I-DOSING: KIDS ARE GETTING HIGH ON MUSIC!!!

Psychology today: �� money-grabbing pseudoscience.�

Parts of this country seriously need more science education.

There are stories running today about �I-dosing� -- Kids inducing a state of ecstasy by listening to special MP3s.

The sources for the story include The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and either Kansas or Oklahoma News 9 and either Kansas or Oklahoma Mustang Public School District (some people are just scraping news stories and aren�t checking sources.)

Wired is carrying the story �Report: Teens Using Digital Drugs to Get High�

To their credit, they categorize it as �ridiculous.�



The Psychology Today blog �You 2.0� by Ron Doy has some interesting insight:

�But really, Idozer (or I-doser as it is also known) is extremely old drug in a new package. And breathe easy my fellow parents�because it's not really a drug�it's binaural beat therapy.

"In 1839, Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered that two constant tones, played at slightly different frequencies in each ear, cause the listener to perceive the sound of a fast-paced beat. Calling this phenomenon �binaural beats,� Dove helped launch two centuries of legitimate research and, as is almost always followed by exciting empirical study, money-grabbing pseudoscience.

"First, the facts: Binaural beat therapy has been used in clinical settings to research hearing and sleep cycles, to induce various brain wave states, and treat anxiety.

�But there are more controversial (dare I say dubious?) claims associated with binaural beats: Increased dopamine and beta-endorphin production, faster learning rates, improved sleep cycles, and yes, if you dig around less scientific communities like, oh, MySpace, you'll find kids telling each other that �dude, those beats get you like totally high.�"

Blog here.

And some reports from ACTUAL USERS!!!

�Well. I certainly wouldn't call my self "high" at the moment, but it certainly does something to say the least. Maybe the onset of a migraine.. fun. Oh, and now my hearing is all f****ed.�

� "Largely a droning noise"



� �searched for gates of hades n youtube...turned it off after about 5 seconds.�

� �Yah. It feels kind of like I took a hit off of a roach that had been sitting in someone's ashtray for a half a year. Not high, just kind of sick and headachey. Lame.�

� �ya, I tried it to. Kind of disorienting hearing 2 different things going on in either ear, and when it got intense enough did distort my vision, but...I definitely wouldn't call it 'high' :\�

Thanks Wendy (God! Where do you find this stuff!)

Tom Kelchner