lose it pretty much for the most part, because over time, my brain has become extremely hardwired and dependent for internet and Wi-Fi on a daily basis. If I don’t look at anything going on with my surroundings such as Instagram, YouTube, etc., then I feel as if I miss out to some extent. A sense of belonging is what we feel which is why we tend to show off on the internet, with Snapchat as a perfect example for people out there.

We love to expose ourselves online. We love feedback from others. This is why we love posting pictures, videos and statuses, but it also depends on who the person is. It’s to the point where, we even dwell upon messages on social media to where if someone does not answer our messages, we assume something is wrong depending on the circumstance. At some point, we need to balance the way we use internet by not relying on it so heavily. The problem is that sometimes we just cannot help it. We cannot control ourselves sometimes when it comes to internet sometimes, so we constantly check our smartphones and iPhones to see what’s going on with notifications like Facebook, the news, weather, our favorite sports, etc. It becomes a 2nd nature instinct for us to be on our phones almost anywhere, even while driving, which is a small crime in the eyes of the law. There’s basically a double-edged sword to all of this. The internet becomes a necessary cultural tool for us, at the same time, we don’t technically need it because we can still survive without it by going about our business, and doing other productive activities. It’s just that in this new generation, the internet as given us far more opportunities to do things we didn’t dream of back then, such as online dating and even applying for jobs online. So in that sense, we can find potential soulmates and the expense of technology, and even get hired at the expense of technology as well. But still, sometimes we need rest and time off from the internet altogether, and sometimes we got to be original by not depending on our devices so much then again we can’t help it sometimes. Again, there has to be a balancing rhythm when using the intern in a big picture.