[james_ant]

Quote:

University students faced with a sudden Internet and media blackout begin to feel withdrawal symptoms after 24 hours, according to a study conducted by the University of Maryland's International Center for Media & the Public Agenda. The study followed the reactions of 1,000 students around the globe after they were asked to abstain from all forms of media for a day, leading the researchers to believe that Internet addiction is a real phenomenon, even if there's debate about it as a clinical diagnosis. Students from 10 countriesâ€"including the US, Mexico, China, Argentina, the UKâ€"all reported distress, isolation, confusion, boredom, and a feeling of addiction when they had to go 24 hours without any form of media, including Internet, music, games, news shows, and their cell phones. However, the numbers were not all equalâ€"students from the US and China (mainland and Hong Kong) showed the highest percentages of feeling addicted, at 23 and 22 percent respectively.

Source

 

[Marin]

Ha!

 

[Cyph3r]

I get the same when my internet goes down. My PC feels useless without the internet, and i just dont know what to do and i get really bored.

 

[AblueXKRS]

Not surprising. I'm sure I'm right in there with them. I can't help but check, recheck, and rerecheck my threads here every two minutes.

One way to combat this is to have tons of movies and tv shows to watch.

 

[Zen00]

Who want's to start a 12 step program with me?

 

[Psyren]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyph3r I get the same when my internet goes down. My PC feels useless without the internet, and i just dont know what to do and i get really bored.

Agreed to an extent.

Even though i know i can play Steam in offline mode, having my PC or lappy on with no internet connection just doesn't feel right.

Usually when there's an outage i just turn on my console.

 

[james_ant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyph3r I get the same when my internet goes down. My PC feels useless without the internet, and i just dont know what to do and i get really bored.

I feel the same way. If I'm at a computer without Internet even games feel like their lacking something. Usually when that happens I will read a book, the only thing that seams to help for some reason.

 

[Maxxa]

I dunno I think this is safe to say about anything that people get accustomed to. Cars, coffee, beer, sleep, sex, social interaction, TV, board games, I even know people who can't sit still for 30 min without falling asleep so they work/clean/femaledog it's called routine and we are well known creatures of habit.

Not surprised at all and I actually fear to know how much money was wasted to figure out something any 8th grader could tell you.

 

[subliminally incorrect]

yes, because now they have to use thier imagination for porn!

 

[Kirby1]

Obvious study reveals obvious results. Obviously if you ask people to stop using the stuff that they spend a lot of time working hard to be able to afford and obtain, they will show signs of "withdraw".

If you asked a child to stop playing with all his/her toys you would get a similar reaction. However you would not then say the child is addicted to toys.

Using the word addiction is very wrong in this context, especially since our media devices are now a big part of how we interact with each other so in this case people are also being asked to reduce their human interactions. What this study does not point out is that if you asked people to do this for a week or a month, they would certainly adapt.

Just to be clear, they are using the word addiction in its weakest form and the actual study does not argue if internet addiction is real or not, the article presenting the study makes that inference.

 

[Kirby1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxxa I dunno I think this is safe to say about anything that people get accustomed to. Cars, coffee, beer, sleep, sex, social interaction, TV, board games, I even know people who can't sit still for 30 min without falling asleep so they work/clean/femaledog it's called routine and we are well known creatures of habit. Not surprised at all and I actually fear to know how much money was wasted to figure out something any 8th grader could tell you.

Exactly

 

[Revenance]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdmiralThrawn Not surprising. I'm sure I'm right in there with them. I can't help but check, recheck, and rerecheck my threads here every two minutes. One way to combat this is to have tons of movies and tv shows to watch.

This is why I keep a 2TB storage drive about full of TV shows and Films, and a 1TB drive for Steam and all my other games - whenever the internet goes out, I still have plenty of stuff to occupy myself with.

 

[Zackcy]

I haven't had internet now for 2 weeks. Moved. I completely agree. Boredom and distress.

 

[Aparition]

When I lose connection for a day I find this strange bright world. It is full of sunshine and has the most detailed graphics I have ever seen. The physics interactions are flawless and the animations something truly astounding. The landscapes are breathtaking. After taking some trips I find I feel better, more healthy, alive?

Then it gets really dark and I have to leave, this is usually when I am re-connected. I once again have access to endless data and forget about the sunny game I was playing while I waited.

 

[i_hax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxxa I dunno I think this is safe to say about anything that people get accustomed to. Cars, coffee, beer, sleep, sex, social interaction, TV, board games...

Bingo.

I get the same feeling when either my internet goes down or my bike breaks - it should come as no surprise it's hard to fill a void on cue.

 

[just_nuke_em]

Weird, I feel the same way when I don't sleep

I guess I'm an addict. I should stop sleeping.

 

[airbozo]

My SO is a high school teacher and her district did a study concerning a similar subject, but specifically geared towards cell phones. They found that a very large percentage of kids have withdrawal symptoms very close to what a meth user goes through when their phones are taken away. The study was done after several kids had their phones taken away for using them in class and then turned violent, in some cases attacking the teachers causing physical harm. One kid could not even remember freaking out and flat out denied it even after being shown a video (from another phone...) of her assaulting the teacher. She is using the insanity plea to fight the assault charges...

LOL!

EDIT: But I agree. Using the word "addiction" in this case is weak...

 

[Kirmie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zen00 Who want's to start a 12 step program with me?

I will if the "12 steps" actually means me stomping on them 12 times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by subliminally incorrect yes, because now they have to use thier imagination for porn!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revenance This is why I keep a 2TB storage drive about full of TV shows and Films, and a 1TB drive for Steam and all my other games - whenever the internet goes out, I still have plenty of stuff to occupy myself with.

I just thought that these two quotes needed to be closer together.

 

[Laurifer]

didnt even read the article, just read the title and yes, this is true.

I thought about it some more, and it would probably be no different if people were also cut off from using cell phones, cut off anything that provides extraordinary convenience and you will be distressed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxxa I dunno I think this is safe to say about anything that people get accustomed to. Cars, coffee, beer, sleep, sex, social interaction, TV, board games, I even know people who can't sit still for 30 min without falling asleep so they work/clean/femaledog it's called routine and we are well known creatures of habit. Not surprised at all and I actually fear to know how much money was wasted to figure out something any 8th grader could tell you.

Exactly, didnt see your post before. It's no different than getting ready for work, you walk out the door, and your car doesn't start, you will become very angered, annoyed, frustrated etc.

 

[subliminally incorrect]

i think a better study is to see if people get withdrawal symptoms if they took away a pc all together or locked any sort of entertainment function out of it.