The spread of ideas about addiction and mental disorders has unarguably become faster as the internet has become more prominent. People are able to communicate thoughts and information to each other much more quickly than they were able to in the past. Whether they are using a computer, a smartphone or a tablet, the ability to communicate is much more accessible thanks to the internet. People have a different relationship with each piece of digital technology they possess, and the methods with which they use them to communicate vary.
Computers were the original form of digital technology and are still one of the most desirable to use today. A computer may be a stationary desktop model that remains in the home or a portable laptop that travels with its owner. Computers are how modern culture learned to be social and active on the internet. We learned how to form connections, exchange ideas and share information online through the invention of computers, including information on addiction and mental disorders. Other technologies followed shortly that modeled the computer, but nothing can match its memory capabilities and variety of functions.
Phones followed shortly after computers in the demand for digital technology and then became their own phenomenon. Phones are now arguably the method we prefer to use for communication more than any other. Phones have increased the circulation and sharing of information on addiction and mental disorder because now we do not have to wait to get home to our computers before we can explore public information on the matter. The biggest difference between phone time and computer time is that phone information can be accessed on the go where as computers require the proper set up in order to use. Tablets came last and are somewhere between a phone and a computer, giving them many functions of a computer while being nearly as portable as a phone.