Nathan Raymond - Annotated Bibliography

Note* - In researching other sources, my topic took on a bit of a different direction than I had originally planned, and I found sources that I thought would be much more useful than the source which I had annotated for the annotated bibliography draft. I may not even incorporate that source into my case study. Thus, this is a different source than the one that I used for the draft.

What You Need To Know About Internet Addiction. Dir. TEDxTalks. Perf. Dr. Kimberly Young.TEDxTalks. TED Conferences, LLC, 7 Jan. 2015. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.

                Dr. Kimberly Young is a pioneer in the study of internet addiction, having written some of the first books about the case. In early 2015, Young gave a TED talk about the issue, urging not only the millennial generation – but people of all ages to ‘Disconnect to Reconnect’. Young’s most stressed idea is that families need to make time to spend with each other without engaging in their technological devices. It’s not just teenagers or parents. All human beings need to make an effort to connect on a more emotional, meaningful level with each other, and the internet is a significant distractor. Young uses a series of extreme anecdotes to exemplify the consequences of internet addiction, and level of detachment from reality that is associated with it. In one instance, she speaks of a parent who was too engaged in her ‘Candy Crush’ game to remember to pick up her child from school. As a solution to these types of problems, Young simply offers the idea that we should more carefully monitor the amount of time we spend online, and the content which we choose to engage in. However, it is interesting to me that Young’s suggestions fully rely on the addict’s own strength and will to monitor their problem and to treat themselves. 

           

               This talk can be effectively incorporated into my case study as an exhibit source to demonstrate that internet addiction is a genuine issue that interferes with the full potential that humans have to engage in meaningful, emotional relationships. My case has a strong focus on the internet’s user’s preferences for human social interaction vs. online interaction and I think that Young’s talk exhibits the apparent trend in over-indulging in online interactions, while often taking human ones for granted. Young’s facts, ideas, and anecdotes strongly support this case.