Posted In: the Internet has many of us on a very short leash – an addictive one.
Whether you’re mid-bite, mid-sentence or perhaps mid-sleep, do you react to that ‘bing’ from your smartphone? Or, is it the flashing red light that gets you?
You’ve programmed your phone to alert you to messages, or has it programmed you to respond?
From the constant smartphone companion to the laptop replacing the lapdog, the Internet has many of us on a very short leash – an addictive one.
The consumer research firm Intersperience surveyed more than 1,000 people in Britain and found quitting the Internet is as hard for some as quitting drinking or smoking.
Without the Internet, 40% said they felt lonely. Ironically, it’s fathomable that 40% of those living with Internet addicts probably feel lonely too.
Laurie Tamblyn, an addictions counsellor in special programs at Toronto’s Bellwood Health Services, says there are many types of Internet addiction, including gambling, gaming, pornography and social networking.
“We’re just beginning to treat this. It is a big problem and it is going to become bigger before people start recognizing that they need to do something about it,” Tamblyn says.
“Some of us believe there is a tsunami coming because we haven’t fully recognized the problem yet.”
Part of that problem is the generation gap. Children today are children of technology – dependent on the social web and its tools.
Addiction is a progressive illness that ends up in isolation, Tamblyn says, so Internet use can be a slippery slope, and can have devastating effects on relationships.
“The amount of time people spend lost in their behaviours is comparable to a drinker spending time at the bar instead of with his family or friends,” Tamblyn says.
“The addiction becomes the focus of the addict’s life. The focus is to interact with the addiction before anything else. If this doesn’t happen, it results in mood swings and irritability.”
Internet addiction can be difficult to diagnose, says Dr. Greg Dubord, who teaches in the psychiatry department at the University of Toronto.
“Drawing the line between normal Internet use and Internet addiction is often difficult, because no set criteria for diagnosing the disorder have been established by the American Psychiatric Association.”
What is easy to recognize, however, is the impact of web overuse on our relationships.
Though social networking allows us to communicate with people all over the world, at times it seems to segregate us more than ever. Real-life interaction is often interrupted by bings and beeps. Thoughts become tweets and e-mails. Our fingers do the walking and the talking now.
From neglecting friends and family members to creating severe relationship problems, the Internet and our attachment to it can consume our lives.
One study documents 396 negative effects of the web on social involvement, including significant family problems, Dubord says.
“Reports have shown that excessive use of the Internet resulted in personal and family problems, with 53% of test-takers reporting severe relationship problems,” he says.
“Personal and family concerns extended to marriages, dating relationships, parent-child relationships, and close friendships.”
Dubord notes one case where a New York woman divorced her husband due to Internet overuse, and an extreme case involving a Korean couple so addicted to virtual games they let their three-month-old daughter starve to death.
If you think you may have a problem, Tamblyn says the best thing to do is ask for help.
“You can get an assessment at any treatment centre, or do it online and it’s anonymous. There are a lot of people struggling, and there’s a lot of help.”
Too e-dependent? Greg Dubord points out some general warning signs:
1. Lose track of time online.
2. Failed attempts at moderating Internet behaviour.
3. Neglecting work, sleep, friends and/or family to spend time online.
4. Turning to the Internet in times of stress or sadness to feel better.
How to cut down, according to Laurie Tamblyn:
1. Give yourself short breaks throughout the day when you can’t check your messages. Try going for a walk without your smartphone.
2. Put your iPad to bed. Set a bedtime for your Internet devices.
3. Wi-Fi-free meals. Wash your hands of wireless devices before eating.
4. Put your computer in a high-traffic area to stay accountable to those around you.
Posted In: Ricky Martin and Benicio del Toro now have Spanish nationality.
The concessions were granted by the Spanish cabinet on Friday
Benicio del Toro and Ricky Martin - Archive photos EFE
Ricky Martin and Benicio del Toro now have Spanish nationality. The news of the concession was given by the Government on Friday to the artists who were both born in Puerto Rico.
Spokesman José Blanco made the announcement after the Friday cabinet meeting.
He said that the two ‘recognised in different artistic facets’ wanted to share their Spanish nationality with all the Spanish people and therefore the Government congratulated them for it.
There is widespread speculation that the decision will allow Ricky Martin to marry his boyfriend, the economist Carlos González, in Spain.
Also granted nationality on Friday was Yisi Pérez, wife of the El País journalist, Mauricio Vicent, whose accreditation as a correspondent in Cuba was removed by the Cuban authorities.
Read more: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_32580.shtml#ixzz1cmPtmd1C
Posted In: Ricky Martin granted Spanish citizenship
Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin was given Spanish citizenship today, the country’s government said. The star, who came out in 2009 reportedly wants to take advantage of Spain’s gay marriage laws. Spokesman Jose Blanco told a news conference that ministers had agreed to grant him a “letter of naturalization”, issued in special circumstances, because of his “personal and professional links with Spain”. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Martin sought citizenship in order to marry boyfriend Carlos Gonzalez Abella, with whom he is bringing up his twin three-year-old sons. Spain passed legislation allowing same-sex marriages in 2005, only the third country to do so at the time, with 20,000 gay couples entering into marriage since. Appearing on the Larry King show last year, he had said: “I would get married… There are many countries around the world where same-sex marriage is a right. Not in Puerto Rico, unfortunately. And not in many states in America. “Yes, we could go to Spain and get married. We can go to Argentina and get married. But why do we have to go somewhere else? Why can’t I do it in my country where the laws are – you know, protecting me?” He added: “I can go to Spain. I have many friends in Spain. And get married. And make it very beautiful and symbolic. But… I [can't] do it in the backyard of my house. I want to have that option. I don’t want to be a second class citizen anymore. I pay my taxes. Why can’t I have that right?
Posted In: Robert Dawes was finally arrested in Dubai on an international warrant but is now living free on the Costa del Sol.
For five years a man named in a British court as "the general" has been pursued by detectives in a multimillion-pound operation.
Over the past decade Robert Dawes has moved from a two-up, two-down terraced house on an estate outside Nottingham to a base in Dubai and finally to a villa on the Costa del Sol.
Police believe he has left a trail of destruction as one of the heads of acrime syndicate that flooded the UK with millions of pounds of cocaine, heroin and cannabis. He has been identified in nine UK investigations involving large scale shipments.
Dawes is wanted in the Netherlands in connection with the murder of a teacher, Gerard Meesters; in Spain, where police have identified him as "the boss of an important English drug trafficking organisation"; and in the UK, where Nottinghamshire detectives are seeking him over the alleged commissioning of the murder of David Draycott in October 2002.
So when investigators from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, working with Spain's Guardia Civil, had Dawes secured in a Madrid prison this spring to face trial over the seizure of 200kg of cocaine, the belief was that the reign of a man described by Soca as a "highly significant international criminal" had ended.
But the Guardian has discovered that Spanish judges have been forced to drop the trial and free 39-year-old Dawes because the British authorities had failed to respond for months to a request for assistance.
Dawes is now back in his enormous villa near Benalmádena on the Costa del Sol with his wife and three children, enjoying his freedom.
After Dawes's release a few weeks ago, the Spanish courts issued a statement which made clear their hand had been forced by the failure of the British to respond to a request for documents sent in April through the highest diplomatic channels.
"The provincial court in Madrid has revoked the indictment of Robert Dawes ... and so he is at liberty," the statement said. "The magistrates ... understand that... it is necessary to wait for a response from the Commission of Dubai, with reference to the searches in the case, and, above all, the Commission of the United Kingdom.
"When the judicial authorities of those countries respond with evidence the case will be taken up again, but neither of the two commissions has yet commented and there is no indication of when they might do so."
Soca officials have been left embarrassed by the bureaucratic bungling. They say the request via a letter rogatory – the official method of requesting assistance between countries – was only received by the Home Office in August before being forwarded on to them in the same month.
The letter rogatory was sent to the Home Office via Eurojust, an organisation based in The Hague that is supposed to speed up co-operation on major criminal investigations between EU countries.
Asked by the Guardian this week about the case, Soca officials said they were planning to send an official to hand deliver the documents. A spokesman said: "We are supporting this Spanish-led investigation. Upon receipt of their request for evidence we took immediate action, in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service, to collate the material required.
"This process must take into account various legal and operational issues but it is Soca's intention to provide the material to the Spanish at the very earliest opportunity."
But it is not the first time that Dawes has slipped through the net, and some of his former associates have refused to co-operate with the authorities in the past because they believed he was an "asset" who was being protected.
Dawes grew up on the Leamington estate in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, and is thought to have began his criminal career in the 1990s working as an enforcer. By 2000 his name was cropping up in investigations from Scotland to London, where he is known to have associated with some of the UK's most notorious crime syndicates including the London-based Adams family.
By this time Dawes and his brother John – later jailed for 24 years for drug dealing and money laundering – had allegedly moved into large scale shipments of heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis.
In the Netherlands he became known in thousands of phone taps carried out by Dutch police as the "Derbyman".
In 2001, fearing the police net was closing in, Dawes left the UK for the Mijas Costa area of Spain – but could not resist making fleeting trips back to his old estate where he still owned two terraced houses that had been knocked together.
Soca began Operation Halbert in 2006 to target Dawes and his lieutenants. In August 2007 they seized £13m worth of drugs including 65kg of heroin in a major raid in Ruddington, Nottinghamshire. A month later, after receiving intelligence from Soca, officers from the Guardia Civil drug unit seized almost 200kg of cocaine just outside Madrid that was allegedly linked to Dawes.
But by then Dawes had fled Spain to set up a base in Dubai. He was eventually extradited in April this year to face trial in Madrid until his release by the Spanish a few weeks ago.
Posted In: Man arrested over alleged police payments named as Sun journalist
A Sun journalist has been arrested as part of Scotland Yard's investigation into alleged payments to police officers by newspapers. The reporter is believed to be Jamie Pyatt, district editor of the paper. The arrested journalist was taken to a South West London police station at 10.30am on Friday. Pyatt, 48, has been working at the Sun since 1987. He is the sixth person arrested by detectives working in Operation Elveden, which was set up in July following allegations that police officers had received up to £130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, including contact details of the royal family. News International refused to comment on the arrest and saying it had "a very clear duty of care to employees and would not be making any comment on individuals". Scotland Yard also refused to confirm the identity of the person it arrested, but said in a statement earlier that it had arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with Operation Elveden. Its statement said: "He was arrested outside London on suspicion of corruption allegations in contravention of section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, and is being brought to a south-west London police station." Operation Elveden is one of three Met investigations relating to alleged illegal activities by newspapers. The others are Operation Weeting and Operation Tuleta, set up to examine phone hacking and computer hacking, respectively. On Thursday, Scotland Yard confirmed to the Guardian that the number of people whose phones may have been hacked had reached 5,800 – 2,000 more than previously stated. So far 16 people have been arrested and bailed on allegations of phone hacking.
Posted In: Italy government hangs by thread as coalition crumbles
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fate hung by a thread Friday and desertions from his crumbling centre-right coalition may have already robbed him of the parliamentary numbers he needs to survive. Berlusconi, caught in the crossfire from European powers and a party revolt at home, agreed at a G20 summit in France to IMF monitoring of economic reforms which he has long promised but failed to implement. But this may soon be irrelevant for the Italian leader, who will return to Rome later Friday to face what looks increasingly like a deadly rebellion by his own supporters. With financial markets in turmoil over the situation in Greece and Italy viewed as the next domino to fall in the euro zone crisis, calls are mounting for a new government to carry through reforms convincing enough to regain international confidence. Berlusconi has consistently rejected calls to resign and says the only alternative to him is an early election next spring, rather than the technocrat or national unity government urged by many politicians and commentators. Yields on 10-year Italian bonds reached 6.36 percent by early afternoon, creeping closer to 7 percent, a level which could trigger a so-called "buyers' strike" where investors take fright and refuse to buy the paper. Two deputies from Berlusconi's PDL party this week defected to the centrist UDC, taking his support in the 630-seat lower house of parliament to 314 compared with the 316 he needed to win a confidence vote last month. But at least seven other former loyalists have called for a new government and could vote against the 75-year-old media magnate. "The (ruling) majority seems to be dissolving like a snowman in spring," said respected commentator Stefano Folli in the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Other commentators spoke of an "inexorable" revolt against Berlusconi. Even Defence Ministry undersecretary Guido Crosetto, a Berlusconi loyalist, said on television: "I don't know how many days or weeks the government has left. Certainly a majority relying on a few votes cannot continue for long." PATRONAGE Berlusconi, one of Italy's richest men, still has significant powers of patronage and he and his closest aides are expected to spend the weekend trying to win back support for a parliamentary showdown Tuesday. Some rebels have already threatened to vote against Berlusconi in the vote to sign off on the 2010 budget. Berlusconi faced concerted calls to resign when he lost a previous vote on this routine measure, which was almost unprecedented. Although it is not a confidence motion, he would come under huge pressure if he suffered a second defeat. "Unpopular prescriptions are necessary and this challenge cannot be faced with a 51 percent government," said UDC leader Pier Ferdinando Casini, in a reference to Berlusconi's weakness and a widespread feeling that the reforms can only be passed with a broad consensus. The premier has promised European leaders that he will call a formal confidence motion within 15 days to pass amendments to a budget bill incorporating new measures to stimulate growth and cut Italy's huge debt. That will be in the Senate where he has a more solid majority but it could still bring him down. Berlusconi, beset by a string of sex scandals and court cases, has consistently resisted pressure from groups ranging from a powerful business lobby to the Catholic Church to stand down.
Posted In: after a member of staff at the city's Roxy venue found two men and a woman in the men's toilets. Posted In: Chris and Mary Gorman were arrested by police in Orlando Posted In: Florida
Accused ... Mary Gorman.
A multimillionaire British couple have vowed to fight charges against them after they were arrested in a US nightclub following an alleged sex act.
Entrepreneurs Chris and Mary Gorman were arrested by police in Orlando, Florida, after a member of staff at the city's Roxy venue found two men and a woman in the men's toilets.
The couple, who live in Renfrewshire and are thought to be worth more than £40 million ($62 million), do not face indecency charges.
Posted In: TV celebrity Peter Andre visited the new Aventura Amazonia
The visit was part of a recording for ITV2’s ‘My Life’.
Posted In: Hugh could not be happier or more supportive Posted In: Hugh Grant is the delighted father of a baby girl. He and the mother had a fleeting affair and while this was not planned
British actor Hugh Grant has become a father for the first time at the age of 51. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP
Film star turned anti-hacking activist Hugh Grant has become a parent for the first time at the age of 51.
The actor – best known for roles in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones's Diary – became father to a baby girl earlier this month.
The identity of the mother has not been revealed but a spokeswoman for the actor said they were on good terms.
She added: "I can confirm that Hugh Grant is the delighted father of a baby girl. He and the mother had a fleeting affair and while this was not planned, Hugh could not be happier or more supportive. He and the mother have discussed everything and are on very friendly terms."
Grant has had several high-profile previous relationships, including with Elizabeth Hurley and socialite Jemima Khan, from whom he split in 2007.
The actor has kept a low profile on the big screen in recent years. His last role was alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in 2009's Did You Hear About the Morgans? and his next project is to voice the role of a captain in animated film The Pirates!, due for release in spring.
Grant, who suspected that his own phone had been hacked, recently emerged as the unofficial spokesman for victims of phone hacking at the News of the World after railing against politicians for failing to curb the power of Rupert Murdoch. He wrote a New Statesman article after secretly recording a conversation with a former News of the World reporter, Paul McMullan, in which he alleged that ex-editor Rebekah Brooks knew about hacking at the paper.
Posted In: Former James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore
. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext Collection
Former James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore has described the franchise's most recent outing, Quantum of Solace, as "a long, disjointed commercial".
The 84-year-old actor, who played 007 for 12 years between 1973 and 1985, was speaking to a reporter from Cambridge University's Varsity newspaper when he criticised the film, which was released in 2008 and starred Daniel Craig. Moore, who praised Craig's interpretation of Ian Fleming's secret agent despite disliking the film, also passed comment on another Bond - his own predecessor, Sean Connery. "Sean is a good actor," said Moore. "It's a pity I can't understand what he's saying."
Moore, known for his wry sense of humour, rounded off the interview by revealing that his favourite contemporary actor is Johnny Depp. "I wish he would change his name to something I can remember," he quipped.
The actor also identified his favourite Bond girl – his wife, Danish-Swedish multi-millionaire Kristina Tholstrup. He was visiting the university to give a speech at the student union, where he introduced himself as "Moore, Roger Moore".
Meanwhile, Daniel Craig will return as 007 in a new James Bond film, rumoured to be titled Skyfall, which will arrive in cinemas next year. Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris have all been linked with the film, which will be helmed by American Beauty director Sam Mendes. Official confirmation of the film's details will be announced at a press conference in London tomorrow
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
