[0154] (51 lines) Lippard.Multics 09/10/87  1204.7 mst Thu misc
Subject:  computer illness
From:  Ron Barstad <RBarstad>

From: decvax!bunker!wtm@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Bill McGarry)
Forwarded-from: Robb Topolski
To: ucbvax!CSL.SRI!NEUMANN@csl.sri.com
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 87 22:38:41 EDT
Subject: Computer Psychosis

United Press International [4 Sep 87]
 
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A young man became so mesmerized by his computer 
that he was hospitalized with a "computer syndrome" that made him unable to 
distinguish between the real world and computer programs, a Denmark medical 
journal said.

The journal said the unidentified 18-year-old contracted the new form of
psychosis, called computer syndrome by three doctors at Copenhagen's Nordvang 
Hospital, after spending 12 to 16 hours a day in front of his computer.

The doctors said the young man began to think in programming language,
waking up in the middle of the night thinking, "Line 10, go to the bathroom;
Line 11 next."
 
The patient told the doctors he "discovered that man is only a machine. 
There is no difference between the computer and man."
 
In WEEKLY FOR PHYSICIANS, psychologist Bent Brok and psychiatrists Eva 
Jensen and Erik Simonsen said, "He merged with the computer and afforded it 
supernatural qualities."
 
In the end, he suffered from insomnia and anxiety and had to be 
hospitalized.  The article did not indicate his present condition.
 
The young man's preoccupation with computers is not unique, but his 
psychotic condition is unusual, Tuesday's report said, warning against 
"many young people's excessive preoccupation with computers."
 
The three doctors said that the computer is used by youths as a substitute 
for human contact because it always responds in a rational manner but that 
the stress on logic can lead to immaturity and emotional limitations.
 
The computer trade itself also seems to be aware of the problem.
 
"A large group of young people -- about 95 percent of them boys -- are 
computer freaks who live for nothing but the machine," said Lars Knudsen, 
32, manager of a Copenhagen computer firm, Professional Datainformation.

"The typical computer freak is between 14 and 16," said Knudsen, a former
freak himself.  "He gets up at 2 in the afternoon and sits in front of the
screen until 4 in the morning.  He drinks 3 liters of Coke and has no
girlfriend."
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