“I was itching, like a crackhead, because I could not use my phone.” - USA
"Media is my drug; without it I was lost” - UK
So how long would you last? In a recent global study 1,000 students from 10 different countries of 5 different continents were asked to “unwire” and “unplug” themselves from media usage for a total of 24 hours. Students from the UK, USA, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, to Europe all seemed to share the same treacherous experience in solidarity. After “unwiring” the students were then asked to report their personal experiences.The study categorized the unique responses into fifteen findings:
1. Students’ ‘addiction’ to media may not be clinically diagnosed, but the cravings sure seem real – as do the anxiety and the depression.
2. A clear majority in every country admitted outright failure of their efforts to go unplugged.
3. Students reported that media – especially their mobile phones – have literally become an extension of themselves. Going without media, therefore, made it seem like they had lost part of themselves.
4. Students around the world reported that being tethered to digital technology 24/7 is not just a habit, it is essential to the way they construct and manage their friendships and social lives.
5. Students construct different ‘brand’ identities for themselves by using different communication tools to reach different types of people.
6. For many students, going without media for 24 hours ripped back the curtain on their hidden loneliness.
7. Many students, from all continents, literally couldn’t imagine how to fill up their empty hours without media.
8. Mobile phones function both as this generation’s Swiss Army knife AND its security blanket.
9. What is ‘news’ to students, ‘news’ means ‘anything that just happened’ – worldwide events AND friends’ everyday thoughts.
10. We no longer search for news, the news finds us.’
11. ’140 characters of news is all I need.’
12. TV is all about escape.
13. Across the world, students depend on music not only to make their commutes to school and work more tolerable, but to regulate their moods.
14. Email is not dead: it just skews older – and is for ‘work.’
15. ‘Simplify, simplify.’ Across the globe, some students turned out to be Transcendentalists-in-the-making: they noted that they ‘were able to revert to simple pleasures’ when they gave up all media for 24 hours.
The study designers encouraged others to participate and abstain from such electronic influence in the hopes of realizing and reflecting on our addictions. As part of courses, multiple institutions have begun to request technological abstinence as a part of their course assignments. So I ask you... how long would you last? Can we really go on a "media diet" or is media our diet.... or for that matter our drug?
Picture: http://www.healthcareos.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/pharma-social-media.jpg
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