Digital Drugs?

Music can change your mood, we all know that.  Sad music can make you cry, upbeat songs can give you an energy boost, but can music create the same effects as illegal drugs?  It seems silly, but web sites are targeting children with so called “Digital Drugs”.  These are audio files designed to induce drug-like effects.  All that is needed is a music player and headphones.

There are different slang terms used, idozers and idosers are a couple.  All rely on the concept of binarural beats.  Actually, it’s incorrect to call it music.  They are really ambient sounds designed to affect brain waves.  For them to work you must have headphones so different sounds can be played in each ear, combining to create frequencies that match the brain’s.  Different frequencies in the brain coorospond to different moods like relaxation and alertness.  While it is the beating sound that creates the effects, other sounds or music is usually played over them to mask the, usually, unpleasant sound.

Some sites claim to help you develop extrasensory powers like telepathy and psychokinesis.

Other sites offer therapeutic binaural beats. They help you relax or meditate. Some allegedly help you overcome addiction or anxiety. Others purport to help you lose weight or eliminate gray hair.

However, most sites are more sinister. They sell audio files (”doses”) that supposedly mimic the effects of alcohol and marijuana.  You’ll also find doses that purportedly mimic the effects of LSD, crack, heroin and other hard drugs. There are also doses of a sexual nature. I even found some that supposedly simulate heaven and hell.

Dr. Nicholas Theodore, a brain surgeon at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, said there is no real evidence that idosers work. But he noted that musical preference is indicative of emotional vulnerability. Trying idosers could indicate a willingness to experiment with drugs and other dangerous behavior.

Companies that sell digital drugs claim they’re safe. Supposedly, they won’t affect your physical health.  However, in my mind, if the effect is the same as, say, PCP then coordination would be impaired and could cause hallucinations.  So it seems to me they might not be safe after all.

At the very least, digital drugs promote drug use. Some sites say binaural beats can be used with illegal drugs.

So be on the look out for what your children are listening too.  Even though these effects are not proven, one never knows how the brain reacts to certain things.