Eye-Tech Junkie

Man Addicted to Google Glass

Used futuristic computer 18 hours a day.

It had to happen sooner or later. Scientists say they have treated a man they believe is the first patient with Internet addiction disorder brought on by overuse of Google Glass. The 31-year-old U.S. Navy serviceman had been using the wearable technology that comes with an optical head-mounted display for about 18 hours a day, removing it only to sleep and bathe. He complained of feeling irritable and argumentative without the futuristic eye computer, and in the two months since he bought the device, he also had begin experiencing his dreams as if viewed through Google Glass’s small gray window. After 35 days in treatment, the man felt less irritable and “was making fewer compulsive movements to his temple.” Dr. Andrew Doan, head of addictions and resilience research at the U.S. Navy’s Substance Abuse and Recovery Program, and a co-author of the paper on the patient, says people clearly are suffering from problems related to Internet addiction, and that it’s just a matter of time before research and treatments catch up.