Study Finds Social Media Harder To Resist Than Cigarettes, Alcohol

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Study Finds Social Media Harder To Resist Than Cigarettes, Alcohol

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday February 5, 2012 @02:34PM from the friends-list-fix dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Checking a Twitter, Facebook or email account for updates may be more tempting than alcohol and cigarettes, according to researchers who tried to measure how well people regulate their daily desires. Researchers also found that while sleep and sex may be stronger urges than certain drug addictions, people are more likely to give in to their addiction to use social or other types of media."

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best not to start... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-05 14:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

...is what my mom told me about alcohol and tobacco.
1. Re:best not to start... by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2012-02-05 17:27 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I doubt she was referring to making friends.
  
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  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
slashdot by noh8rz2 · 2012-02-05 14:36 · Score: 5, Funny

also, checking constantly to see if anybody replied to my slashdot posts. also, looking for new articles to claim frist! addictive.
So... by Mashiki · 2012-02-05 14:41 · Score: 5, Insightful

Does this mean that social media will now be the blame for all the evils of society? Finally replacing D&D, and "violent video games."

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Om, nomnomnom...
1. Re:So... by causality · 2012-02-05 15:21 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Does this mean that social media will now be the blame for all the evils of society? Finally replacing D&D, and "violent video games."
  Man, don't give them ideas. Busybodies never seem to be busy enough.
  
  Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
  -- C.S. Lewis
  
  Usually that phony Puritannical "morality" is most visible when the subject is drugs, pornography, or controversial speech. At least on the Internet this sort of typecast personality is really going to have a hell of a time trying to enforce it, but still, I'd rather not see them try. I'd rather they do something more worthy of their limited time on this planet, like uproot their desire to run other peoples' lives by recognizing it as more evil than anything they'd rail against. Then maybe, just maybe, they can find their own fulfillment and witness the way that really living your own life magically takes away your undue concern for how others live theirs.
  
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  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
2. Re:So... by vlm · 2012-02-06 00:34 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Does this mean that social media will now be the blame for all the evils of society?
  That's been done so much its a laughable cliche now... kind of like we laughed at them blaming DnD and video games but they just continued to babble it for years after most people laughed at them.
  Check out any stereotypical "cops n robbers" night time drama where the bad guy did something bad to the victim after doing some kind of social media thing, the message being FB is dangerous but watching our TV show is both safe, entertaining, and makes you superior to being a victim and you get to blame the victim for "doing the wrong thing" (not watching TV addictively). Check out any stereotypical daytime talk show (the now retired Oprah must have done 100 shows about this, also see her buddy Dr Phil) with endless hour long explanations of how their unstable kid/husband/housepet/whatever would never have gone over the edge if it were not for FB/twitter/etc. A decade ago they would have gone over the edge due to video games, a decade before that due to DnD, a decade before that due to Elvis's hips or something.
  Its such a tired cliche, and so much of the audience is already addicted, that now they aggressively support twitter / FB. It would make an interesting google ngram graph, were such a thing possible, to graph daytime talk shows with one line being "social media scare stories" and the other line being "FB and twitter product placement / social media self promotional links".
  Its an interesting model for other activities. Once you get around 50% of the population to smoke weed, then suddenly, in a matter of weeks, Oprah/Dr Phil/CSI will phase shift from weed being the root of all evil to it being the greatest thing on earth and why not try our celebrity branded strain...
  
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  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Disagree by cosm · 2012-02-05 14:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

Back when I waited tables in a restaurants to pay for college, I can promise you me and the other servers were not taking Facebook breaks outside the back door.

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'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
1. Re:Disagree by Marurun · 2012-02-05 16:51 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Anywhere retail related where I've worked in the past six years had employees always using their phones to do that. The manager at a fast food place I worked for had his phone attached to a charger and would constantly check his texts and FB while doing stuff like slicing onions. One of the girls working there would always be using her phone for the same purpose as well as taking cigarette breaks outside the back door. From that alone, I'd say some people have an addiction problem to social media.
Tax the hell out of social media and then see... by hal2814 · 2012-02-05 14:49 · Score: 4, Insightful

Tax social media to the extent they tax alcohol and tobacco and then see how easy it is to give up.
"Addiction"?? by scottbomb · 2012-02-05 14:52 · Score: 4, Interesting

The pretense behind this study seems rather shallow. "Social media" is really nothing more than a way for people to keep in touch with friends and family. I can go to ONE website and see how my daughter, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends are doing. It's very convenient. And yes, I check it throughout the day. If that's an "addiction", it's a pretty good one to have.
Re:MEETING by poena.dare · 2012-02-05 15:03 · Score: 4, Funny

The Social Media Twelve Steps
We admitted we were powerless over social media - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a better broadband connection can restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of a All Knowing Server Admin as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless inventory of our posts.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our spulling erroz.
Were entirely ready to have The Next Thing Better Than Facebook remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Customer Service to remove our drunken posts.
Made a list of all persons we have stalked, and became willing to block them all.
Avoided making direct amends to such people wherever possible because it pretty much looks like even more stalking.
Continued to hide our personal baggage and when we were wrong to rise above the desire to ragequit.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with cute kittens as we understood Them, praying only for the power to not forward it.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to social media addicts, and to practice these principles in all our status updates.
Sleep? by wisnoskij · 2012-02-05 15:08 · Score: 5, Funny

So sleeping is an addicting activity and anyone doing is just giving into a base desire?
Don't know why this study did not include breathing, I know some air addicts that cannot stop breathing for more then a minute. They are so addicted they even do it in their sleep.

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Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
1. Re:Sleep? by artor3 · 2012-02-05 16:32 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I hear the withdrawal effects with air are even worse than with heroin.
The question is... by Wingfield · 2012-02-05 15:10 · Score: 5, Interesting

Do people generally view social media as more destructive than other addictions such as cigarettes or alcohol? Some may regulate their addictions to cigarettes or alcohol because of their destructive effects on health or general productivity. Does the overall decrease in productivity from social media such as facebook, youtube, or twitter count for more than the decrease in productivity from drinking or smoke breaks? What about the effects of liver/lung damage?
Re:LOL, not immune from pointless /. posting by Dyinobal · 2012-02-05 15:16 · Score: 5, Funny

I can quit any time I want!
Re:Tax the hell out of social media and then see.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-05 15:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's a money game, not politicians trying to help people.
As a douchebag politician you get to stand in front of everyone with a straight face and say it's because those vices are bad for you and you want to discourage it. What you're really doing is using addictions to collect massive amounts of revenue. Even better, nobody can argue with you, or they're some monster supporting alcohol and nicotine addiction.
This is why a $3 pack of cigarettes in a major city can cost $12, while people still smoke.
What? by sattu94 · 2012-02-05 15:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

After using Facebook for 3 years I recently deleted my account.
They require you to wait 14 days before the actual cancellation takes place, maybe most people who try to resist to the temptation to use FB are felled by this grace period.
It obviously acts as a secure way to make deletions, in case someones account is hacked, but still.
Fuck by PvtVoid · 2012-02-05 15:55 · Score: 4, Funny

Now I really want a drink and a smoke.
Re:MEETING by dwillden · 2012-02-05 16:06 · Score: 4, Funny

But then I went on Facebook to share the message, and suffered a relapse. Oh and I had to go harvest my farm as well.

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I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.