The use of certain drugs has decreased in some countries, while the time that young people spend on their cell phones increases dramatically in the world.
Technology is not a drug - in the traditional sense associated with the word drug. But a peculiar relationship is taking place in youth culture, where the use of certain substances (including alcohol) is decreasing, while the time that young people spend in front of their cell phone screens increases.
This change has been gradual, and specialists estimate that it has been generating for ten years. Some associate it with educational campaigns about drug abuse; others have posed an intriguing question: Are young people replacing drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines with the entertainment their cell phone gives them?
The addiction to the internet and the changes in the chemistry of our brain caused by gadgets are subjects that have been widely investigated. Technology has come to definitely change our old perception of what drugs are, since it can modify the exchange of neuronal information in the brain and, with it, the function of dopamine (the pleasure neurotransmitter), just as it does any substance. In addition, the use of cell phones and video games activates the limbic system: the same one that is altered when we consume a drug.
It could be that it is due to a simple coincidence, or to a change of habits in relation to the way young people manage their time. But the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow, believes that it is a field of research in which it is necessary to investigate, because annual reports are those that have seen this gradual decrease in the use of drugs among young people, for example in North America.
In the case of Latin America, it is different, since some estimate that there is an increase in the use of some drugs, such as amphetamines. However, the United States could be the mirror in which to see what can happen to young Latin Americans, since the continent is also growing access to cell phones and the constant use of these, especially among the youngest.