Nature is known cure for technology addictions

Next year, for the first time, “Internet Use Disorder” will be listed in the appendix of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the treatment, if not the cure, is nature.

Segments of society are becoming increasingly addicted to the massive array of new technology we have created.

“It’s a basic cultural recognition that people have a pathological relationship with their devices,” says Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGougal, who consults with tech company executives. “People don’t just feel addicted, they feel trapped.”

When we get into the great outdoors, the illusion of control that technology provides disappears and we are deflated, humbled and awed all at once.

In the vast “natural cathedral”, we are reminded of a world much larger than we are; a world that predates us, will outlive us, and at whose mercy we exist.

To escape our “post-industrial self-absorption” we need to leave our iPhones at home, and go take a walk in the woods.

Even companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter are now teaching their employees meditation and “mindfulness” and warning them of the dangers of constant texting, tweeting and web surfing.

You will be a bit saner when you return to the endless conversation.