A man is now being treated for this condition, which is the first internet addiction disorder involving this device.
A new study has revealed that doctors in San Diego have now come across and diagnosed the first known case of internet addiction disorder that involves the use of Google Glass, for which a man has now been treated.
The patient who was suffering from the condition was 31 years old and checked into an addiction program for assistance.
The man was a service member who recognized the struggle that he was facing with addiction to his Google Glass device and checked himself into the Substance Abuse Program for the U.S. Navy. That program was officially created to assist individuals who need alcoholism treatment. This, according to a study that was recently published in the Addictive Behaviors journal.
The doctors at the patient’s residential treatment program said that he “exhibited problematic use of Google Glass.”
Those doctors also pointed out that the addiction manifested through “a notable, nearly involuntary movement of the right hand up to his temple area and tapping it with his forefinger.” That is the gesture that is required by the user of this wearable technology in order to turn it on.
Apparently, the user of the augmented reality glasses was wearing his device for up to 18 hours per day. He told his doctors that when he was not living with the assistance of the technology, he would find himself becoming very frustrated and irritated. The published study also said that the man stated that he was having dreams in which he was seeing things as though he had been wearing the lens of the device in front of his eye.
According to Dr. Andrew Doan, a co-author of the report on the study, as well as an expert in addiction, the patient is now experiencing a smaller number of withdrawal symptoms from the device after having undergone a full 35 day treatment program.
Though addiction to the internet or to Google Glass is not a form of mental illness that is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (the organization that determines whether or not various mental conditions are actual psychiatric disorders). That said, many experts still believe that the issue deserves appropriate treatment.
