Gotta Answer That Call? Check That Email? Read That Text?

In the 1970s—and yes, in a galaxy far away—I discovered the addictive power of Space Invaders, one of the first digital precomputer games.

I was at a holiday corporate retreat. One of my coworkers, Rob, and I discovered what was essentially an electronic pinball machine. The screen showed wave after wave of attacking enemy space ships. Our job was to blast them into oblivion.

Space Invaders practically became an addiction. We probably spent every quarter at the resort destroying digital aliens from outer space.

Flash forward. Space Invaders has morphed into email, texting, and twittering. We don’t need huge pinball-like machines anymore, just a cell phone and apps to experience the same dopamine rush and addiction.

Calls, emails, and texts are so addictive that California and a few other states have banned all but hands-free cell phone use when driving a car.

But you can multitask, you say? Think about that painfully slow driver in front of you, yacking on her cell phone and oblivious to the fact that she really can’t multitask. (Hint: you’re probably no better.) There’s the texter who killed a bicyclist. And yes, there’s the pedestrian whose emailing stopped when he was run over crossing the street.

But it’s not just bad habits states are trying to ban. And it’s not just stupidity. It’s addiction.

The New York Times has published several articles in a “driven to distraction” series, focusing on how drivers screw up when they’re making calls, emailing, or texting while driving. Another article focused on the absurdity of the Type n Walk app, which uses the iPhone’s camera to track the sidewalk ahead while you’re looking at your phone.

On one level it’s silly and absurd. On another it’s totally neurotic.

Technology has helped fuel what I call impulse-addictive behavior in my book, The Food-Mood Solution. Think obsessive-compulsive disorder or gambling addiction. You know it’s bad, but you can’t stop.

For many people it’s near impossible to resist the electronic ping. It has to be read and responded to immediately.

We’ve forgotten our basic prerogative: Just because a telephone rings doesn’t mean we have to answer it. That’s what Caller ID is for. Ditto for emails, texts, and twitters.

So why can’t we just ignore the beckoning technology?

A both a social scientist and a nutritionist, I naturally see connections between society, food, and mood. Our brain’s biochemistry ultimately depends on nutrition.

Technology has also changed the way we eat. Faster. Cheaper. Junkier. Yep, fast food is the nutrition equivalent of a twitter.

But junk food doesn’t give the brain the nutrients it needs to function.

So many of us get shortchanged when it comes to B-complex vitamins and omega-3s (fish oils), two of the most important groups of nutrients influencing mood and behavior.

So, if you have impulsive-control problems, I have a couple of suggestions. Consider slowing down enough to eat some real food. And taking a B-complex vitamin formula or one or two fish oil capsules in the morning. And, yeah, being a little more mindful.

You might just find that you’re back in control of your technology. Not the other way around.