Study: Students ADDICTED To Social Media

According to a new study out of the University of Maryland, students are addicted to social media, and computers and smartphones deliver their drug.

The study, conducted by the school's International Center for Media & the Public Agenda, challenged 200 of the Maryland students to abstain from media for one full day and then blog about the experience. According to report on the school's website, the students typed 110,000 words: "about the same number of words as a 400-page novel."

Susan D. Moeller, the Maryland journalism professor who conducted the study, said she was struck by how the short media blackout personally and emotionally affected students.

"What they spoke about in the strongest terms was how their lack of access to text messaging, phone calling, instant messaging, email and Facebook, meant that they couldn't connect with friends who lived close by, much less those far away," [she said].

"Texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort," wrote one student. "When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable."

Students also blogged about their "anxiety" in being cut off from media channels -- though a scant few testified that they actually turned to newspapers or radio to get their news in an attempt to calm themselves. Rather, students are accustomed to consuming news through social media.

One student wrote:

"To be entirely honest I am glad I failed the assignment, because if I hadn't opened my computer when I did I would not have known about the violent earthquake in Chile from an informal blog post on Tumblr."

Students said that they only went to traditional mainstream news sites during big events, like the Olympics.

Do these findings surprise you? Could you go 24 hours without social media?

Comments

[aNdYtm]

04:20 PM on 05/05/2010

Well isn't this interesting! I don't know the names of my neighbors, I don't interact with them, but I have thousands of online friends who I actively social network with sitting my tush, sometimes ignoring your family and even friends who are with you! How healthy is that! And while I agree this is a trend and is in some ways addictive, the people who are offering social networking services are going to make money out of our addiction. Only time will tell if this is good.

[courtb]

03:40 AM on 04/28/2010

This study makes me a bit sad. Granted, if I had a choice, I would choose not to be cut off. Technological access is absolutely addictive. Once I had a blackberry, it was hard to go back to a regular phone without the internet. When the internet breaks or a computer breaks, I get angry and frustrated. And sometimes, I worry about myself and my generation.

But then I remind myself that for 2 years in college, I had a laptop that was inconsistent. I survived without being able to go on facebook every day (let alone multiple times a day). It was certainly harder when I lost my cell phone and realized I had no way to get in touch with anyone (landlines were rare in my college). However, the proof to me that it is possible for any of us is when I went to Kenya. I was in Kenya 10 days and only turned on my cell phone every few days to check in with a few friends. It was incredibly freeing, being in villages without electricity...with no access to running water, let alone a computer.

[CarlaGolfirini]

02:30 AM on 04/27/2010

First, it was radio. Then, TV. Next, video games. Now, social media. The great modern time sucks. The difference is that social media involves actual interaction with other people that can lead to things like jobs, business connections, referrals to service providers, and plenty more. The networking skills students learn online today will serve them on the job tomorrow and throughout their lives.

Plus, if these students take their social networking efforts to the next level, (perhaps investing as much as they do into beer each month!), they can capitalize on them. For example, they can build their own social network with a tool such as SocialGO, connect it to their Facebook account, and then monetize through ad revenue, member subscriptions, donations, etc. You can't do that with your radio, TV, or video game, now can you.

[DavidWyld]

02:07 PM on 04/26/2010

And we're surprised at this? Look around any college campus and in the classrooms you will see laptops, netbooks, iPhones in students' hands all doing the same thing - using Facebook, Twitter or another social media site. The change is here - and we have to adapt to the new look of the world (on a screen).

David http://wyld-about-technology.blogspot.com/

[ton210]

12:30 AM on 04/26/2010

Can you please take my online survey for a class? It'll take less than 1 minute! Thank you so much :-)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H5HT37Q

[sisyphus93]

01:36 PM on 04/25/2010

Not surprised. If I'm teaching in a computer classroom, students will get on Facebook or text regardless of how it affects their grade. It's impossible to stop them. And then they will whine in course evaluations about the consequences. What a sorry generation.

[SilentSolidarity]

06:19 PM on 04/25/2010

"What a sorry generation." You mean the teachers, right?

[Ekata]

04:09 AM on 04/26/2010

He meant the students.

[laaambchop]

09:04 AM on 04/25/2010

Well, back in the old days, you know, when we walked to school with no shoes, no socks and no feet, we were addicted to talking on the telephone and passing notes in class.

[SilentSolidarity]

04:14 AM on 04/25/2010

What a completely biased article. We are not addicted to Social Media. Would you say that a heroin addict is addicted to the syringe. It is the content and the friends that matter not the platform. And since when is it wrong to be "addicted" to people? In the last century, they called it socializing and there was nothing wrong with that. It just happened that we changed the way we stay in contact.

On that note, what about HuffPost Social Media? Surprise, surprise!

[halmsi]

11:44 AM on 04/25/2010

What a completely biased reply.

Staying in touch with your friends is one thing. But the uncontrolled shared blathering has to stop.

[SilentSolidarity]

06:17 PM on 04/25/2010

So what do you plan to do? Creating a mind police? I just want to point out how pathetic your response was. I hope you are not liberal.

[sisyphus93]

01:34 PM on 04/25/2010

Sounds like denial to me.

[SilentSolidarity]

06:18 PM on 04/25/2010

Yup...

[LiberalLee]

01:26 PM on 04/24/2010

This is no surprise.
I have a niece about 18. She and her friends can't exist without their cell phones and all the social BS that comes with them.
She recently brought her new boyfriend to meet me. After waiting 20 minutes from when they got out of the car, to when he was apparently done with all his calls and tweets, I got fed up, went inside, locked the doors and then got in my car and drove off.
2 minutes later my cell rang. " Why did you leave, Auntie?"
" Because I don't like to be kept waiting by someone that comes to MY house to meet me, then spends that much time showing me that everyone else is of more concern at that particular moment than me."
tell him to tweet me, if he wants to say hello."
" But Auntie... You don't use twitter..."
" I know dear. I give me attention to the people around me. not some twit off in the blogoshere commenting about how they just burped."

They came back the next day, but you could see that kid twitching. No social skills. Didn't know how to hold a conversation. ANd painfully boring.
Gawd I hope she dumps him fast...

[Ekata]

04:16 AM on 04/26/2010

and THIS is the point of the study, what is missing from social development by extraordinary use of social media. The loss is, specifically: genuine relations, intimacy on deeper levels, commitment, availability for development of deeper intimacy and vulnerability, courtesy. I'll be interested to see what happens to the marriage and birth rates in 10 years.

[fem56]

06:56 PM on 04/23/2010

I recently went on a trip. I never take my computer on trips and needed to depend on the hotel computer to print my boarding pass. There were two computers. One person was taking care of busy and so understandably taking quite a bit of time. The other person was chatting on facebook to various people. It was a very time consuming activity. At a hotel I think that is generally considered acceptable if no one is waiting to take care of something important like print up boarding passes. It seemed as though to him this was a terribly important, urgent activity
Personally I like periodically getting away from my computer for a few days but I have people to talk to in person..

[Lisbeth35]

06:13 PM on 04/23/2010

If you are interested in the idea of addiction to technology, you may be interested in a Frontline Show on pbs.....Digital Nation.

[LisaValentineNY]

05:36 PM on 04/23/2010

It's hard for me to go 24 hours without going online in general and impossible to go that amount of time without my smartphone. But in the rare instance that I do, it is SOOO relaxing!

I see the addiction amongst students, that's where it actually started. No wonder companies are blokcing employee access to social media apps at an alarming rate!

Actually, if yours is a company that is blocking, here's a helpful resource. It's a whitepaper called “To Block or Not. Is that the question?”

http://bit.ly/9f8WOT

It has lots of insightful and useful information about identifying and controlling Enterprise 2.0 apps (Facebook, Twitter, Skype, SharePoint, etc.)

Share it with the IT Dept at work.

[sisyphus93]

01:38 PM on 04/25/2010

I have considered buying a cell phone blocking device to prevent students from texting in class.

[halmsi]

03:24 PM on 04/25/2010

Unfortunately the FCC makes it illegal to block any communications device that could be used for emergency service.

Even text messages. "OMG! FIRE! LOL. ;)"

[xypher0725]

05:30 PM on 04/23/2010

Wow...I'm gonna have to tell my friends on FB about this.

[ittakesavillage]

05:05 PM on 04/23/2010

Maybe its Brain Evolution... http://siliconangle.com/blog/2010/04/23/study-students-addicted-to-social-media-or-is-it-brain-evolution/comment-page-1/#comment-17439

[sisyphus93]

01:38 PM on 04/25/2010

It definitely isn't that. This generation is de-evolving.

[Ekata]

04:17 AM on 04/26/2010

DEVO was right after all!

[HBHB]

04:01 PM on 04/23/2010

Say what you want, it's the parenting. No child needs a cell phone and no child can walk into a store and get an account. It's your fault, not technology.