Are You Addicted to the Internet?
Thursday, April 29, 2010 by Shep McAllister 
Feeling lonely when you can't update your status? Image courtesy of Flickr user English106 licensed under CC BY 2.0Ars Technica just reported on a very interesting (though hardly surprising) study. I'll let you read the details over on Ars, but essentially the University of Maryland researchers found that taking away media connections from college students caused withdraw symptoms similar to drug addicts or smokers going cold turkey.
I have to say, I can totally see myself reacting the same way in this situation. We can only be one place at a time, but we like to interact with our entire circle of friends, family, and coworkers through cellphones, Facebook, email, and the like. Think about when you forget your cellphone and don't have a computer on you. It's not hard to feel lonely, isn't it?
While I totally believe that we're better off with these means of communication (would I be writing here if I didn't?), you have to admit that growing up with these luxuries has essentially made us dependent on them. Really makes you wonder how our parents got by, eh?
Ever been on a tech detox, voluntary or otherwise? How did you fare? Let us know in the comments!
Via Ars Technica
Reader Comments (13)
Ugh, this is me 100%. I'm pretty much a slave to the Internet... soon, very soon, I will be taking an Internet-free week.
Write a guest post Annie!
I agree with Shep -- that would be a great guest feature! So many of the ones on the Internet are ones that are either BS'ed or by people who consider themselves high and mighty.
I was thinking about this in a different way. So when people are in long-term relationships, like marriages, they tend to use their partner to store some of their information. You don't have to remember which cabinet the agave nectar is in if your partner always knows, or how to file the taxes, or which aisle of the grocery store your favorite ice cream is in, or a myriad of other things, since you can always ask about them.
People who lose their partners due to death or divorce often feel lost without them because of this loss of knowledge; they've lost the part of their brain/memory that they stored in their partner.
I think it's the same deal with the internet-- you don't need to know information that you can just Google later. You obviously need higher levels of understanding for some things, like your academic field, but for basic information you only need to know enough to look up the rest.
Granted, the addiction factor is much the case with the social features-- I have a crappy non-internet phone because I want to fully be in the places I'm in; text messaging and phone calls are enough for me. It's a conscious decision to do that, though.
I did a net-free week a while ago when I was visiting a friend, and it was an interesting experience-- I still checked Facebook a couple of times on his computer, but being out of town and in a new place made it a lot easier. Between that, alcohol and the slightly trashy books I was reading while hanging out in bars, I got a pretty good brain reboot out of the experience.
That's pretty deep stuff, Nora. I'll have an Internet-free two weeks coming up here after graduation. Backpacking around Europe mandates such things :)
As a gamer, the internet is essential. I can remember back when I played the MMO sensation World of Warcraft. It took up my life to the point where my girl friend would secretively break my DSL modem or hide my power cord to my computer. This would force me to not spend time on the internet and I would have no idea what to do. I'd go out and think about getting back on. I'd watch TV and think about getting back on. I'd be sleeping wishing I was back on.
I think it took some self determination to finally rid myself of the addiction. But now I am hooked on Facebook games. There is a never ending circle of entertaining things that will always pull you back into being on the internet. I would have to say that having a Black Berry does not how the matter at all!
Yes, we were hit by a storm badly there were no electricity and my mobile phone's battery is drained. I was a bit frustrated not being able to "see" what's happening outside our area. I spent almost two days, what I did was read a book which kept me busy while waiting for the connection to go live again.
The net is probably the closest thing to addiction I've personally experienced.
Really i cannot imagine a life without internet.It has become a basic necessity of life.
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