I have to admit that I sometimes have the suspicion that I'm an Internet addict. There are lots of people who are pretty skeptical as to whether you can actually be addicted to something like the Internet in a medical sense, but I'm pretty convinced that you can.
The first thing I do in the morning is fire up my computers and start checking my email and updating my podcasts. Actually, the first thing I do is make myself a cup of coffee, but that's a whole different addiction that I don't need to get into right now.
If I don't get to spend the first 45 minutes or so a day getting my online fix, I just don't feel right. I'm irritable and out of sorts and don’t feel right. Those symptoms are eerily similar to how I feel when I've not had my coffee in the morning — but again, that's a whole different addiction that I don't need to get into right now.
I know a lot of folks who feel as tied to their computers and mobile devices as I do. All of that anecdotal information should be enough to convince myself and skeptics like me that being hooked on the Internet is a real thing. Lending some weight to that opinion is a brand new study out of the University of Maryland's International Center for Media & the Public Agenda in the US.
Researchers studied more than 1,000 students around the world to find out what happened when they were deprived of the Internet for just 24 hours. Every one of the students reported feeling some level of distress as they were cut off from any form of media — the Internet, music, games, news, and mobile phones — for a day.
This study is not really anything new. It just confirms what quite a few studies have had to say in the past. The fact of the matter is that the world has really changed pretty rapidly in the past 20 years or so. We rely on the Internet for everything from entertainment to correspondence to staying informed. Without it, we feel cut off from the world.
As social animals, humans feel distressed and out of sorts pretty quickly when they're cut off from communication with others. The only thing that's changed recently is the method of communication. We spend more time getting in touch with others online now than we used to. When that's taken away, we're bound to get a little stressed out.
The key is actually to find the right balance between real life friends and online time. The next time you're sitting at a table with a bunch of friends and nobody's talking because they're all furiously texting away on their Blackberries and iPhones, maybe it's time to give the technology a rest and start talking to the real-live people around you.
Having some real friends that you can talk to is a great way to avoid Internet withdrawal. But if you're addicted to coffee, you're on your own. I have no idea how to kick that habit.
Sean Vale
Editor
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