Habit: Pinterest

Habits and addictions? Same thing or different things?  Many people would think that habits can turn into an addiction, whether it be a harmful addiction or not.  In order to evaluate habits and addictions, I have been challenged to give up a certain habit of mine.  Through looking at different tasks I tend to do on a daily basis I decided to either give up sweets, social media (specifically pinterest) or napping.  After closely observing my habits I decided that it would be best to try to work on my habit of going onto pinterest.  Pinterest is a social media website where you can create different pin boards and "pin" to them different things like fashion, recipes, crafts, etc.  I tend to get on the website at least two or three times a day and spend a decent amount of time on the website.  This act usually occurs when I am trying to avoid studying or working on papers or other class work.  By giving up pinterest I would be able to have more time to devote to my studying and do even better in my classes.  I am going to try to avoid pinterest by trying to stay off of my computer unless I am using it for school related purposes.  By doing this I will not be tempted to just log onto the website whenever I want.  I am planning on telling my roommates of my plan to break my habit so that if they see me on my computer they can help me to make sure I do not get on pinterest.  I am very determined in giving up my habit of pinterest so that I can become an even better student and raise my gpa even higher.


February 7th

     So far this week I have made slight progress on trying to stay off of pinterest.  Overall, I probably have only logged onto pinterest about three or four times.  Compared to when I use to get on it for different periods of time everyday thats a pretty good improvement.  As I said in my original post I tried to stay off of my computer as much as possible when I did not need it for academic purposes so that I would not be tempted to get on the site.  I also contribute my ability to not getting on the website to being so busy lately.  The amount of work I have and my field placements for my major have started to pick up a lot so being more busy with class work doesn't allow me to get on my computer for recreational uses as much.  For next week I am thinking that I need to delete the pinterest app off of my itouch so that there are less resources and temptations for me to get onto the site.  So far I am doing pretty good at staying off pinterest and hopefully it continues to progress that way.

February 15th

This week was not as productive as last in staying off of pinterest.  I did not have as busy as a week this week as last so in my free time I got on pinterest a lot more.  This week I probably got on the website about six or seven times, so almost everyday.  The amount of time I spent on the site was more limited though because I had deleted the app from my itouch.  Deleting the app off my itouch has helped a bit, but now I need to start trying to stay off my computer when I'm not doing purposeful things.   I am thinking to continue my progress I need to use the help of my roommates to make sure that I am not getting on the website. This week was a bit of a downfall but I'm still determined to continue the progress that I had last week.


February 22nd

This week has been much better then last week. The beginning of the week I got onto to pinterest a decent amount but by the middle of the week I wasn't getting on it at all. From this experiment to try to stop getting on pinterest I have realized that times when I do not have a busy schedule I do get on pinterest a good amount, but once my schedule starts to become very busy I tend to stay away from the site.  In weeks to come I feel as though staying busy as much as I can will help to keep me from getting on to the site. I think sticking to the same plan that I've had since the beginning and the changes I added to it last week will help to keep up my progress.

February 28th

This week I was very good at staying off of pinterest.  I think I only got onto the site once and not for a very long time.  The semester has become very busy so that is definitely helping me stay off the site.  I am slightly worried as to how next week will go though since it is spring break.  I will have a lot more free time and probably be more tempted to get onto pinterest.  So I am trying to think of ways to stay strong and away from the site.

March 24th

Lately I have been pretty bad at staying away from pinterest.  I would say that I am in the relapse phase.  I haven't gotten on the site very much the past few weeks but when I do get on I spend a decent amount of time on the webiste.  I think because I haven't been on in so long that when I do get on it I feel like I can spend even more time on it.  I think I need to come up with new ways as to stay off of pinterest.  I will have to contemplate that this week and see what ideas I come up with.

March 31st
This week has been very good at staying away from pinterest.  Due to easter break I believe I was able to easily stay away from the site.  Being at home keeps me very busy and so I do not have time to get on the site.  I also think that the next few weeks I will be pretty good at staying off pinterest because of how busy my schedule will be.  With the end of the semester coming up there are tons of final projects and presentations to do and so I need to stay off the site in order to complete all my work on time.

April 15th
This week I have done an awesome job at staying away from pinterest.  I can attribute that success to my very busy schedule.  With the semester coming to an end soon I have tons of papers and projects due in all my classes so I haven't had a chance to get on any social media in the past week.  Even though I have been super busy I have caught myself wishing that I could be on pinterest instead of doing my school work.  I have come a very long way though so far in how much I get on the site as I did before the start of this semester.

April 21st
I think that  I have finally overcoming my wanting to get onto pinterest whenever I'm bored or don't want to do my assignments.  This past week I got on the site probably once or twice but I have begin to notice that I don't automatically think of getting on pinterest when I am bored.  I would say that is a very good thing to of occurred being that I would always get on the site when I was bored.  Doing this assignment all semester has definitely helped to limit my habit of pinterest.

LSD

         Everyone has heard of LSD and the popularity that surrounded it in the 1960s.  Many musicians, like The Beatles and Pink Floyd, as well as many writers and artist used LSD to create the art we today call masterpieces.  Although many people know of the popularity of the drug, they may not know of how LSD came into effect.

         In 1938 a scientist named Albert Hofmann created the drug in a Switzerland chemical laboratory (Grof, 1994).  The drug LSD, whose full name is lysergic acid diethylamide, was originally created to be part of a series of drugs used for psychiatric reasons.  Scientists were hoping to create a drug that could be used to simulate the effects of a mental illness so that the illnesses could be study.  It was also a hope to use the drug for curing alcoholism.  Over time though the true effects of LSD were stumbled upon by Hofmann and the drug soon became popular for recreational uses (Winkel, 2010).  The link below is a link to a video containing a short interview with Hofmann and Timothy Leary about what LSD does to a person's body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al45Yu_pKfg

       LSD became a popular recreational drug because of the out of body experience it allowed its users to experience.  Generally LSD causes a pleasure filled experience of "hearing colors" and "seeing sounds".  Although this experience is very common to have when taking the drug there are also times where the experience can be much more horrific.  The delusions that are seen when under this drug can cause panic and fear in its users, as well as feelings of trauma ( LSD addiciton, 2009).  The drug was much more popular in the 1960s though then it is now.  Starting in 1966 California began the trend of banning LSD and making it a Schedule I drug (Winkel, 2010).  Since the 1960s the rate of usage has greatly decreased.  Current statistics show that only 3.5% of high school seniors report abusing LSD in the past year.  This rate is even lower in 8th and 10th graders at 1.9% and 2.5%.  Although rates of students in high school are lower, the rates of use in those 18 to 25 is averaging at about 12.1% (LSD addiction, 2009).

      An important fact to know about LSD is that it is not considered an addictive drug.  Most people who try LSD only do it on a one time basis.  The problem with LSD though is that in repeat users they are able to develop a sort of tolerance to the drug.  This tolerance causes the person using to need a much higher dosage in order to feel the same effect as someone trying it for the first time (LSD addiction).  An increased tolerance could lead to a person to possibly overdose or have a higher chance of having a bad experience that could cause physical or psychological harm.

     Through my research of this drug I learned a lot of facts that I never knew before.  From my own experiences in high school I heard of many different people trying LSD on the weekends and so I always thought that the rate of usage would be a lot higher then it is for high school seniors.  It shocked me to see that the rate of usage has decreased so much since the 1960s.  Through personal experiences I have heard and seen how people see LSD as an attractive drug to try, but all of these facts about the long term effects it can have on your body does not make it seem like a drug worth even trying.  The fact that LSD was originally created in order to study mental illnesses was also surprising to me to read.

       The government has very strict rules and regulations on the usage, making, and selling of LSD.  The fine for being caught on a first offensive of possession of LSD is one year in prison or a minimum fine of $1000.  The fine for being caught making or selling LSD is dependent upon the amount of the drug involved.  For example, a person caught with ten grams of LSD can be sentenced with five to forty years in prison or a fine of two million dollars (Freeman, 2013).  These strict regulations may be one of the reasons why the average usage of LSD has been dropping throughout the past decade.  With such harsh fines and sentences not many people are going to want to risk their future on this drug.


References

Freeman, S. (2013). How lsd works. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/lsd8.htm

Grof, S. (1994). History of lsd therapy. Retrieved from http://www.psychedelic-library.org/grofhist.htm

LSD addiction. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.lsdaddiction.us/content/what-is-lsd.html

Winkel, B. (2010, Oct 27). The history of lsd. Retrieved from http://www.treatmentsolutions.com/the-       history-of-lsd/

Intro Blog

Why did you choose to take this course?
     
          When choosing classes to take for the semester I was very interested in taking this course for a few different reasons.  The course description made the class sound very interesting and as if it would teach me a lot about a topic that I do not know much about.  Also, I thought that this class might apply well to my major.  I am an occupational therapy major and figured that there may be times that I will be dealing with clients who have an addiction of some sort.  My goal one day is to work in mental health and I figure that many people with mental issues may have or once had some type of addiction.  Having an understanding of addictions may allow me to better relate to and treat a patient.

By the end of the course, what do you want to know?
     
           By time this course concludes I would like to of learned what causes a person to develop an addiction.  I would like to be able to understand what in a person's mind causes them to create a dependency or need for something and why it is so hard for the mind to break away from the thing that it feels it most needs.