Ross A. Laird

Online shopping, text messaging, news and image browsing, desktop tweaking, television watching and other zone-out activities such as Solitaire (SolitaireCraving.com) enable the experience of comfort and solace. Such types of solace are sought by the many people who feel that the structure of modern life -- and of modern relationships -- do not meet their needs. This instinctive self-soothing is similar to the underlying psychological drives seen in eating disorders, particularly those involving over-eating.

Many people in our society have been imprinted with the sense that any need I have can be met by eating. This is probably a result of the fact that infants exhibit at least 150 types of cries, which are almost universally met by feeding or oral soothing. In such a scenario of early imprinting, all cries for need fulfilment come to be associated with oral behavior. In turn, technological feeding can have a powerful sedative and need-fulfilling effect for many people.