Augmented Reality – If you have heard of internet addiction, you may envision some geek spending much of his life in front of a computer screen. Now a US serviceman has expanded this view to wearing Google Glass as well. If you want, you can call this “AR addiction”.
The US Navy is treating the serviceman for wearing the Google Glass excessively under the Substance Abuse and Recovery Programme (SARP). He is required to go Google Glass-free for 35 days according to an article in the Inquirer.
The doctors Kathryn Yunga, Erin Eickhoffa, Diane L. Davisa, Warren P. Klama, Andrew P. Doanat at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego have published a paper on this case with the following highlights:
- This is the first reported case of internet addiction disorder involving the problematic use of Google Glass.
- Excessive and problematic uses of Google Glass are associated with involuntary movements to the temple area and short-term memory problems.
- Frustration and irritability are related to withdrawing from excessive use of Google Glass in our patient.
The article “Internet addiction disorder and problematic use of Google Glass™ in patient treated at a residential substance abuse treatment program” is for purchase at the provided link.
This is certainly an extreme case in using a new technology. The articles point out that the user was wearing the Google Glass device for 18h a day and may also have some issues with alcohol abuse. We can be pretty sure that this is an isolated case and not representative for augmented reality per se. – Norbert Hildebrand
