space bit

A poem I wrote while on a binge of media relating to the astrophysicist Brian Cox. His way of explaining space is incredible in his enthusiasm and genuine mannerisms. 

Rare Earth, scarce solar system

Dual star siphoning interstellar entity 

Intangible and unimaginable galaxy

Unswimmable ocean, unintruded swamp

Exponential growth, inconsequential replication 

Implausible detection, silent civilization 

Quieter than the dead, darker than in bed

Filled with light, cloaked in eternal night

Pitch-black stellar screen

Hypothetically immoral interference 

Intergalactic law, future fixed flaw

Or merely, tribes only rise to swiftly fall

Orchid wreckage, birthed to bloom

gone so soon; unbeatable horizon filter

Heavy hitter, advanced event spark snuffer

Eyewitness to Expiration

Continuing my interest/research into online addiction and digital manifestations of its effects, from doomerism to dopamine draining of all varieties. Condensing/collecting understanding via poetry. Also coagulated is this playlist of videos on the topic and related matters. 

Intangible long-term award

New normal, formal habitation

Relayed information, idea of influence

Instant delay as time slips away and suddenly it's day

Wasted night without a trace of fight

Evening after evening, morning screaming behind the screen

Proposed productivity, unscratchable itch now high and mighty

Untapped constant ads, ridiculous constant content

Unending fill, down and down with nowhere else to go

No bottom, never-ending circuit

More, more, more; algorithm adored until you pass out and snore

Volume up full blast; random, automated generative space

Personal unpredictable programming

Wholesome vine and a slip beyond entertainment

Focal, inconsequential nothing

Doomed, oh well still won't do shit whichever way it gets put

Eroded existence, consuming escapism

Circular glowing rut

Conclusive out-of-body hobby

Conscious, common misery

Menial memories, cracked magnificence fed with inflated insignificance 

Useless tool turned into a ligature for ape-brained fools

Contended creation, out of bag algorithmic filler

Eyewitness to expiration

Online Addiction: Analysis/Review || Extended Research

Quoted in the short read but invariably the most accurate piece of information found in research regarding Online Addiction thusfar, New Yorker writer Maria Konnikova in her article Is Internet Addiction A Real Thing stated that with how the Internet, "is changing too rapidly for researchers to keep up, and, though the immediate effects are fairly visible, there's no telling what the condition [of Internet addiction] will look like over the long term." 

Patricia Netzley's small book, topically titled Online Addiction is a useful overview in regards to its subject matter. Navigating the unsettled dust of digital existence overlapping with physical, nails it quite nicely on the head as it would seem in its short explanations. The addiction to online activity she purports stems from a variety of converging factors offline-- other mental ailments and compulsive habits-- and the Internet becoming merely another notch to scratch onto the belt; like the habitual masturbator's case divulged by Anne Lembke in her book Dopamine Nation. Where it would seem outdated however, and differing from other addictions is that within the modern scape of acknowledging addiction to the Internet there is a high awareness of it, to the point of extreme meta-irony rather than shameful admissions of guilt from the acquired compulsions. Why have shame over something so nearly unavoidable with its constant proximity and accessibility? 

The book is beneficial nonetheless, and in fact as aforementioned acknowledges its almost instantaneous out-dated data as the landscape of the World Wide Web is so constantly updating and changing shape.

Coagulating an explanation based on current affairs and contents of the book however is seemingly possible: in the modern epoch of all-access abundance mixed with incessant, near constant 'once-in-a-lifetime generational events', and all-around volume seemingly at maximum screaming coming together in moments of stillness; boredom as the being is so used to being under some form of strain, duress, that scrolling provides sufficient stimulation. Stagnant, seemingly social yet altogether solitary after an hour sitting on the toilet, screen in between knees. 

In shorter, less wordy detail the gist of Netzley's book is that extreme boredom in a more lax era of existence is to an ape with an evolved overactive imagination. 

Coffee ii collage

 

Re: Doomerism in its essentials

Something from the earlier Internet which could mark an early onset of digital addiction: Doomerism. Slingshotted post-2018 into higher popularity in usage and identification; peaking in its widespread adoption and attraction in 2020 with the tick in tuning into its more musical forms. 

The issues it confronted however still quite relevant from being listed on the Doomsday clock’s recent, somewhat fear-mongering announcement; climate change, oil, new wars. Tomorrow is different but it’s still the same. The gist being that warning signs are apparently all around, screaming that the end of days are well on their way. 

Ideation on this makes the nihilative quality of Doomerism almost religious. It’s the same expectation as with a group such as the Jehovah’s Witness’ and their ever failing prophecies of Revelations in the foreseeable future. 

Doomer, fatalist in an abundant mirror

Apocalyptic natalist, digital survivalist

Waiting, as if praying for the end—

Gotcha moment when it’s all done

Parallel prepping, Cold War style-stressing

Fearing, fetishizing the post-nuke fugue

Regurgitating nihilistic entropy;

Expected, predicted predestination 

Alien In Every Room

Conscious, constant rift

Ever-present opposition;

Impulse? Average existence?

Fly on every wall, watching and listening in on all obnoxious noxious noise within vicinity;

Varying common variables: symptomatically atypical—

Witness in meta-analytical eyes;

Third side listening to dual lies

Alien option, hesitating on humanity,

Estranged optics, encompassing isolation—

Beneficial break, tainting lamentation

Obstructing ousting, ever-clear oddity;

Similar space debris,

differing gamma outburst;

Slow, creeping, inevitable but altogether unpredictable worst,

as if it’s the first, never the final—

Always another round lined up,

Fresh paint makes flying away indescribable;

Fluttering from one wall to another,

Static, stagnant movement: incarcerating free-reign. 

Dopamine Nation: Analysis

My initial/preliminary thoughts can be read here. 

Concluding my first go-through of psychiatrist Anne Lembke’s book Dopamine Nation I can’t help but feel a bit let down. The expectation being that it would dig into the nature of addiction and its relationship to increasing digital existence; and maybe it did act in such a way, however it would seem more general— typical— case studies. 

Largely it would stand better as a general overview of addiction and how it manifests in the modern age of all-access abundance with the closest to a screen addition that gets the most highlighted is that of a man with uncontrollable masturbatory tendencies— which as a byproduct included compulsory activities in association with Internet and TV pornography, to the degree that on the current state of the World Wide Web the gentleman would be called a ‘gooner’. 

With that it presents the reader with various accounts from Lembke’s personal career in treating people with such ailments. Interwoven referential historical psychological findings from the marshmellow experiments with children to Pavlovian control in the realm of developmental psychology; to neuroscientific insights into the connection between brain chemistry and compulsory behavior relating to the pain/pleasure balance. Where it would seem the book is most interesting is in its explanations of in how many ways the mind reasserts, or attempts to reassert, equilibrium on that scale through fascinating plasticity. 

As for a taste of more digital addiction it would seem more fruitful researching elsewhere. Terminologically Anne Lembke’s book is a good resource, but in researching the compulsion to screens it would seem better information can be gained elsewhere; though as such serves as a good explanatory basis of addiction. 

Coffee ii

Coffee stained on the back of my hand

Covering skin, expressing cracks and follicles

Brown-black over pale; a better textured smell.

Coffee: invigorating, uplifting entity—

French press delicacy, Colombian serentity

Heart-beating ease of sleep

Skip-step, racing wide awake;

steamy, caged insanity— hot creamy, controlled calamity

Alleviating pet-peeves, annoying discrepancies 

Up-right, so I can write; long after day shifts into moonlight, pleasurable blue nights

Like a cold-cheap milkshake-looking mixture,

midnight concoction before a quick weed-breather 

Tired survival, fresh blissfully evoked revival

Creative tool, albeit addictive in half rule

Certain stimulation, ingenious mental captivating

Anytime, anywhere: coffee is nearly always there

Delicious drink, bitterfully filling taste

Memories enduring from every small association,

happy to haunting all in a sip then gone away at once—

awry and alright…

Electronic Eye Candy

 

 Researching for a planned companion to Tomorrow Is Different But It's Still The Same regarding the all too common digital addiction is this mashed coagulation of notes on what I've gathered looking through the information presented by psychiatrist Anne Lambke in her book Dopamine Nation; as well as appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast. In a sense there's a (possibly imposed) sense of irony in posting it online to be consumed via digital delivery, at least initially; but so is scrolling to read the book in free pdf format and listening to information. Call it data, call it content; regardless of respective/preferred verbiage to refer to it, it's still doomscrolling on a certain level all the same.

Eternal In-between

Bullshit, bold candor

Self-sufficient progenator

Banal bastardization

In my head

In my head

Eternal war between-

erratic ecstacy, dreadful delicacy