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Experiment Cuts Off Online Junkies from Internet

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the sometimes-it-still-feels-like-it's-there dept.

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.'"

51 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by lordsilence · · Score: 5, Funny

    What about the 5min average slashdot fix?

    1. Re:Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I bet that took a lot of effor to make it look like you're not going for FP. Nice effort, ace!

    2. Re:Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by DenDave · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.
    3. Re:Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by shufler · · Score: 5, Funny

      I had some of the most restless and relaxing sleeps ever

      That is to say, the most RESTFUL. I must appologise, as I have been up all night, using the Internet.

    4. Re:Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by torpor · · Score: 4, Funny

      What about the 'wait 20 seconds before you can use this website again' factor?

      I hate that man, that sends me into insta-fits..

      --
      ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
    5. Re:Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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

    6. Re:Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by nial-in-a-box · · Score: 5, Insightful
      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."

      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
    7. Re:Pff.. They're talking about 14 days? by gears5665 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

  2. So... by IronMagnus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:So... by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not sure if you're trying to make a wry comparison , but going without internet access hardly constitutes going without human contact. In fact in a lot of circumstances it leads to it! When I say human contact I mean face to face , trying stuff into an IM or email client IMO is not human contact. Anyway , I suspect if these people weren't addicted to the internet they'd be addicted to something else whether it be drink, drugs, adrenaline sports , whatever...

    2. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For some of us, talking to people online is the only contact with our friends. Cutting the connection means we are unable to communicate with those friends (at least for me, they live in different countries).

      You may be to old to consider it human contact, but no matter if it's face to face, a phone, or AIM, the person on the other end is a human. My mother felt the same way, couldn't tell the difference between me chatting with some friends online and playing a game. Until the day one of the people I chatted with came down to visit.

      These are real people, real friends, and for some of us the only friends we have. Cutting off the net connection is like cutting off a face-to-face persons contact to his friends.

    3. Re:So... by jrumney · · Score: 4, Funny
      Didn't you see big brother UK?

      I think I'd rather be a chronic internet addict than sat in front of the box watching crap reality TV shows all the time.

    4. Re:So... by MetalMorph · · Score: 5, Funny

      You can do both with a TV tuner card.

      --
      My words are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
    5. Re:So... by edittard · · Score: 5, Funny
      When I say human contact I mean face to face
      Doggy style not your thing, then?
      --
      At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
    6. Re:So... by Spoing · · Score: 4, Insightful
      1. When I say human contact I mean face to face , trying stuff into an IM or email client IMO is not human contact.

      So, if your girlfriend/wife/boyfriend/... sends you an IM/mail/... they didn't really contact you? No matter what they say? You'd feel nothing?

      I thought people that out of touch died about 10 years ago. Clue: If it exists, it's real. If humans do it, it's human contact.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    7. Re:So... by dave_mcmillen · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think I'd rather be a chronic internet addict than sat in front of the box watching crap reality TV shows all the time.

      Oh, you're just saying that because you feel confident, secure, and empowered.

    8. Re:So... by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's a difference between human contact and human communication. It's why we still miss people we're far from when we talk to them on the phone. When we miss someone who is far away, what we miss is their presence - the proximity of their bodies, the sense that bodies are in the same space.

      With a few exceptions, humans and their ancestors have long been social creatures. The presence of other bodies sends out a variety of chemical and visual signals that we respond to subliminally, and the absence of those inputs has real effects.

      Would you be happy with a girlfriend/boyfriend with whom all your "contact" was by IM and the telephone? Would you consider that a worthwhile intimate relationship? If you were a child, would you feel that a parent who "phoned in" regularly was really part of your life?

  3. that's horrible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm going to give up the internet cold-turkey, and switch to something healthy, like heroin

  4. Strange by mirko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Strange by tukkayoot · · Score: 4, Funny

      Haha, chump! I got to see the magnificent landscapes by clicking that link, and I didn't have to move one foot!

    2. Re:Strange by mirko · · Score: 5, Funny

      What you saw were only 2MPixel shots.
      What I got was a 4pi steradian immersion as well as the ultimate oxygen fix :)

      --
      Trolling using another account since 2005.
  5. If only I could. by rbruels · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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."
    1. Re:If only I could. by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "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."

      It kind of bugs me that the term junkie has reared it's ugly head. I think about my own reasons for using the net a lot, and it occurs to me that there really isn't anything 'bad' about it. I participate on a 3D art community. Staying in tune with that has been quite beneficial to my career, plus I've made good friends out of it. If I had missed those key moments, I wouldn't have what I value today.

      It's a little different, like in your case, where the internet creates work for you. When I had a tech support job, I wanted weeks away from a phone and email. Why? Because when that stuff arrived, it was more unpleasantness. But what about when it's all good? What if my phone rang with freelance job offers?

      I think about others out there as well. Some people are looking for love. Some people are looking for information about their particular interests. All good things.

      Eh. I guess I'm only responding because of what Slashdot's summary of the article said. Yeah I wanna be on the net constantly, but gimme a break, if I hadn't done that I wouldn't be at the job I love right now.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    2. Re:If only I could. by FlopEJoe · · Score: 5, Insightful
      No kidding

      It's like when I was looking for a house and had "broadband access" near the top of my list. My non-geek friends laughed themselves silly about this but I wasn't in on the joke. They have kids so their first criteria was schools, neighborhood, and such.

      For me, it's the point of "how do you get movie info, tv listings, dictionary, political scoop, phonebook entries, asymetrical comm, product info, latest music/movie releases, and so on, and so on." That's excluding all the info I need for the latest programming techniques and trends. For non-onliners, the dozen different sources for info works. For me the net is a one stop info source. I don't understand them and they don't understnad me.

      Sure, the net has its pr0n and time wasters. But it's a tool that can be used for good and evil. To call it an addiction is like saying a hammer is an addiction to a serial killer who uses it to kill. It's not like smoking or crack with no positive use. It's like the hammer that can kill or hammer a nail.

  6. Symptoms by Pretendstocare · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "...withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness..."

    Can't being on the internet all day/night cause this to happen with your real life? or is that just me....

    1. Re:Symptoms by PacoTaco · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe those feelings are caused by our soulless consumer culture and the Internet is just a way for people to avoid dealing with them.

  7. Baudrillard strikes again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Baudrillard was predicting this in 1981 in Fatal Strategies at least, and problably before that no doubt. "Must we put information on a diet?" (13, Semiotext(e))

  8. Light by Un0r1g1nal · · Score: 4, Funny

    ooooooo whats that big see through thing
    <doctor>we call that a window
    <pt>urghhh M$ windows
    <dr>no no, this is a REAL window, look no leaks

    Bout time some of us took a walk outside I think, go walk in the countryside where we cant even get wireless for our laptops :P

    --
    If at first you DON'T succeed, Skydiving is NOT for YOU!!
  9. I couldnt do it. by nmoog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Im just using this stupid monitor and keyboard until I can get google embedded directly in my eyeballs. I really rely on that sucker.

    I was just doing some MENSA puzzles, thinking "man, these are sooo easy". Then I realised I was just googling the answers.

    I dont know what I'd do if I had to think for myself for 14 days.

  10. It all depends on where you are... by vilain · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was in a class for 12 days in Hawaii and didn't miss my net access at all. If I hadn't been with the instructor who wanted to check her email during a day off at a nearby Internet cafe, I wouldn't have bothered. All I had was 132 spam messages anyway.

    Now, taking away my books for two weeks would be another matter...

  11. Lawsuit time...YEY!!! by DigiShaman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What's next? People sueing TimeWarner or AOL for getting them addicted?

    It WILL happen sooner or later. And at the very least, expect the attept to be made.

    Ya, call me cynical. But do I have a reason not to be in this age of "$$$ Jackpot Justice $$$"?

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  12. When I'm online... by slumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I feel confident, secured, and empowered.....if only this translated to real life.

    --
    http://www.commaecho.com
  13. a real test by scottking · · Score: 4, Funny

    wanna really see them twitch?

    take away their cellphones too.

    --
    scott king
  14. And the advert finishes with..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Ask your doctor about Intergain for withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness during inconvient internet movements. Not to be taken while eating, drinking, breathing, typing, sleeping, driving, upgrading or patching. May cause excessive borrowing of toys from children. May also cause a desire for a girlfriend with a 300 baud modem and an 8 bit computer."

  15. I'm affected too... by NathanM412 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was going to criticize this article as over-exagerated until I realized that I was reading Slashdot at 3:45am because I was having trouble sleeping. Oh well, what can you do?

  16. Interesting by I7D · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can relate. Freshman year of college (4 yrs ago) I could't have the internet for historical preservation reasons. I'd been addicted to it before I had to lose it, so it sucked at first. I got better grades, got more work done, made a bunch of friends, went out..., but when I got the net back, even though i was sort of better off without it, mentally I was like "ahhhhhh, i'm connected again"

    --
    Neil is that you? Yeah yeah, it's me... Neil...
  17. Hi my name is John by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm an Webaddict.I didn't see it at first, how it hurt my family and loved ones. I didn't care to think about the people I'd rob to pay my subscription fees to the porn sites. And there's so many porn sites, soon the 7-11 wasn't enough, I had to hit the Shell stations and the Stop 'n Go, one morning I was real desperate and hit up the Krispy Kreme and I even took all the change in the big styrofoam cup, heh... I still can't forget the helpless look on that guys face. I don't know why I did it. Maybe it was because majormellons.com had just become a thing called a port hole or something... 35 brands of big busty broads... I ... I just couldn't help myself or something... yeah... and so much tit, more tit than you'd ever seen before, soon I was at 200 subsrciptions to all these other port holes and I was like the tit god of the frikken universe! All those girls at my finger tips, mpegs, jpeg galleries, live web feeds! All of it Mine MIne MIne!!! I was a real live electronic sex god! Whoooyah muthfukahhh! A sex god!!!! You hear that? A real live electronic sex ... mmmmfhhhhhh ... sex godmmmpthhhhh....

    "And now we'd like to introduce another new member, Neville"

  18. You know you're reading /. too much when by teamhasnoi · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're posting, at 3 am. to this story.
    You have over 2200 posts.
    You mod your pals +5 Funny and -1 Troll. In real life.
    You constantly Profit! from ???
    You can imagine a beowulf cluster of sandwitches.
    You wonder if linux can run on your girlfreind.
    You snicker at the last one, because you don't know any girls.
    You can spot a goatse link from a mile away.
    You are no longer shocked by goatse.
    You still can't figure out why /. changed to a non-number karma system, if pageviews make them $$$, you probably bought the new server which you constantly stress.
    You never get mod points.
    You know all my posts are hilarious.

  19. Quite the same here by Jesrad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    During the summer I generally go spend some time (up to two months, generally three weeks) away from cities and all internet accesses. The only thing I miss then, is the quick and convenient access to detailed information about any subject, so instead I go to the closest public library.

    The daily comics, blogs, news, discussion forums, I don't miss at all, even though I tend to spend hours on them.

    --
    Maybe we deserve this world ?
  20. Civilization is doomed by Feanturi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "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...

  21. Why the hell would I want to give up the Internet? by lewp · · Score: 5, Funny

    All of you people are so interesting.

    --
    Game... blouses.
  22. QUIT AT OWN RISK by tunabomber · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seriously, the withdrawal is a bitch.
    I tried to quit the Internet "cold turkey", but went right back on the wagon after two days of seeing dead trolls crawling around the ceiling.
    Maybe I should have tried your heroin idea.

    --

    pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory71 ...
  23. Re:OMG! by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "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."
  24. I did my own experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Last summer, my Linux firewall got 0wn3d when I neglected to update my WuFTP daemon. As a result, I had to bypass my firewall box and plug my main machine directly to the 'net. Well, I was too lazy to fix the Linux box, and lo and behold after a couple days my Windows box was 0wn3d too, this time with a spam trojan. Shaw Cable disconnected my modem due to the spam, and I was left trying to figure out a way to get updated virus tables on my box with nothing that would reasonably connect to the internet.

    During that week, I was without the internet that occupied me some 12 hours a day. I didn't become incoherent, or babble, or anything. I became productive. I made myself breakfast every morning. I cleaned my apartment for the first time in a year. I even organized my tape collection, went through my old papers, and finished a model starship that had spent 7 years in drydock.

    So it isn't as serious as this study leads it to believe. Likely they didn't get people who had internet COMPULSIONS (they aren't addictions, which require actual physical or chemical dependence) like myself, but rather people with out-and-out internet PATHOLOGIES. There's a world of difference between something you like so much you don't usually give it up (X-box, internet, TV, sex, rebuilding an engine) and something that you irrationally can't live without.

  25. Ehh... by Arcanix · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who needs human contact anyway? Humans are SO out this season.

    The real future is robots, sex robots in particular. With one of those I could avoid all human contact and still visit Slashdot regularly while being "serviced".

  26. News at Eleven by Oligonicella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  27. Hawaii works well too by billstewart · · Score: 4, Funny
    I was only there about 10 days, didn't take the computer, some of the hotel rooms didn't even have phones. No problem, mon. Seemed a bit silly to use maps made of actual dead trees, but it worked ok. Spent a lot of time talking to family, hanging out at the beach, drinking things with rum in them, driving around volcanoes.

    Of course, when I got back home, my PC was grumpy and had several hundred non-spam emails to hand me, mixed in with spam about how I could win free trips to Hawaii.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  28. Depending on activity by Random+Web+Developer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The withdrawal symptoms from being disconnected depend a lot on what else you can do at the time.

    If i leave on a holiday for 2 weeks I always leave my laptop at home, and i never miss it because i am in a totally different environment.

    If I get disconnected on a rainy sunday on the other hand i'll be running around the house not knowing what to do

    --
    Artists against online scams http://www.aa419.org/
  29. Fooled them... by identity0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pffft... they think they've cut me off, and that I've gone clean... What they don't know is, I snuck a Blackberry in by hiding it up my ass and I'm using it to get Slashdot! Gotta get my fix, you know...

    Thank god for wireless, otherwise : )

  30. very unscientific by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This study didn't take into account all the possible factors that might be affecting their numbers. They blame the internet itself when the underlying cause might merely be something the internet provided them an abundance of.

    For example, deprevation of pornography, I'm not trying to be funny here. The lack of this by itself could be contributing to some of the psychological distress these participants felt.

    Lack of the extensive socialization the internet can provide. Some people are more social online than they would otherwise be in real life. And, if you consider the sheer numbers of people you might converse with online, the internet can be said to provide a far more diversified and abundant social experience. Forums, newsgroups, IRC, chatrooms, blogs, instant messenging, etc.

    Much needed play time, which participants might not be experienced (due to a lack of attempting to find other things to do) in finding elsewhere.

    And, computers in general can provide the instant gratification that human beings seek in their environment.

    We can count out the last two because they were allowed to continue computer use without internet access.

    There may even be physiological variables at work here. Such as what sort of monitors they were using, LCD or CRT? If they were using one or the other that might affect the results. Other possibilies are similar addictions that have been observed with television, how are these related?

    At any rate, my point is that this study is far from conclusive about the effects of internet deprevation. Take it with a grain of salt. There are many factors here that weren't even considered. And, there is a lack of a control and experimental group. This study is simply not scientific. They seem to be treating it like a poll instead of a scientific study, but then they try to present the results as scientific evidence. It is foolish, don't buy in just yet.

    That isn't to say the observations aren't material, but their methods and resulting assumptions are suspect. Was there even a hypothesis formulated? Where are the statistics?

    Cheers.

  31. Bullcrap. by AyeRoxor! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.