Article archive / November 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 3. Source pages: 14.
Dr. Paul Dammers, medical psychologist and neuropsychologist at the NeuroMedical Center in Baton Rouge, was interviewed by reporter Penny Font of the Baton Rouge Business Report for the October 18 article, “It’s a mad mad mad mad world.”
The article covered the issue of the modern tendency to be continually connected to Internet, email, and iPhones, etc.
Dammers told Font that he has treated patients who spend all night on their computers, talking or surfing the web. He said that some people can’t stop looking at e-mail or checking their BlackBerry, and “…we end up being overwhelmed and never finished.”
“In pharmaceutical terms, the drugs that are the most addictive are the ones with the most immediate effect, like Xanax,” Dammers said. “The same is true with technology. Respond- ing to an e-mail or a text message or an online game becomes a compulsive act with immediate reward.”
Dr. Charles Figley of Tulane, Professor and Director of the Tulane Traumatology Institute, was also interviewed for the article.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.