I spent yesterday unplugged
07/05/10 11:11 Filed in: miscellany
What is it like to go without media? What if you had to give up your cell phone, iPod, television, car radio, magazines, newspapers and computer (i.e. no texting, no Facebook or IM-ing)?
Could you do it? Is it even possible?
Well, not really, if you are an American college student today.
According to a new ICMPA study, most college students are not just unwilling, but functionally unable to be without their media links to the world.
“I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening,” said one student in the study. “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.”
I didn't seem to have any issues, what with gardening and knitting and then going to a party with friends later on.... but here's what happened to the study group:
“Although I started the day feeling good, I noticed my mood started to change around noon. I started to feel isolated and lonely. I received several phone calls that I could not answer,” wrote one student. “By 2:00 pm. I began to feel the urgent need to check my email, and even thought of a million ideas of why I had to. I felt like a person on a deserted island…. I noticed physically, that I began to fidget, as if I was addicted to my iPod and other media devices, and maybe I am.”
“Texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort,” wrote one student. “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.”
College students who abstained from using media for 24 hours describe their feelings in terms more commonly associated with drug and alcohol addictions: Withdrawal, Frantically craving, Very anxious, Extremely antsy, Miserable, Jittery, Crazy.
More at http://withoutmedia.wordpress.com/ and http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/trends-in-higher-education/col...