The Social Addiction - It's More Serious Than We Think [14Jun11] - 0 views
socialmediatoday.com/...tion-its-more-serious-we-think
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With a pool of nearly 1,000 college students in ten countries over five continents – including the US, the study sought to witness the effects of abstaining from social media and ALL media for a period of 24 hours.
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The word “addiction” while not clinically relevant was surely on the minds of the students as this word came back repeatedly in responses. “I was itching, like a crackhead, because I could not use my phone.” – US studentFacebook is the social media “drug” of choice. “There is no doubt that Facebook is really high profile in our daily life.” – Hong Kong studentBut “Texting is the glue of social life.” “I found it hard not to text my boyfriend as I am so used to doing that as our main way of communicating during the day.” – UK studentA sense of isolation and loneliness came over many. “When I couldn’t communicate with my friends by mobile phone, I felt so lonely as if I was in a small cage on an island.” – China student Envy led to hostility. "I realized that I was having hostile thoughts towards those students who were walking around texting. I was jealous of them and it literally felt like some sort of withdrawal.” – US student
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My first reaction after reading over all of the findings was ‘I think much of this is applicable to ALL social media and media users as a whole.’
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My next thought was ‘how pathetic we’ve become.’ How utterly pathetic and dependent we’ve all become on technology, which is truly what this is all about.
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I am merely making the point of how dependent – and that truly is the operative word, we’ve become as a society.
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