A new study shows that online usage is increasingly becoming an addiction. Is Facebook the new smoking?
Have you ever “gone to the bathroom” in order to check email or come up with a socially appropriate excuse to pull out your smartphone just so you can check your Facebook? Then you could be an Internet junkie. It almost makes your long for “the good old days” when groups of smokers used to leave the table to go indulge their habit. At least they were honest about getting their nicotine fix.
Out of 1000 people surveyed after being cut off from the Internet for 24 hours, 53% reported feeling “upset” about being deprived of online access and 40% said that they felt lonely after not being able to connect to the Internet. Participants described the digital detox akin to quitting drinking or smoking and one even said it was like having his hand chopped off. One student said that she was “itching like a crackhead” after abstaining from any form of media for 24 hours.
The big difference is checking Twitter does not cause cancer and Googling will is hands down a lot healthier than lighting-up. So while social networking make cause your privacy to take a hit, it will not scar your lungs. That’s a big difference.
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