Slashdot Mirror
Experiment Cuts Off Online Junkies from Internet
Ant (an Internet junkie) writes "An article from The Register reports one begins gibbering uncontrollably because he/she can't get a fix without internet access after two weeks. That, at least, is according to an 'Internet Deprivation Study' carried out by Yahoo! and advertising outfit OMD.
Participants in the human experiment were deprived of the web for 14 days, and found themselves quickly succumbing to 'withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness.' The reason for the rapid collapse of their universe is - say the researchers - because 'internet users feel confident, secure and empowered.'"
Next we'll see how people who are used to talking and communicating with others in person in every day life react when they are locked in a well lit room for two weeks with no human contact.
It is ratehr when I go hiking in the Swiss Mountains, I suddenly feel empowered...
I guess they should not just disconnect these "users" but rather offer them to practise some intensive sport activities instead.
Hiking in the mountains is a good candidate because it is also rewarding : you get to see some magnificent landscape when you reach the top.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Honestly, I would give anything to get away from the Internet for two weeks. A disconnection, though probably disorienting for a couple days, would be so pleasant.
Unfortunately, since all my work (read: paychecks) come from the computer, I can't do that.
That sucks.
"All your base are belong to this file I send in order to have your advice."
Can't being on the internet all day/night cause this to happen with your real life? or is that just me....
I'm online a good bit of the time...but when I'm away from the Internet for more than a few days, I don't get some strange emotion called "Disconnected". That would imply that I'm away from part of my body or mind.
I do feel a bit annoyed that I can't talk with friends who aren't physically near me (I don't have a cell phone), and it's inconvenient when I want to look something up, but that's about it. I really don't see how someone who mostly just chats when they're online could get "addicted" to the Internet.
"We couldn't plan a weekend getaway," confirmed Kim V, presumably from the house in which she had been imprisoned since the web embargo.
So Kim's parents, nor her grandparents, were ever able to go anywhere for the weekend? How in the hell did we as a species ever get this far, that we can suddenly become a bunch of helpless twits? Christ it's amazing, that in such a short time, humanity has gone so far backwards, head firmly planted in ass, as to be generating shit like this. I do take the article to be something of a joke, I mean it *has* to be.. Fuck, this is crazy, I have to stop drinking while reading this site...
"2 weeks without slashdot?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo....."
I was about to post how great it'd be to get away from Slashdot for a couple of weeks... then I realized I volunteered to visit.
Crap. It's just like smoking. >:I
"Derp de derp."
If yours were longer than mine then it would be innappropriate to discuss such matters on this forum...
But 14 days without internet can be an interesting experience. Lst year I went on two and a half weeks of vacation to the alps without a computer in sight. I was totally relaxed, actually got some decent sleep (as opposed to my usual semi-neurotic insomnia) and when I returned from vacation I was entirely revitalized, out of touch with my normal "plugged-in" world, but revitalized nonetheless.. Now I am back to semi-neurotic-insomnia.... time to get back out there...
-if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
This just in. The telephone changed the way we all lived and undeveloped adolescent girls and boys spend inordinant amounts of time talking on it, describing a feeling of disconnect when deprived.
Get a grip. This exact same crap was said a century ago. The past is sooooo golden. That is, until you get there. Then it sucks.
I know people who would pull a shotgun to someone's face for even mentioning they should give up access for a week.
Thats not because they're Right Wing, that's because they're unhinged.
If you're on holiday or acation or whatever you want to call it it will be far easier to get by
Living out your normal everyday life without net access though would be exceptionally diffivult for the majority of us
I recently have been on 2 5 day not only inet but power blackouts!
The 1st time was not so bad. I had my Palm fully charged and loaded with good books to read. And that is not unimportant as it seems because it is a back-lit screen so I could read at night without having to resort to a lot of lamps, candles, or flashlights. All but the latter generate heat, bad!, and the flashlights use up batteries quickly enough when there are none in the state!
I can say that I suffered no real ill effects but of course I had plenty of other things to keep me miserable at the same time. The sweltering heat, the fun of cooking without power, cleaning up the mess with chainsaws (Ok that one was kinda fun.), cold showers. But I did miss it.
Now the 2nd time was a little more rough. I lost my DSL as the storm 1st hit but still had dial-up and power. I was hopeful. Well that got dashed pretty quickly as the power soon went out again and into darkness and heat I plunged. I had changed up my backup Palm that I use for writing on the road but had forgotten to install the keyboard driver for it, doh! My main Palm was only 1/2 charged and it died about day 2. Back to reading by candle light!
I guess my example is a bad one because there were so many other variables involved but I can say that as someone who uses the inet probably way too much that I suffered no real ill effects. I used the time to do some writing the old fashioned way with paper and reading a bunch. I also listened to the radio a lot and knowing that everyone down here was pretty much in the same boat helped.
Oh, and btw as Jeanne is likely headed our way right now I have both Palm's charged up and ready to go!
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
I have been doing a lot of thinking about this recently, and I'm guessing I've probably gone somewhat overboard. I have two computers, a Nextel phone, a Cingular phone, a Sidekick, and a cable modem. Recently, when a friend had to send in her laptop to the bloodsuckers at Best Buy for repair, I decided that it would be no big deal for me to loan her my PowerBook for the three weeks she would be without her computer. Two weeks in and I'm still comfortable with the proposition. Frankly, if my job didn't require a computer, and if it didn't make my life as a computer science student much easier, I think I would just give up on all this.
Presently I'm having a real struggle with being in college (and being so connected) period. I spent the summer working hard with a tree service company. It was a great workout and I expanded my mind in new ways. I have fully learned that simply because something is physically intense does not mean it's for morons. Nevertheless, I am being told I would be "settling for mediocrity" if I dropped out of school and did that sort of work full time. Well the thing is, I did a little math and realized that I don't need to make $100,000 a year to live the way I want to. In fact, the $14/hour tree job seems perfect.
The thing that gets me the most upset about all this is I have recently concluded that I am absolutely surrounded by mediocrity every day at school. I have a professor who is an MIT grad who doesn't even know the difference between ethernet and PS/2 connections. The people I work with on campus spend more time doing CYA work than anything real (that's cover your ass, if you haven't experienced that before). The campus's security policies and practices are half-assed and inconsistent. So are all the construction efforts. Most students are nothing but drunken robots who spend their nights at the same shitty bar(s), and their days doing nothing but mechanically studying and spewing worthless facts. Most professors rely on rote recitation teaching methods. There really is no effort being put forth by so many people here, yet when I clearly demonstrated superior knowledge in an Italian course I received a failing grade due to poor attendance and was not allowed to appeal that decision.
Sound like I'm just ranting about school, specifically my school? I'm not. Many, if not all colleges have many or all of these problems. The fact is that the Internet has turned me into an impatient bastard. Yes, it does make a few things easier, but if school was actually worthwhile I wouldn't mind going down to the surprisingly good library here and doing some old-fashioned research. Right now there is no incentive to do so.
What are the best things that have come out of the Internet anyway? I would probably say that through its increased communication, we have been given the open source movement. While on the surface this is a great idea, it has serious problems also. What about the people whose lives are taken over by their projects simply because they spend "a little time on it after work?" I may be talking out of my ass here, but I am willing to bet that the current open source development model leads to burnout. And so does anything that is based on the Internet and the assumption that it automatically makes things faster, better, smarter, and easier, because it does not. The Internet is a tool, and can be a difficult one to use appropriately. Our overdependence on it is going to continually get worse before a solution is found. But please, go on, continue living a connected life. I probably will. What it really comes down to is I don't have the balls to get out of this shitty lifestyle and move on to something I'd really rather do, and I think this is true of a really large portion of the people who spend a lot of time on the Internet.
I am feeling fat and sassy
I guess the question is, then, why do we go back? Isn't this essentially like a drug? We know we're better off without it, but it has some actual benefits and it "feels so good." This is a load of bullshit.
You are not better off without it. Remember the days of Encyclopedias, and asking your father about something and being told to go look it up? Without the instant access to knowledge that you have today, cursory reasearch is made a lot harder.
Today I read about 12 new technologies, "talked" with 15 people across the US at no phone cost to me. I sent instant mail to 3 clients and recieved immediate responses. I often research companies online. I figure out who I'm boycotting this week. I discuss politics, religion, and money with a wide variety of people from all over the globe.
There is no way in hell, that I'd go back to 1983. You've got to be kidding me to say we'd be better off not using the net every day.
The reason for the rapid collapse of their universe is - say the researchers - because 'Internet users feel confident, secure and empowered.'
Shenanigans. It's simply because they're disconnected from their friends, information, and entertainment. The same thing would happen if, before the prevalence of the Internet, you told people they couldn't use the phone, watch TV, or read a newspaper for 2 weeks.
I hope they didn't pay these "researchers" any of my money.
I remember this same type of study being reported when I was a kid (in the 1960s) only the culprit was Television. No doubt there was one for Radio as well, and possibly Telephones. Yawn. My whole family uses the Internet extensively, and although we go camping almost every summer and to Hawaii about every 2 years for stretches of 3 weeks at a time nobody has ever shown any deprivation symptoms. It all depends on your personality I guess. Or maybe it depends on whether some geeky psychologist is asking you a bunch of questions and making you feel important? Time to pop open an ice-cold can of Heisenberg.
My daily work life is tied to the internet, so are my 1000+ e-mails aday i get at home.
No internet for 2 weeks would be no work..no income ( or vacation, whatever that is ) and a overfull in-box..
While i would freak for not being online, its not due to addiction, its due to reality...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Well... nothing is "necessary" if you really think about it. By that argument we ought to all go back to hunting/gathering, because really whats "necessary" beyond eating and reproducing?
As for whether or not the internet is a "good thing", I see plenty of concrete, tangible benefits to the internet, as shown by the OP and others. What I don't see is a list of concrete, tangible detriments. Usually the best people can come up with is that it makes people more "disconnected", or destroys the sense of "community", or some other wishy-washy unverifiable thing. Even the case one could make based on this article is pretty weak. I mean, find an activity or consumable that nobody will use to excess. You can't. I'd bet even some of our hunter/gatherer ancestors ate too many berries and suffered the consequences.