A recent study has found that students show signs of Facebook addiction and information addiction when cut off from the Internet, mobile telephones, newspapers and other distractions.
When 200 students at the University of Maryland went distraction-free for 24 hours, they were asked to blog about their experiences afterwards. They were not allowed to use the internet, mobile phones or other distracting media, but were allowed access to library books for the duration of the experiment. The findings were quite astounding.
The lack of distracting media had powerful effects. Some students reported symptoms similar to drug addicts in withdrawal. “I noticed physically, that I began to fidget", said one student. A number of students hallucinated that their mobile phones were in their pockets or were turned on, even when they weren’t.
One student stated “When sitting in the library reading my textbook, I actually did hear some vibrations in my head and would think my phone was vibrating next to me”. According to the researchers, the absence of information – the feeling of not being connected to the world – was among the things that caused the most anxiety in students. Could it be that students cannot function without distraction?
The apparent Facebook addiction was not without lofty explanations. "I find it [difficult] to fathom someone not being connected through media, because I know no other way,” one student wrote. “It’s funny,” wrote another, “but I realized we are a social species, and the use of media today helps us to establish a connection with one another.”
It seems that seeking distraction or even Facebook addiction could be an integral part of the student experience. A student admitted "I probably spend at least 1-2 hours on these sites alone BEFORE I even make it to attempting my homework and then continue checking these websites while doing my school work.”
Link to the ICMPA Study
http://withoutmedia.wordpress.com/
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