Media Addiction Essay Example

Media Screen Addiction Definitional Argument Essay When most people think of addiction, they think of crack heads and alcoholics. Although those are the most common types of addiction, there are also more unusual things. Addiction is a psychological and bodily dependence on a substance or practice which is beyond voluntary control. In a sense, every person has a form of addiction. Weather to caffeine, or food, or cleaning, they are all small kinds of addiction. One addiction that is spreading faster everyday and is gaining a lot of attention is media screen addiction. With technology in today’s day and age, communication and work can be done virtually anywhere in the world. With access to people at all times through the use of media screens it creates a serious problem. A media screen addict can be described as a person who is always on the phone, every minute of every day, and who cannot live their life without the use of their cell phone. They must always be up to date with every news story, decision, or shift their company formulates. When someone becomes so attached to their media screens they rule their lives. When a media screen addict is forced to go without their screens for more than a few hours they will begin to suffer from “withdrawal” like symptoms, as they feel they are being cut off from the world, and everyone they must be in contact with. Some people believe that social media is useful because people have a use for it and that doesn’t make it addictive. Author Nicholas G. Carr refuses media screen addiction claiming, “There's nothing unusual about this. We routinely become dependent on popular, useful technologies. If people were required to live without their cars or their indoor plumbing for a day, many of them would probably resort to the language of addiction to describe their predicament. I know that, after a few hours, I'd be seriously jonesing for that toilet. What's important is to be able to see what's happening as we adapt to a new