Say What?

As a kid, teenager and young adult, I was part of a fairly small group of friends who avoided using drugs of any description. Some of us (like me) did it because our religion advised us against it - others made different personal decisions. The end result was that those of us who abstained had a very different experience than those who chose to indulge, and without being judgemental I can say that I'm happy about the choices I made. I didn't start drinking until much later in life and still don't any great attraction to other kinds of drugs. Sure, I've had the odd experiment - special brownies, herbal teas and one or two incredibly good nights with Mother Nature's mushrooms, but I could count on one hand how many times I've gotten high on anything other than alcohol. Don't know why - maybe I'm too uptight, maybe I'm too skint... maybe I just really don't like not knowing what's going into my body. For whatever reason, the monkey has stayed well and truly off my back for most of my life, and I've never been even slightly tempted to offer him a piggy-back. Until now..

A report in yesterday's Huffington Post explains 'How Teens Are Using The Internet To Get High'. When I first read this, I thought it was something more akin to what The Onion might publish, and I kept expecting to get to the punchline. But it never came... this is for real! Turns out that companies are marketing songs that are intended to induce specific reactions in your brains, giving you all kinds of non-chemical alterations. From 'sexual', to 'relaxed', 'hallucinogenic' to 'euphoric' - you can buy a tune to change your mood. They advertise it as a "completely safe, non-addictive binaural beat" that will provide the listener with "an ultra-happy mood and an increased confidence." Seems pretty innocuous to me... though I'd like to see some research on whether it works. Most opponents to the technology are worried that because it's marketed to give you the 'same effect' as real drugs, that people who "i-dose" (seriously, that's what it's called) will eventually make the jump to marijuana, cocaine and the like. I'm not sure I buy that argument, but it's worth considering and bearing in mind. Me..? I'm more concerned about it being a scam than a gateway.


But it turns out that stuff has been around for AGES. Wikipedia tells us that Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered binaural beats in 1839.  Fast forward a few hundred years of scientific research and it now appears that we have a mainstream society that is so 'tuned in' that what started as funky bit of cognitive research is now a marketable way to achieve altered states.

Personally, I think the jury is still out on this one. I'm not entirely convinced that it works, nor am I entirely convinced that if it DOES work that it's as harmless or harmful as the lovers and haters would like us to believe.  It's hard for me to imagine 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' with people pouring out of a smokeless VW campervan with their headphones on - or Cheech and Chong having the same digital appeal. It also seems a very lonely thing, to get 'high' on your own in this way. Like I said, I choose only to drink my drugs, and when I do that it's usually with friends because being out with them is a major part of why the experience is worthwhile. So sitting on my own listening to binbeats doesn't really grab me as much. 


For me, for now, it's just really interesting. Who'd have thunk it, eh...?