Oh No! Run And Hide! Kids Getting High With MP3s! Moral Panic! Moral Panic!

from the not-this-again dept

Thu, Jul 15th 2010 10:04am — Mike Masnick

Two years ago we mocked a silly USA Today report "warning" parents about "digital drugs." It was really about binaural beats, which are nothing new, and aren't digital drugs at all. But it has all the typical elements of a moral panic. And what's the best way to fan the flames of a moral panic? Concerned local news broadcasters. Enter ~~Kansas~~ Oklahoma News 9, reporting on the new fear: "i-dosing." I bet many of you can predict much of the script of this news report before watching it:

We found out about this report via coverage in Wired, which somehow fails to mention that this isn't new and that the whole concept is ridiculous. It does take a mocking tone, thankfully, with this bit:

Will future presidential candidates defend their i-dosing past by saying, "But I had it on mute"? Are we supposed to declare a war on cyberdrugs or a cyberwar on cyberdrugs? How will police know if a teen is with headphones on is i-dosing or just listening to Justin Bieber? Is the iPod the bong of the future? What would happen if some ne'er-do-well took over the console of the Super Bowl and dosed the entire country? What if kids smoked dried banana peels and listened to these trippy tunes at the same time -- could they OD? What happens if someone sells a tainted MP3?

Perhaps most importantly, what will happen if the kids move onto harder stuff like Steve Reich, Philip Glass or even Janet Cardiff's installation, "The Killing Machine"?

Of course, it appears that the TV news report first came out of a local newspaper report, where it quotes concerned anti-drug folks who say that it's a bad, bad thing even if the bogus "digital drugs" don't work. You see, if they don't work, that only gives more reasons for kids to try real drugs. Or something.

Kids disappointed in their digital experience might try huffing paint or another chemical, or smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol, Forrest-Perkins said.

But, of course, all it takes is one moral panic to set off other moral panics in other places. A blogger for another newspaper points out that the lack of evidence that binaural beats do anything should make you worried. Seriously.

I'd say what's more worrying is having reporters claim that a lack of evidence on something is reason to fear it.

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Filed Under: binaural beats, i-dosing, moral panic

49 Comments

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AdamR (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 9:06am

Sounds like a skit on the Daily Show.
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Hulser (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 9:32am

Binaural beats
Ooooh! I heard about this story, but I thought they were saying "biennial beets". Ba-dum-bum.

(A moral panic about smoking beetroot actually makes more sense than "i-dosing".)
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:32am
  
  Re: Binaural beats
  It looks like your pun....
  
  *Puts on sunglasses*
  
  ....beets all the others.
  
  YYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! We won't get fooled again!
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  - Mr. LemurBoy (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:49pm
    
    Re: Re: Binaural beats
    Hey, this could be serious!
    
    We need to get to the ...root of the problem
    
    *ba dum psh!*
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- Free Capitalist (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:46pm
  
  Re: Binaural beats
  (A moral panic about smoking beetroot actually makes more sense than "i-dosing".)
  
  See this is why I read the comments here. Now I know I can feel good and reduce the risk of heart disease at the same time. A long lived moral panic is the very best kind.
  
  Now just how do I prep this smoked beetroot, chorizo and liver salad...
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Xyro TR1 (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:03am

I'm pretty sure there's something better than that... I call it "Good Music + Milkdrop viz".
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:14am

Excuses
Hey, starting a moral panic over music gives you an excuse the look thru everybody's computer and mp3 player--at ALL their music.

Seriously, this is transparent. It's an aside to ACTA. It'll be "we didn't find any 'drug' mp3s but you don't have a license for 75 of these songs, here's a fine for $1,125,000; and you'll need to pay it to the Recording Industry not the courts. Have a nice day.
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:36am
  
  Re: Excuses
  I went there too! But I took a footpath off into 'when will the blehneenial beats makers start squawking about unauthorized sharing of their stashes'.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:15am

News 9 is actually out of Oklahoma City, not Kansas.
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Minister Dick, 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:15am

How dare those youngsters have any fun! They should be thinking of God and hating muslims, communists and gays!
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Jay (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:19am

I can't stop laughing... This is serious business but I'm laughing my ass off.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:20am

Sweeeeeet
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Nina Paley (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:23am

degenerate jungle beats
"Jazz music was offensive to Nazi ideology because it was often performed by Blacks and a number of Jewish musicians. They called it "Negro music" or "degenerate music"—coined in parallel to "entartete Kunst" (degenerate art).[1] Moreover, song texts defied Nazi ideology, going as far as to promote sexual permissiveness or free love.[1] Despite this, not all jazz was forbidden in Germany at the time.[3]" link
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Hephaestus (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:23am

Mike, Did you run out of things to write about today?
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:21pm
  
  Re:
  Man! Can't a guy get a rest and take a break with some fun? I'm sure Mike gets tired of nothing but copyright junk!
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  - Hephaestus (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 6:17pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Whats next mk-ultra stories?
    
    Oh wait, I have a better one "President Obama elected to do Corporate Americas bidding" ... wait that ones true never mind .. ;)
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  - vivaelamor (profile), 16 Jul 2010 @ 3:12am
    
    Re: Re:
    "Man! Can't a guy get a rest and take a break with some fun? I'm sure Mike gets tired of nothing but copyright junk!"
    
    It used to be that people would complain that too many articles were about copyright.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:29am

ACTA will never pass
its just too undemocratic

as to panic ya ok this affects the morons that listen to it
let them panic there kids are prolly the worst drugs addicts of all anyways
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Joe (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:36am

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/07/15/166220/Sound-As-the-New-Illegal-Narcotic
Reposting this from Slashdot because its too good:

Up until high school, I spent my entire life locked into an ideal Norman Rockwell painting. No cares, no worries and just high on life. Things took a turn for the worse one day when I picked up an 288 tuning fork and a 320 tuning fork. I struck them both against my leg and held one up near either ear.

It was pure bliss. Like Jesus was just 32 hertz away from me. I wish I could describe the feeling. Like half of all the blades of grass in the universe were hummingbirds and the other half were bumble bees.

Let's see--I was a freshman at that time. Yeah, things just went downhill from there. I had earrings made with a tuning fork hanging from each one. The left side was A440 and the right side was a custom 444. I could raise my fingers to either lobe and flick it for instant gratification. The other kids called it ear basing. I called it god. And he was just nineteen dollars and eighty cents on Amazon [amazon.com]. By my sophomore year I was already pretty hard into Fourier transforms. Everyone's tympanic membrane had a bifurcation sweet spot that could be exploited with the right theoretical frequencies. Yeah, we would rent middle of nowhere motel rooms to smelt hematite down into custom tuning forks and poor them into clay molds in the bathtub. We paid in cash and by the time the cleaning made hit the room it was slag burns in the carpet and clay all over the place. You probably remember the 20/20 investigations following all the reports.

Shit got real heavy real quick and one day we found Scrye (nickname for the metallurgist) hemorrhaging blood out of his ears in a coma from strapping two subwoofers to either side of his head with duct tape. I knew I had to get out, but how?

We gathered up all our text books on math, audio & music theory, physics, chemistry, electronics and metalworking and burned them in the parking lot of the hospital we brought Scrye to. I would never read about science again.

Parents, heed the images of those children getting 'innocent' highs from sounds and make sure they don't make the same mistake I did. This is just a gateway to bigger and badder things. If you find literature on Fourier Analysis, Electronics or Calculus in your child's bedroom, please get your child to Oklahoma and get them help from the nearest minister. I don't care if you have to lock them up in the basement against their will. Just make sure you save them from the same fate as I ... COMPLETE EAR DESTRUCTION!

Again, not my work and I take no credit for eldavojohn's story.
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Nick Mc, 15 Jul 2010 @ 10:48am

Media
You know the problem with mainstream media and "serious journalists"?

They're idiots that don't have the necessary grey matter to not publish crap like this.
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dep3che, 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:00am

Anyone else noticed...
... that the ipod time was set to 4:20 LOL
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Matt Polmanteer (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:10am

Speechless
Facepalm!
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:13am

Dead Milkmen
said it best...

Smokin' banana peels, see how it feels
Living is easy with ice cubes
The world is swimmin' with electric eels
Talk seriously to me brother
Smokin' banana peels, savin' the seals
There are four me's living all together
Got to keep an even keel
You've got to take life serially
Smokin' banana peels in between meals
I was all pumped up about the iron
Let's all pray get down and kneel

Smokin' banana peels sound like this
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- Greg G, 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:57pm
  
  Re: Dead Milkmen
  Finally, I Dead Milkmen reference.
  
  Now I can go sit down with my Methodist Coloring Book and relax.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:18am

Oh, for cryin' out loud
ABANDON YOUR CARS NOW!

I bet Neil Stephenson is regretting Snow Crash at this point.
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nasch (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:34am

blog
Check out this comment from the linked blog (last link):

"There is documentation of just how influencial and potentially dangerous certain musical tones can be. Infact, some ancient cultures used similar types of tones and music to reach similar trance-like altered states of hypnosis inorder to hallucinate... In many of those cases actual drugs were used... Coincidentally, promoters of i-dosing encourage the use of drugs in addition to the music to enhance it's effect. Since I know that such dangers are possible through certain types of music, I am careful with my choice of music inorder to avoid them."

In other words, certain kinds of music plus hallucinogens can make you hallucinate, so watch out for that music!
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- Ashlar (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 3:45pm
  
  Re: blog (Nasch)
  I actually saw a show on the Science or Discovery Channel about Stonehenge that was about this. They hyphothesized that the stones are set where they are so that during 'ceremonies', by beating their drums at a certain tempo it could help everyone enter a trance-like state. They also found that the sound actually got louder the farther away from the speakers you went (while still in the circle). They said something about the tempo and the vibrations of the bass would actually help everyone's heartbeats/other inner-systems sync together. They then compared the effects to bass heavy music often played late night in dance clubs.
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- Heh, 15 Jul 2010 @ 7:03pm
  
  Re: blog
  "certain musical tones "
  
  Like the brown note?
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known coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:52am

but but but
of course it is a high risk, we are only stopping the beat to 'save the children'. so its OK.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 11:56am

Things will only get messier once these folks get wind of brown noting.
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- Dementia (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 1:40pm
  
  Re:
  Mythbusters already busted that one.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 2:26pm
    
    Re: Re:
    NASA busted it too, but I'd love to see a moral panic blow out of it anyway. :D
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    - nasch (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 2:44pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I'd love to see a moral panic blow out of it anyway.
      
      Did you have to phrase it like that?
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LOL, 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:14pm

I was using Audio Files for Meditation 20+ Years ago in the Military, what a joke.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:20pm

This is first video in a while that has made me actually laugh out loud, do you think I should turn myself in for I-dosing? I mean, I laughed really hard, it might have been the effect of the short bits of digital drugs played in the video. On another note, maybe this wasn't a complete hoax, she may have been under the influence of digital dub-step drugs.
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Geoff, 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:28pm

Welcome to the 'party' Kansas
We definitely took a look at this in some psych grad classes when we first found out about it, 6 or 7 years ago. This kind of stuff (with really good equipment) can disorient you while you're listening, but mostly these 'dealers' just take money from kids.
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 4:59pm
  
  Re: Welcome to the 'party' Kansas
  While I'm no authority on the subject matter I suspect that if this audio causes anyone any harm it's not really the audio that caused them harm but it's some preexisting condition. Being addicted to such audio could be a manifestation of this preexisting condition perhaps but if it weren't for this audio it could be something else, like being addicted to turning on and off the lights for no good reason. That is no reason for us to have a moral panics against light switches.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 5:08pm
    
    Re: Re: Welcome to the 'party' Kansas
    and lets say that these songs induce a heart attack or some other health problem. Seriously, chances are that this person had a delicate heart beforehand. But the fact that this sound could potentially trigger problems in people with preexisting conditions is no reason to condemn these sounds. Anything could potentially trigger the onset of a preexisting condition. Television, music, turning on the light switch. So should we condemn all of these potential triggers? No, of course not. Instead we attempt to treat the underlying condition.
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Rose M. Welch (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 12:53pm

I am so ashamed that I live in this state...
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Xander C (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 1:10pm

Fffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuu
I had my hopes up when reading this article, I was hoping we could be a step closer to the cyberpunk dystrophy I've been praying for!
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 1:40pm

Followed by political add

"i support cracking down on digital drugs!!!"

while i am commenting, i am also taking a hit on my bong.
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Esahc (profile), 15 Jul 2010 @ 3:11pm

Sweet, file sharing digital drugs.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2010 @ 4:26pm

The only dangerous thing I see here is that the media only presents one side of the story. It is evidence of a very institutionally controlled media and that is dangerous.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Jul 2010 @ 12:15am

I can confirm (shamefully) that I-dosing does not work...

I tried out multiple audio files and its just high pitched noise. Of course I didn't actually pay for anything which kind of invalidates my testing because I could have been listening to low quality stuff.

The real story here is that these kids are getting ripped off. Google I-Dose and go to their shop. Some of their "doses" go for $200 bucks! Yeah... beyond ridiculous
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Michael, 16 Jul 2010 @ 6:06am

Copyright?
I would also assume that these kids are using those pirate pirate file-sharing sites to get these mp3s. They have to be stopped! Save the children! Oh - and the copyright on the mp3s should be protected! Sue these pirates! But wait - are the pirates the children we are trying to save?!

Protect out intellectual property! Save the child...DIV/0#ERROR...
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OkVol (profile), 16 Jul 2010 @ 6:12am

Genius marketing
1. Make some sound files with a free tone generator, mash them up, store result as MP3.
2. Put up a cheap web site, mark as 18+ only.
3. Pay some kids in pizza and beer to make some vids for youtube.
4. Get some ignorant folks to put it on the news.
5. Make money out the wazzo!

These folks are making money without a record company contract or the RIAA! All the rest of this article is just marketing BS.
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subzer0epsil0n, 16 Jul 2010 @ 10:21am

Did anyone notice...
Did anyone notice that at 2:05 in the video when they were talking about the crackdown on iPod use on campus, the time shown on the device was 4:20PM? I just started cracking when I saw that in a reference to drugs.

But as for this video, this reminds me of the South Park episode about "cheesing" off cat urine.
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Andreas, 17 Jul 2010 @ 9:04am

Psychology Today
Great little article about i-dosing and how it was invented in 1839! It has been used in clinical settings as therapy. Nothing to see here, move along. i-Dosing Digital Drugs and Binaural Beats - Psychology Today
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Oct 2018 @ 7:18am

Shitty local TV station owned by Sinclair broadcasting and utterly absolutely 100% of it's content controlled directly by SB in "utter shit drivel" nonsense shock!
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