Hi, I’m David, and I’m a Digital Addict

Note to Self

WNYC Studios

Self-improvement, Tech, Note, Npr, Education, Public, Wnyc, Manoush, York, To, New, Self, Radio, Business, Technology, Relationships, City, Society & Culture, Zomorodi, Newtechcity

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2014

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Joerg has a problem and he knows it. Until a few months ago his nights would go something like this: He'd put his daughters to bed. He'd wait for his wife to fall asleep at a reasonable hour. And then he'd submit to his craving. "I'd fire up the computer, grab a sleeve of crackers and a fresh tub of Nutella, play video games," and anything else online. Over and over and over until dawn was creeping up on him. He was getting three hours of sleep or less some nights. "I would just be destroyed the next day and just limping through like a zombie."

This is David's tech addiction. But he's beaten it. Part of the solution involved creating a special program for his computer that would outsmart him in his moment of weakness. You can request a copy of the program for yourself from David here.

Also in this episode, a reprise of a great Radio Rookies piece about how teens are "vamping" all night long, forgoing sleep to chat and click and post online from their beds. It's like an infinite sleepover that wreaks havoc on morning classes.

Stories of tech addiction on this week's New Tech City.

If you like this episode, why not subscribe to our podcast here, and follow us on Twitter here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friend, this is an episode of Note to Self, but from when we used to be called New Text City. Same good content, just the old name. Enjoy.
0:10.6	Alright, let's see what tonight's curfew time is.
0:18.6	Meet David George, he's a dad and his daughter, as you can hear, she's learning the piano. But he's talking about his own bedtime here.
0:27.6	The kid's just had dinner. Let's see, 10-19. Not bad. Alright, let's see what goes.
0:40.6	David's curfew is set by an algorithm.
0:44.6	Okay, it's 9-17 and the kids are actually asleep. So, looks like I have 1 hour and 2 minutes. Let's play some starcraft.
1:01.6	Because David has a problem. He's addicted to his computer. I mean like really addicted, especially video games especially at night. And he was kind enough to record one of his nightly benches for your listening pleasure.
1:16.6	The thing is, I haven't won a single game yet tonight and I would like to finish the evening on a note. So I'm just going to play one more time and hopefully this one I'm going to win. Game's starting now.
1:30.6	This is New Tech City from WNYC. The show about how technology is changing the way we live. I'm a new summer Odie and we are talking about tech addiction this week.
1:41.6	About how the lure of our computers and our phones and our friends on the other side of that chat app are pulling us too far. Weasting too many hours, particularly at night.
1:53.6	130, I'm looking at the clock and I'm like, oh, it's one this is ridiculous. It's 130. I have to go to bed. I'll just play one more game and I go play again. And then it's 2 o'clock. It's like, well, at this point, I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow no matter what. So I might as well play again.
2:07.6	You'll hear how that video game addict David George hacked his own computer as a form of rehab and how teens are obsessing with their small screens even in the wee hours of the morning. What are they looking for?
2:22.6	I'll wake up in the middle of the night, around 3 and I'll go on Instagram or Facebook and I'll just see like, oh, double tap if you're up or like my status if you're up. Like who wants to talk.
2:32.6	Plus remember that sleep project I told you about a couple weeks ago. Well, some WNYC listeners and I banned any screen time one hour before sleep and we kicked our phones out of the bedrooms to see if we would sleep better. I've got enough data on that.
2:49.6	I was bringing my iPod and my laptop to bed with me. It was just getting progressively worse. There's a lot of anxiety going on in this tech addiction show just the way I like it.
3:04.6	I'll get ready for bed. Let's get to know David George a little better.
3:08.6	J-O-E-R-G.
3:10.6	David George is a father of two. He's a software developer in finance.
3:14.6	Who stays up too late. Who stays up too late.
3:17.6	So I stay up too late. I've been doing it for a long time.
3:20.6	David has two little girls and lately after the kids would go to bed.
3:24.6	I'm going to finally have time to do what I want to do and usually, past few years, that's been video games.
	...

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