A RECENT news article caught the Eye’s attention. Apparently, there is a new kind of drug out there and it seems to be catching up with teenagers in Malaysia as well.
This drug does not involve any form of physical consumption. There is no need to swallow it, inject it or smoke it. Instead, all one needs to get high is a pair of good quality headphones and the Internet.
Yes, people in this world have become so advanced that they can use sound to alter brainwaves. These sounds are produced using binaural beats and isochronic tones.
Both are audio-based methods used to stimulate the brain. An isochronic tone is just a tone that is turned on and off rapidly.
Binaural beats, meanwhile, are produced when two coherent sounds of nearly similar frequencies are presented to each ear with stereo headphones or speakers. The brain then integrates the two signals, producing a sensation of a third sound called the binaural beat.
Like other ‘traditional’ drugs (if you can consider marijuana, cocaine, meth and ecstasy traditional), the use of audio-based methods to create brain stimuli were started by scientists with good intentions for research purposes on how audio affects cognition, attention, stress reduction, emotions, mood, energy and even sleeping patterns.
And like all drugs that eventually get abused and used in an irresponsible manner, digital drugs have hit the market with online dealers supplying MP3 files for a variety of isochronic tones and binaural beats, each with its own level of intensity.
Some of these online dealer sites require a minimal payment for each MP3 file, while there are many files out there in the big World Wide Web that are downloadable for free. There are even people calling themselves i-dosing artistes who produce these audio files for download.
Kids who are hooked on digital drugs look up to these so-called artistes as a normal teenybopper would look up to pop stars such as One Direction.
Getting back to the news article, a student of psychology at a local institution admitted he used digital drugs as the beats and tones made him feel intoxicated and high.
He apparently did some research and tried samples of digital drugs, confessing that in a period of four months, he was high almost every day from listening to the audio files.
Now, is this really a new thing? Not really. Curious, the Eye did some digging around online and found that authorities and educators in the United States have been wary of the such drugs since 2009.
The act of ‘taking’ digital drugs is called i-dosing and online sites that promote them claim that digital drugs are safe.
Eye wouldn’t take it so lightly and as being ‘safe’.
The worry here now is that digital drugs, although not illegal (yet), could open up the floodgates and introduce teens to real narcotics such as cocaine, meth, marijuana and other types of drugs out there.
There will be a time where they will want to experience bolder and more intense highs, which these audio files will no longer be able to provide.
In some parts of the United States, school authorities began sending out letters to parents warning them of the new craze as far back as 2010, in the hope of preventing kids from becoming digital drug fiends.
Another worry is that any act of stimulating or changing brainwaves could result in undesirable actions. What happens if someone who is already emotionally unstable gets high on digital drugs? Will they pose a danger to themselves and others around them?
How do we know that people whose digital audio devices are glued to their heads are listening to your everyday pop music?
Websites purporting that digital drugs are safe to use also issue warnings that by listening to these tones, one will be changing brainwaves and altering the state of consciousness. The warnings go as far as warning against the use of operating heavy machinery, operating tools and driving when high on digital drugs.
The warning likens the state of the brain when listening to digital drugs to daydreaming or sleeping.
The warning also says that people with epilepsy, seizures, hearing problems, heart problems, babies and pregnant women should stay away from i-dosing.
The bottom line is if there are warnings such as these when it comes to using digital drugs, how can they be safe at all?
The big question now is how with we deal with people who are high on digital drugs and effects that go too far considering that digital drugs are not illegal, undetectable in the blood or urine, and free for anyone to download.
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