What is 'i-dosing'?
Some say mind-altering sound is the next big "drug" craze among American teens. Really?
Is it possible to get high... on noise? According to Oklahoma authorities, internet-savvy teenagers have been doing exactly that with the use of a specially-engineered droning "music" that, when listened to with headphones, can allegedly alter the brain to produce a "state of ecstasy" similar to the high from marijuana or even LSD. The audio tracks — knowns as "i-doses" — can be purchased online as Mp3 files or downloaded through a custom iPhone application. Do parents and authorities have legitimate cause for concern? "I-dosing sounds like a load of bologna to me," says Annika Harris in The Frisky. After listening to one of the tracks, "the only feeling I felt was annoyance." Don't discount the phenomenon just yet, says Ryan Singel in Wired. After watching some of the dozens of YouTube videos of people i-dosing, I am "stunned and have hundreds of questions." For starters: "Is the iPod the bong of the future?" Listen to a short sample of an "i-dose" track:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: the group behind Gaza's controversial new aid programme
The Explainer Deadly shootings and chaotic scenes have been reported at aid sites after US group replaced UN humanitarian organisations
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?
Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How much should doctors trust parental intuition?
In The Spotlight Study finds parents' concern can be better at spotting critical illness than vital signs