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Commentators have used evocative terms such as \u201cdigital heroin,\u201d \u201celectronic cocaine,\u201d and \u201cvirtual drugs\u201d when discussing users\u2019 growing dependence on their devices. This article looks at the spreading discourse comparing digital media with drugs from a set of interdisciplinary perspectives including media studies, political economy, critical theory, science and technology studies, and addiction studies. It engages several key questions: To what extent can heavy smartphone use be considered an addiction, and how is it similar or different from drug addiction? How do the analogies between media and drugs fit within prevalent imaginaries of information technologies, and within the greater cultural themes and preoccupations of late capitalism? And finally, what can drugs teach us about the possible escape routes from our society's current predicament? <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/13634615221105116","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,8]],"date-time":"2022-07-08T06:12:18Z","timestamp":1657260738000},"page":"651-661","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Technology and addiction: What drugs can teach us about digital media"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"60","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7906-3682","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ido","family":"Hartogsohn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Program in Science, Technology and Society, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amir","family":"Vudka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Film and Media Studies Department, Amsterdam University, Amsterdam, Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-13634615221105116","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/med\/9780199588718.003.0006"},{"issue":"2","key":"bibr1a-13634615221105116","first-page":"32\u201345","volume-title":"British Columbia Medical Journal, 22","author":"Alexander B. 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