A new study from the University of Maryland finds that students are hooked on social media and cellphones, describing withdrawals in terms similar to those used by drug and alcohol addicts.
The study from the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda, “24 Hours: Unplugged,” asked 200 students on the campus to give up all media for a full day and blog on private Web sites about their experience. Student reaction showed addictionlike withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, misery, and being jittery, the authors wrote.
One student wrote that texting and sending instant messages gives him or her “a constant feeling of comfort,” without which he or she felt “quite alone and secluded from my life.” Another said that he or she feels “like most people these days are in a similar situation; for between having a Blackberry, a laptop, a television, and an iPod, people have become unable to shed their media skin.”
Researchers were surprised by the number of students who said they were incredibly addicted to media, Susan D. Moeller, the project director, said in a news release. She is also the center’s director and a journalism professor.
“But we noticed that what they wrote at length about was how they hated losing their personal connections,” she said. “Going without media meant, in their world, going without their friends and family.”
Some psychologists have warned that addiction is a serious issue and that comparisons with addiction should be handled with care. The American Psychiatric Association does not formally recognize “Internet addiction” as a disorder.
Zack Whittaker, a blogger for ZDNet, called the research methodology “pretty rock solid” but takes issue with the way the results have been interpreted by the researchers. Mr. Whittaker said in a blog post that he felt that today “the term ‘addiction’ is bandied around without thought or conviction.”
“I defend to the highest possible level that today’s youth are not addicted to social media and networking, the Web, and online media,” Mr. Whittaker wrote. “We do spend far more time on Facebook and accessing the Web for leisure use and socializing, but that is part of the natural progression of tertiary, noncompulsory education socialization.”
19 Responses to Students Denied Social Media Go Through Withdrawal
landrumkelly - April 28, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I have been telling my students to put away all electronic pacifiers. Now I have a new tool: I can tell them to go into rehab for electronic media addiction.
bghansel - April 28, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Can’t wait to share this on Facebook!~
marklarson - April 28, 2010 at 10:45 pm
My students seem to exhibit these ‘withdrawal” effects after 50 minutes in class without their networking tools…
arrive2__net - April 29, 2010 at 1:15 am
Instead of using the term addiction, it seems they might have said something like, “it made them homesick”. “Homesickness” comes from being cut off from friends and family, so, it seems like much the same thing. Its not clear how the research would distinguish being addicted to a media (social media) vs being addicted to social interaction (content). Bernard SchusterArrive2.net
newmath - April 29, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Many of my students text throughout lecture. The topic of their texting is usually rather banal: What are you wearing today? Did you watch such and such a show? “This person looks hot”…. So on.Indeed, given how much money students spend to attend college, and that so many of them do so terribly poorly in mathematics, it seems like a waste that they would spend so much of their time texting rather than paying attention to the lecture. My solution to the problem has been introducing a 10% class participation weighing in their overall grade, which includes answering questions or making an effort to answer questions when asked, and of course not texting during lecture. Even that is not enough to deter them from their frivolous and uncontrollable texting during lectures.
allysondean - April 29, 2010 at 5:47 pm
To those of you teaching faculty who commented on students’ social media use during class–would any of you be willing to be interviewed? I am a graduate student in a Higher Education Adminstration program, looking to do a thesis surrounding student use (or abuse) of technology in the classroom. If you are willing, please contact me at allyson.dean-at-oregonstate-dot-edu. Thanks!
candrews - April 29, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I don’t think young people today know how to be alone. Before cell phones and social networking, a young college student away from home had to cope with being alone. They don’t have to do that anymore. Perhaps that is a very good thing, as someone above mentioned homesickness. They take home with them wherever they go now. I bet they are pretty happy people for it too. However, to be ‘homesick’ after just 50 minutes in a class where you are not allowed to take calls, text or post to Facebook seems like some kind of ‘illness.’
mbelvadi - April 30, 2010 at 8:49 am
Many others have commented around the Chronicle site that the last couple of generations seem to be what used to be called “spoiled”, with large numbers of them seeming to have little to no self-discipline or ability to delay gratification. I’m wondering if it’s possible to “spoil” a child into having emotional responses to environmental restrictions that could actually rise to the level of clinically diagnosable psychological addiction to the stimuli that is being restricted? If the answer is yes, that would lead me to wonder if the definitional boundaries of psychological addiction haven’t been stretched too far. And how long will it be before students start to claim that their need to use their iPhone etc. constitutes an ADA-qualified disability and thus legally MUST be accommodated?
tribblek - April 30, 2010 at 9:21 am
The thread of “loneliness” and “homesickness” reminded me of a scene in the 1986 film “Highlander.” The 16th century hero (thought to be in league with dark forces) is banished from his village. At that point, he is cut off from (a) the security of his village and (b) contact with everyone he knows. Because of this vulnerability, banishment was often sure death during those times.I suppose if you grew up being used to constant and instant contact with your entire family/clan/tribe/support group, then losing contact with them would make you feel like you had been sentenced to the wilderness, without anyone’s help, advice, or friendship.A female (40-ish) colleague of mine just read my last paragraph and said that this kind of interconnectedness is something that she would find comforting, and that she thinks this “constant contact” is something that we all should long for.As for me (40-ish and male), I love my family, but prefer self-reliance and “alone time” to “constant availability.”I sound just like my Dad… he won’t turn on his cell phone until he’s ready to make a call. He doesn’t want anyone to have another way to find him.So… I wonder if there is a gender difference here?
cleverclogs - April 30, 2010 at 10:04 am
@tribblek #9 – uh, no. I’m female and I do not need constant contact. I like contact, but I like being alone too.Like the “Highlander” connection, I find it useful to use my students’ dependence on social media to bring home important points. For example, when Romeo goes on for four pages about the horrors of being “banish-ed” from home and Juliet, students frequently complain that he is “emo” and should just get over it. I then point out that many of them have trouble going 50 minutes without chatting with a friend and making sure they will meet them after class so they won’t have to walk into the caf alone. The horrors do begin to sink in and Romeo starts to look like less of a jerk.I’ve actually had occasion to talk about social media quite a lot this semester. My sense is that students do it without thinking. Ask them *why* they enjoy texting or Facebook or Twitter, and they go blank. It’s never occurred to them to wonder. They usually latch on to ideas about comparing their lives to some celebrity’s life or talk about a desire to entertain their friends with funny posts. I don’t know what any of it might mean, but I get the sense that it’s a mostly univestigated habit (rather like going to college for many of them).
157896 - April 30, 2010 at 10:20 am
To tribblek, I don’t think it’s necessarily a gender difference. I’m a 20-something female and much prefer my independence to constant availability. I didn’t use my cellphone often in college and don’t feel like every inch of my life needs to be documented on facebook or twitter – perhaps it’s just personality differences. I think this also raises the issue of how little time young people spend cultivating their own, independent lives. Someone who feels alone and secluded from their OWN life without technology really hasn’t spent a lot of time examining their own life. I do think it’s vital to feel connected to other people, to have a circle of support in friends and family, but I also think there’s something to be said for developing oneself apart from other people and the influences of society.
amy_l - April 30, 2010 at 11:55 am
mbelvadi says “And how long will it be before students start to claim that their need to use their iPhone etc. constitutes an ADA-qualified disability and thus legally MUST be accommodated?”Well, other addictions aren’t treated this way. A student might be truly addicted to meth, but we aren’t forced to accommodate it (i.e., let them take meth in class or something). We might be forced as a society to provide *treatment* for the addiction, and universities might have to add treatment for internet addiction to their resources for students, staff, and faculty. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. I have several students who could use some kind of treatment — they are literally incapable of putting down their phones for more than 5 minutes, even when there’s a grade penalty. The way their eyes keep wandering back to the phone seems compulsive, and they’re often embarrassed when I mention it in class.Hmm, maybe heavy internet use is more like OCD than an addiction?
greenhills73 - April 30, 2010 at 3:58 pm
“The American Psychiatric Association does not formally recognize “Internet addiction” as a disorder.” That’s gotta be my quote of the day.
lychee13 - April 30, 2010 at 5:44 pm
@tribblek #9 — Not a gender or age difference, I think. I’m in my 30′s, female, and agree with you that I value my alone time and prefer real phone calls/contacts to texting/socializing online (though I am active in social media). While this may not be addiction in the medical sense, the sense of anxiety is real and I do think there is a dependence on it. Co-dependency is a word that comes to mind, though not being in the field of psychology, I suspect that this may be another misapplication of a term that does not exactly fit a relationship that is new to society.
amyshelton - May 4, 2010 at 1:16 am
Very interesting post. Coming from a journalism and communications point of view, many of the teachers within in the j-school encourage students to use various social media platforms for class (and sometimes during class). I would agree that labeling these findings as an ‘addiction’ seems rather misguided; however, I would not stray away from thinking that some people do have some type of unhealthy connection (again, I too am not in the field of psychology). However, after reading more about the study, I see a lighter-side. They found that these students had a general yearning to know what was going on within their social groups, community and world at large. In addition, many young people are engaging in conversations and looking up national and international news more frequently because such platforms have allowed them to become easily invested. Again, it may just come down to how the individual, and how they decide to use such mediums in their lives.
amyshelton - May 4, 2010 at 1:19 am
Very interesting post. Coming from a journalism and communications point of view, many of the teachers within in the j-school encourage students to use various social media platforms for class (and sometimes during class). I would agree that labeling these findings as an ‘addiction’ seems rather misguided; however, I would not stray away from thinking that some people do have some type of unhealthy connection (again, I too am not in the field of psychology). However, after reading more about the study, I see a lighter-side. They found that these students had a general yearning to know what was going on within their social groups, community and world at large. In addition, many young people are engaging in conversations and looking up national and international news more frequently because such platforms have allowed them to become easily invested. *Again, it may just come down to the individual, and how they decide to use such mediums in their lives.
alisonklapper - May 4, 2010 at 11:09 am
As a journalism student, I appreciate social media. I think it needs to be self-monitored because it is very easy to cross the line from staying informed and being addicted to Facebook or other social media sites. When I find myself overusing these sites, I step back and detox for as long as I need to. It’s not something I can quit completely, after all, social media seems to be the future of the media. I think it is more of an addiction than homesickness. With banal text messages, it’s not as if you are staying in contact or connected as much as it is passing the time–similarly as one does with television, drugs, and alcohol.
lance5694 - May 14, 2010 at 11:20 pm
As a member of Generation Y and journalism student, I must admit that social media is becoming a bit of an obsession with college students and young professionals. As soon as I log into my computer, I immediately check two email accounts, my Twitter and Facebook accounts, and both of my personal blogs. I can see this becoming a social media addiction problem, as I feel completely at a loss when I haven’t gone through these familiar steps. I am completely lost when I don’t have my cell phone and my macbook at hand to check my online accounts in hopes of a new notification or an interesting article that was just tweeted. However, I don’t necessarily look at this as being similar to drug or alcohol addictions. These addictions alter mental state and are crutches for getting through day-to-day life. I do have to wonder though, if the Internet were to one day just happen to falter, I might be crushed and unable to function in society…that may sound dramatic, but don’t we all have to be honest with ourselves? We are a social generation that is obsessed with the capabilities of the internet and social media…I don’t see anything wrong with that.
alison17 - May 18, 2010 at 2:12 pm
It’s somewhat paradoxical I suppose: I use the internet as a tool–be that for networking, research or pleasure. I learn so much from the net on a day-to-day basis. On the other hand, I’m afraid that my constant online “surfing” has made mea) somewhat of a recluse and;b) more individualistic.To this end, I feel as if I’m learning lots about the state -of -the- world from a myriad of foreign sources, but not so much from the people I have face-to-face interaction with. And frankly speaking, that’s sad.