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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.'"
What about the 5min average slashdot fix?
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....
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))
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...
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.
I feel confident, secured, and empowered.....if only this translated to real life.
http://www.commaecho.com
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?
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...
You're posting, at 3 am. to this story. /. changed to a non-number karma system, if pageviews make them $$$, you probably bought the new server which you constantly stress.
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
You never get mod points.
You know all my posts are hilarious.
All of you people are so interesting.
Game... blouses.
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.
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".
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/
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.