Unrelated image, getting your attention.

News outlets somehow missed this i-Dose virtual drug “phenomenon” when it first appeared at the end of 2006, but that didn’t stop them from picking it up now and using it to put fear in the hearts of the naive and scoring some easy views in the process (sensationalism sells, and so does sex *wink*).

If you don’t know what this is about, an i-Dose virtual (or digital) “drug” is basically a repetitive noise frequency to which you listen to on your headphones, and which is claimed to influence your brain (towards drug use (?)). Simply put, it’s an mp3 with repetitive drone sounds that can makes you feel weird – my God, how surprising.

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Dailymail.co.uk writes:

They put on their headphones, drape a hood over their head and drift off into the world of ‘digital highs’.

This is the world of ‘i-Dosing’, the new craze sweeping the internet in which teenagers used so-called ‘digital drugs’ to change their brains in the same way as real-life narcotics.

Not everyone is taking i-Dosing seriously. [...] But there has been such alarm in the U.S. that the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs has issued a warning to children not to do it.

New craze? Comparison to real-life narcotics? Warnings issued about it? What the hell. It’s actually at least 3 years old, is far from a craze and has nothing to do with real-life narcotics.

Do these people really not know anything at all about sounds and the way they affect humans? Because absolutely every single sound affects us in some way or another. Take music for example, there are some tracks that make me feel ecstatic. Does that mean some uneducated, possum eating narcotics organization should issue warnings about the music that I love, because it alters my brain and mood and is linked to the name of a narcotic? That’s just ridiculous.

But apparently lots of U.S. parents and institutions aren’t aware how sounds affect human brains and went into a drug scare over harmless placebo sounds.

Some schools in America have gone so far as to ban iPods at school, in hopes of preventing good students from being lead astray.

- 3news.co.nz

Below is the video of a short TED talk by Julian Treasure explaining 4 ways sounds affect us. It’s basic information that I assumed everyone knew, but it turns out that isn’t so.

The video pretty much explains how the i-Dosing experience works by providing the core information on which it is based.

i-Dosing doesn’t get anyone high, it’s just placebo mixed with potential dizziness, ignorance, and the hope of getting many YouTube hits.



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  • claudx

    I am not saying that the I-Doser will or will not give you a high, but I am saying they will alter the way you feel. This is due to the belief that anything can alter the way we feel. Music is one common method people use to change their mood in a natural way. Loud noises have the exact same effect sometimes in a negative way, like at a construction site. To me the I-Doser essentially gives you a chance to change your mood through sound, not necessarily get you high. You won't need to take out a personal loan to I-Dose, just turn on the radio to a station you may enjoy, and the exact same high might come on its own.

  • http://armannd.com/ Titus-Armand

    Have you seen the youtube i-Doser videos? They're so fake it's unbelievable how some newspapers tried to sell the idea that they're real.

    But yes, sounds do affect moods. Can sounds give you that kind of high? No, unless you're on other drugs already.

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  • Deafboy

    You just have to know how to listen. It can definetly change your mood (depending on dose) rapidly. I am trying it for the long time, but once or twice it was really weird. Try the “Hand of God” for example. Increased breathing frequency, strange feeling on your chest. But remember, it is not some magical way which makes you high instantly!

    And finaly, I-Doser may be here since 2006, but research of the binaural sounds takes much longer.
    Just search for “Monroe institute”

  • http://armannd.com/ Titus-Armand

    Placebo and weird sounds do change your mood, I’m not saying they don’t. But you’re not getting high on them.

    And about the increased breathing frequency, don’t listen to anything and just breathe in and out really fast for about two minutes. You’ll experience a real sort of “high,” which is actually the result of hyperventilation. Which I’m guessing has a lot to do with the i-dosing.

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