Internet addiction has serious withdrawal symptoms

[operator kos]

Sadly, I can identify. I don't do the social networking stuff, but if I can't get on RI or Raw Story, I feel like I have no idea what's going on in the world. It really does make me anxious. I feel like part of my brain has been shut down. My external memory/cyberbrain or something.

Crap, I just realized... Jeff is my pusher!

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local ... montonHome

Pounding headaches, drumming fingers, feelings of isolation. When 200 students were asked to stop using all forms of media for an entire day, they reported these symptoms and more, revealing addictions many didn't know they had.

The experiment, conducted by the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA), had students from the University of Maryland give up their phones, computers, TVs, iPods, even newspapers for 24 hours, and then describe in a university blog how they felt.

The results surprised even the researchers.

"I don't think we really expected students to react quite as strongly as they did," ICMPA director Susan Moeller told CTV's Canada AM Wednesday from Washington.

"We expected them to complain. We expected them to tell us it was hard. We didn't expect people to feel really isolated, frustrated and sort of anxious and all the physical manifestations."

Students talked about being miserable, anxious -- and bored to distraction.

"I definitely felt disconnected and out of the loop and… just lost," student Kimberly Morgan told Canada AM.

Another student wrote: "Texting and IMing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort. When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life."

Others said they had no idea how to occupy themselves without music, the Internet or TV.

"I stared at the wall for a little bit. After doing some push-ups, I just decided to take a few Dramamine and go to sleep to put me out of my misery," one student wrote.

Moeller, who is also a professor of media and international affairs at the University's College of Journalism, says she didn't expect students to enjoy the experiment.

"We knew from the minute that we announced the assignment in class and I got booed and hissed, that students were not looking forward to this assignment," she says.

But even she was surprised to discover how addicted students were. They weren't just frustrated by being cut off from media, they reported they actually couldn't function and felt hopeless. Plenty of students admitted cheating, giving in to check their phone messages or to feed their "sports junkie" habit.

Others found that it wasn't the lost connections to friends they noticed most; it was the deafening silence of their world without TVs and music.

"It was really hard for me to go without listening to my iPod during the day because it's kind of my way to zone out of everything and everyone when I walk to class. It gets my mind right," one student wrote. "It sounds weird but music really helps to set my mood or fix my mood and without it I had to rely on other people to keep me in a good mood."

But the experiment did offer benefits for many students. Some reported they took better care of themselves during their media-free day, going to the gym, cooking full meals and enjoying more face-to-face interactions with friends.

Other students even buckled down and hit the books.

"Studying was a million times more productive without the media distracting me with texts, calls, Facebook, email, games and other random internet sites," one student wrote.

"Classes went better since I couldn't text or get on the Internet, I took better notes and was more focused," wrote another.

"I found a book I had lying around that I had not yet finished, and read for two solid hours. This turned out to be the most enjoyable part of my Sunday. I had completely forgotten how much I enjoyed reading a real book," wrote still another.

Still, while most of the students said they felt proud of themselves for making it through a whole day without using their cellphone or Internet, and some said they even learned a thing or two, most were relieved when the 24 hours were up.

According to one student: "Overall, it was a good experience to wait 24 hours to use technology, but it is something that I never want to do again!"

[NaturalMystik]

Interesting!

I've got an off-grid camp that I go to a lot. The first half day or so I always feel a bit strange being disconnected and not being able to search stuff instantly. I tend to pace around not really sure what to do with myself. Whaaa no laptop? But I get over it fairly quickly and get back to my roots. I actually find getting back into civilization to be a lot tougher than leaving and I won't even get into trying to sleep in the city...

[Maddy]

Hi, my name is Maddy, and I'm an internet addict. It started twelve years ago, and I haven't been able to put it down since. It has taken me out of the real world and given me a better fantasy (though really, its only just replaced my junk-food books, which I was addicted to since childhood - I have exchanged one addiction for another). It has also given me a more honest assessment of society from the outside, with information I would not have had access to, otherwise. I am sure I am more educated because of it, in many respects. I have also seen things from across the world which I would never have seen, otherwise. (I could have done without tubgirl, though.) If I do not have my internet for the day, I go through intense withdrawals. Thoughts of being without my internet causes me anxiety. My life is formed around it. And currently, I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Alaya]

The few times my machine has quit on me, I've felt like part of my brain was missing.

[Nordic]

I actually find getting back into civilization to be a lot tougher than leaving and I won't even get into trying to sleep in the city...

I have to say that living in Los Angeles, it's almost better to take no vacations, because if you do, coming back to Los Angeles is hugely depressing!

Especially if you come back late at night, in the airport, and have to take a crowded shuttle bus out to the satellite parking.

Painful as hell.

[justdrew]

these things are still fairly low-res, 748x480 and 640x480, but higher res versions are out there now for huge prices, the above eyewear is only in the 200-300 range. When really hi-res AR/VR glasses come out in a few years at that price point, look out.

[Nordic]

these things are still fairly low-res, 748x480 and 640x480, but higher res versions are out there now for huge prices, the above eyewear is only in the 200-300 range. When really hi-res AR/VR glasses come out in a few years at that price point, look out.

As long as I can wear those while driving, I'm in!

[Wombaticus Rex]

Reading this made me feel very grateful. I've done a number of media fasts in the past 2 years and didn't feel any withdrawl symptoms aside from 2 days of getting up to google something. That probably happens 20+ times a day. That means I'm learning, right? Boy, I sure hope so...I'd hate to think all this screen time is just some sort of stoner hobby...

[justdrew]

As long as I can wear those while driving, I'm in!

it may even be the only way to drive.

this study on college-age is one thing, but from what I'm hearing, kids are deeply into constant texting. I can't be sure yet, but I've got a bad feeling this isn't going anywhere good in the long run.

facebook replaces facetime

as the economy suckens and suckens along, more people will be burned by weblessness which is next to homelessness.

...just today I watched someone spend five minutes entering a text that they could have called and said via voice in 15 seconds. (there ought to be a simple way to dial directly to voice mail without ringing the person's phone)

[Maddy]

There won't be weblessness as long as there's wifi!






I have all the free wifi already scouted out. >.>

[Wombaticus Rex]

"I found a book I had lying around that I had not yet finished, and read for two solid hours. This turned out to be the most enjoyable part of my Sunday. I had completely forgotten how much I enjoyed reading a real book," wrote still another.

AHA. See, that's the antidote that keeps me healthy right there. Shit, I do that E'Y DAY.

[Luther Blissett]

I definitely love having information at my fingertips, and can relate to feeling comforted by that connectivity to my friends, but I also enjoy hiking and camping. But when I'm out in nature I'm definitely not missing technology.
I just never get to do it because I live in the city and don't drive.

[Mx32]

My mum and I share a computer - when she's on Ebay and I can't get online but feel like I "must" then I start to feel a terrible raaaaagggeeee bubbling up inside me.

It is addictive this internets but then for those of us who have always enjoyed reading books and magazines and newspapers the internet is like being locked in an infinite book shop. With a film section. Music. And porn.

[justdrew]

...I can't get online but feel like I "must" then I start to feel a terrible raaaaagggeeee bubbling up inside me.

I wanna watch cartoooons! an awesome meltdown set to music...

by Happy Flowers

and checkout Unhappy Meal

[Nordic]

for those of us who have always enjoyed reading books and magazines and newspapers the internet is like being locked in an infinite book shop. With a film section. Music. And porn.

There you have it. That says it all!