Students Without Electronics Suffer Withdrawals

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Students cut off from computers, phones and TV for just 24 hours suffered withdrawals. Doctors say that the withdrawals were similar to drugs or alcohol addiction but much better than the zombie-like state they were in while they were using their phones, PCs and TVs.

A pilot study conducted in the US last year revealed some astounding results. BU Lecturer in Communication and Journalism, Dr Roman Gerodimos, who is leading 'Unplugged' in the UK, said: "Students reported feeling withdrawal symptoms that were similar to drug or alcohol addiction. The words 'addiction' and 'dependence' kept recurring in their narratives.
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something isn't right here....i know that i have had to go without phones, computers, tv, etc. for much much longer periods of time and it doesn't bother me any. also know many people who have done the same - and i had computers around me since i was born!
 
Wait, so withdrawing from your usual methods of reading news, talking to friends, and sharing your ideas with others causes symptoms similar to the body's attachment to substances it has developed a dependence on?

Great study. :rolleyes:
 
That's hiliarous that the summary's diction uses the word 'narrative' as in a story or plotline as opposed to 'study'. It seems like the reviewer may be slightly biast against the findings of this 'research'.
 
nope, they don't suffer anything... well maybe from a lack of perspective. I guess the "science" here might be missing that too.
 
i take away my brothers' stuff all the time, it is hilarious to them suffer. i'm 12-15 years older.
 
A bunch of kids talking about addiction and dependence when they obviously have no clue about the real meaning of either,
 
I remembered good times before computers appeared. That was in 80's and before. Good times.
 
i say give these kids some smack, let them withdraw off that and THEN they can talk about addiction.
 
THRESHIN said:
i say give these kids some smack, let them withdraw off that and THEN they can talk about addiction.
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Haha, what is smack anyways? I think I remember smack from the TI 83 game "drug wars". I grew up in Wisconsin where all we knew of was beer lol.
 
aero449 said:
Wait, so withdrawing from your usual methods of reading news, talking to friends, and sharing your ideas with others causes symptoms similar to the body's attachment to substances it has developed a dependence on?

Great study. :rolleyes:
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Isn't it? I could do a study on how 1 + 1 = 2 and it would be more interesting than this.
 
doesn't surprise me... attachment is based on brain chemistry and its reward & punishment mechanisms. Pot works in the same exact way.. its not a chemical dependence but a psychological one.

The brain gives positive neuro-feedback for Internet use or Pot use. It is not dependent on either one, but it is dependent on positive feedback.

This means 2 things:

1) Positive feedback of gadget use can be supplanted by another object that gives positive feedback. (ie: chocolate, sex, massage (hell why not all 3))

2) The problem is with attachment, not the object, thus working on releasing feelings of attachment will release said individuals from their gadget lust. This is the basic principle behind all forms of Buddhism and is tackled both in Buddhist and modern psychoanalytical texts through either self counseling (meditation) or guided counseling (therapist).

The underlying principle behind all of this? Your subconscious knows you don't need this stuff to neither live or be happy, and once you remove your positive feelings of possessing it (gadgets) or negatively pushing something other than it (self improvement) away, the connection between feeling like you need these objects erodes. Continue on this path and you would realize how little you need to make you happy, and it will strangely be true, yet not a single one of us (me included) would believe it, even now. And I worked a short stint at a Buddhist monastery in NZ, and have been practicing for a few years, and even I cant win over practicality & familiarity, or rather the fear of its loss. There I go, over-thinking again. :(
 
aero449 said:
Wait, so withdrawing from your usual methods of reading news, talking to friends, and sharing your ideas with others causes symptoms similar to the body's attachment to substances it has developed a dependence on?

Great study. :rolleyes:
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In this modern day in age, when you take away technologies you're basically putting the person in isolation. If you take someones world away, then you'll find symptoms not too different from withdrawals.

Also, what's with the media trying to convince people that "internet = bad"? Actually, it's more like "internet = retard", even though that's the complete opposite of what's actually happening. Didn't they use to do this with TV back in the day?
 
I think it sucks when our internet connection goes out for a few hours, but I can live with that. At least you got tv and AC, right?

What's worse is the power going out for an entire day, which we recently experienced. :(

If you don't already have one, a battery-operated clip-on book light is a really good thing to own. :) I can put it on my music stand and practice for hours if there's nothing else to do, especially in the dark.
 
I read Participant 18's blog posting and they were not *completely* isolated from media, they were just required to not use any themselves, so when the participant was out and about, he could still hear music/tv in the background, and he resigned himself, to, <gasp>, reading a "book" in the evening. Last I knew, books were media too... just not current media. I guess the college crowd now grew up with the internet, so have much different expectations than I do about it.

Heck if you forced me to sit alone all day and not interact with anybody and have nothing to do, but stare at a wall, I'd go a bit bonkers as well. As long as I'm occupied doing something, I would not miss the instant gratification of having the up-to-the-minute news

It's just human nature, we need to be doing something to keep dying from boredom, be it staring at the fire pit 10000 years ago, or chatting with your friends through SMS or IM's or email's or telephone or snail mail or in person depending on what era you're from. Or playing Fallout New Vegas for way too many hours when one should be sleeping or even posting to some internet forum.. ;-)
 
i find this kinda of silly.
i use techonology mostly for learning, which covers a broad range of things such as learning about the latest hardware news :)

i know for 99% of us that using technology is just a way to pass the time, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. those who are truly addicted though do have an issue.
i could personally care less about having a cell on my at all hours, heck i mostly use it to tell the time.

and what about email? imagine people 100 years ago saying that some mail just arrived for you but you are too addicted to communicating with people, therefore, we won't let you read it for a few days.

technology in the last 10 years has allowed quick communication anywhere in the world, without it we go back to 100 years ago.

i blame this article on a bunch of old people who are afraid of technology. it is not something to be afraid of but something to embrace.
 
They should take away a city's cars for 24 hours and see what happens.

Cars are just technology too, right?
 
This is just a bunch of morons trying to avoid accountability for their actions. "Responsible use" is a personal responsibility.

And why do they need to keep proving human nature in studies? Humans are creatures of habit, because habit equals safety. Habits are difficult to break. This applies to anything and everything.
 
Ashbringer said:
In this modern day in age, when you take away technologies you're basically putting the person in isolation. If you take someones world away, then you'll find symptoms not too different from withdrawals.

Also, what's with the media trying to convince people that "internet = bad"? Actually, it's more like "internet = retard", even though that's the complete opposite of what's actually happening. Didn't they use to do this with TV back in the day?
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...............You certainly have a problem if you think taking away some technologies is akin to going into isolation. Wow.

Someone's world away? That's the whole damn point. Technology becomes their world, which is unhealthy.
 
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