Transcript Sex, Tech and Addiction: The Influence of the Internet and

Sex, Tech and Addiction: The Influence of
the Internet and Digital Media on Addictive
Behaviour
Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S
Senior Vice President of Clinical Development
Elements Behavioral Health
Promises Malibu, CA, Austin, Tx
The Sexual Recovery Institute - CA, USA
The Ranch - TN, USA
The Right Step - TX, USA
The Recovery Place, Lucida - FL, USA
Email- [email protected]
Website- RobertWeissMSW.com
Hypothesis One
The Escalation of Addictive
Behavior has been, and
always will be driven by ...
Technological
Advance
Think how technology has escalated our
ease of ready, inexpensive access to:
•
•
•
•
Refined Substances:
High caloric foods and snacks
Distilled alcohol
Cocaine, highly refined marijuana, prescription drugs
Refined Experiences (via digital media)
• Gambling and Gaming
• Shopping
• Sex
Hypothesis Two
• While majority of us may take pleasure in these
more immediate, more intense and more
accessible pleasurable substances and
experiences, the vulnerable among us end-up
addicted. They abuse these same activities to
escape, self-soothe, distract and dissociate from
stressors (both internal and external)
Note The Escalating Speed of
Technological Change
•Radio - took 38 years to reach of 50 million people
•Television - took 13 years to reach 50 million people
•Internet - took 4 years to reach 50 million people
•Social Networking - took 16 months to reach 50 million
•Smart Phone apps - took 9 months to reach 50 million
•Whatever is yet to come is now here before we
even know it.
•Consider the lowly QR Code
Old Words, Shifting Concepts
• Today, infidelity can no longer be
defined in physical terms. Think of it
more globally as the keeping of secrets
in an intimate relationship.
And today, what you consider to be a
relationship, depends mostly on how old
you are ...
The NEW GENERATION GAP
Old Gap
New Gap
• Sexual Mores
• Sexual Mores
•
• Rock & Roll
•
• Television
•
• Recreational Drug Use
•
• Liberalism (Gender, Social & Racial
equality)
• Children seen & not heard
• Personal Privacy
Digital Immigrants vs. Digital Natives
Rude Interpersonal Communication
Fantasy = Real Life
Social Networking = ongoing immediate
interconnectivity
• Neural Development
• Personal Privacy
“We Won’t Listen to you!”
“We Can’t See or Hear You!”
If you don’t know the lingo or feel dismissive of their
world, then it is hard to help your client.
Don’t miss out on what younger people have to tell us!
Hypothesis Three
• The prefrontal lobes (brains) of our children
(therefore how they relate, mate, work etc.)
evolve in sync with technology.
• Their neuro-biological development is already
different than ours. What they perceive to be- a
relationship, dating, mating, a work ethic, etc. is
evolving in direct relationship to the electronic
devices we are putting into their hands at age 2years and under.
Sex and Tech
What have been the most profound
changes in our experience of sexual
content & sexual contact in past 25
years?
•Access
•Affordability
•Anonymity
•
* Cooper, Del Monico et al 1998 - 1999
Sexual Content Access
2004 - Present
1.Sexting and live video streaming from your smart
phone
2.Smart Phones with GPS & apps
3.Social Networks (facebook, twitter, mySpace)
4.Virtual World Sex (2nd-Life, virtual games etc)
5.Virtual Sex and Teledildonics
6.Eye Tracking Software
7.24/7 anonymous Access to Sexual Partners (paid
or free) and all porn, redlight districts etc
About Ashley Madison
• Started as a website - now also a mobile app perfect example of content access progression
• AM Slogan: “Life is short, have an affair.”
• AM Mission Statement: “To provide an interactive
way for like-minded users to explore whether they
wish to meet each other, chat with each other
and/or explore extra-marital relationships”
• Over 16-million international members
• 92% of males on the site sign in as married
• 60% of female members sign in as married
Smartphones, Pads and Apps
• They have GPS locators = immediate live access to sexual
partners and sexual content anywhere, anytime
• Universal Internet access anywhere - to porn, to sexually
oriented environments (strip clubs, adult bookstores, etc)
• Live video streaming
• They use Apps -Apps are applications loaded from the
Internet onto your smart phone or ‘pad’ to perform specific
functions.
• Sex apps, called euphemistically, “adult friend finders” are
the same. loaded to your phone to geolocate sexual
partners.
Now let’s take a closer
look at these apps...
• Ashley Madison (among others) -for
married people
• Grindr -for MSM
• And something to make you feel better
after ...
Why Technological Advances Lead
to Behavioral Escalation ?
1. Increasing access means decreasing inhibitors to
impulsive problem behavior
2.The human brain hungers for any new stimulation that
leads to rapid fire Dopamine release (pleasure).
3.Increasing accessibility thru phones and pads means
sexual acting out is easier to hide
4.Those with preexisting social/emotional deficits no longer
need to evolve a social skill set in order to be sexual
5.Certain sexual behavior considered
illegal/offending/consequential in the “real world” is not so
online
Hypothesis Four
As we learned with Prohibition in the US,
there is no turning back upon new
technology or it’s effects. We can only
observe with engaged interest not
judgment, while noting and dealing with
related problems as they arise
The Good News ...
• Online Dating- People are able to find each other, date and
mate in our less connected, busy world. Great for mature daters
especially who used to be counted out by 50.
• Couples separated by time and space can connect online at
nearly every level.
• Building community - like minded or like-oriented individuals
can find one another readily for friendship, sex, dating mating etc.
think gay/lesbian, fetish/kink communities.
• Self Acceptance, Education and Understanding- Nonpathological, non-offending, atypical sexual behaviors are more
acceptable (less shamed), as these communities become more
known, seen, engaged- online.
Hypothesis Five
• Humans will not be any more harmed by
technological advance now, than in times past,
but the problems will show up increasingly
faster. And ... we adapt, humans adapt. Some
adapt better than others, some not. Some will
seek the help evolved to address new
problems and new solutions will be created.
Thus it has always been.
Sex, Tech and Addiction: The Influence of
the Internet and Digital Media on Addictive
Behaviour
Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S
Senior Vice President of Clinical Development
Elements Behavioral Health
Promises Malibu - CA, USA
Promises Austin, Tx USA
The Sexual Recovery Institute- CA, USA
The Ranch - TN, USA
The Right Step - TX, USA
The Recovery Place - FL, USA