When thinking of Matthew Perry, it is nearly impossible to separate him from his popular role on the hit TV show Friends. While his name has largely been synonymous with Chandler Bing, it also is associated with a much more stigmatized term—addict. In Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,[Read More…]
Tag: addiction
Time to BeReal: Could the newly popular app be addictive?
Many students across North American university campuses receive identical notifications on their smartphones every day: Time to BeReal. The alert is sent out to all those who have downloaded the popular social media app BeReal, which delivers a less-filtered online experience to those looking to avoid overly-polished content. The recent[Read More…]
When it comes to drugs, McGill is still stuck in the past
According to a 2020 Prison Policy Initiative study on mass incarceration, one in five incarcerated Americans are in prison because of a drug-related charge. In the U.S., there are approximately one million drug-related arrests each year, and six times as many arrests for drug possession as there are for drug[Read More…]
Harm reduction in residences can save lives
For many students, experimenting with recreational drugs is part of the university experience, and a subculture of illicit drug use exists at McGill. To mitigate harmful consequences such as addiction and overdose, floor fellows in first-year residences have historically been trained to practice a harm reduction approach to drug use,[Read More…]
Rat Park and the War on Drugs
This year, VICE Studios released Rat Park, a documentary that dives into the socio-psychological causes of drug addiction. By looking at drug epidemics in three countries—Portugal, the United States, and the Philippines—the documentary focussed on how class, wealth, social status, life struggles, and politics play into the ongoing war on[Read More…]
Music shown to significantly improve mental motivation
There’s something about music that engages the brain, often eliciting a strong emotion simply using the ears. While it might just be an abstract pattern of pitches and rhythms, music somehow has significant biological and therapeutic implications. A recent study co-authored by McGill researchers explains the phenomenon, providing novel evidence[Read More…]
Put your phone down!
A Jan. 12 Globe and Mail editorial warned smartphone users of the dangers of overusing their phones; however, its conclusions were less than satisfying. The Globe proposed that the government look into the addictive qualities and other consequences of phone use. Yet, there is already a large amount of research into the health[Read More…]
Rap loses its rockstar
On the night of Nov. 15, Gustav Åhr, known by his stage name Lil Peep, was found dead inside his tour bus outside of a venue in Tucson, Arizona. He was set to perform in the second to last stop on his Come Over When You’re Sober tour, a 68-day tour[Read More…]