Are We Addicted to Electronic Media?

Not so long ago, the faculty and students at the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism of the University of Maryland, College Park conducted a study to see if students would find it difficult to live for 24 hours without any form of electronic media.

200 students participated and then they reported on their successes and failures. They were not allowed to use a cell phone, iPod, television, car radio, or computer and not allowed to look at any magazines or newspapers.

One student in the study said, “I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening. I feel like most people these days are in a similar situation, for between having a Blackberry, a laptop, a television, and an iPod, people have become unable to shed their media skin.”

Four of the main highlights of the study were as follows:

1. 1. Students used literal terms of addiction to describe their dependence on their media. One student said, “I noticed my mood started to change around noon. I started to feel isolated and lonely. I felt like a person on a deserted island.”
2. 2. Students hate going without media. For them it is like going without friends and family. A student said, “Texting and IM-ing 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. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable.”
3. 3. College students constantly text and use Facebook, less often calling or emailing to keep in touch. “Texting and Facebook allow me to make plans to meet up and act socially, whereas without these two devices I had no easy way of making plans unless I happened to run into the person I wanted to do something with.”
4. 4. Students could live without their TVs and the newspaper, but they can’t survive without their iPods. “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 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.”

Some described going without their cell phones as feeling like they were missing a limb. Others said that without a digital device, they were the most bored that they had ever been in their lives. This included the “torture” of not being able to text during class when it got boring.

Is it actually an addiction, or just something that people have gotten so used to that they would have to severely alter their thinking patterns to get used to being without them? It’s worth thinking about.