The “Internet Deprivation Study” <smile> - for real

“And now – for something completely different”. Ever seen a movie where some addict gibbers uncontrollably whilst they are handcuffed to a bed and hanging out for a fix? Well, be afraid, be very afraid, because according to one study this could be you after just two weeks of Internet free, cold turkey!

Cut off their connection to the web and people have moments of "withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness", according to this report released by Yahoo.

Dubbed - and no, I promise I am not making this up - the “Internet Deprivation Study”, the Yahoo-sponsored research tried to get a group of consumers to stay offline, then report back.

Nearly half of those taking part in the study couldn't take the web-less world for more than two weeks, and the average time participants could go without logging on was a meagre five days.

So just exactly what was this study?
Participants in the human experiment were deprived of the web for 14 days. According to the study they quickly found themselves succumbing to "withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness". The reason for the rapid collapse of their universe, or at least so say the researchers, is because "Internet users feel confident, secure and empowered.

It would seem that to many the Internet has become the ultimate symbol of modernity to the point that participants felt quite “hobbled” without easy access to routine information like maps and telephone numbers and all sorts of other, mundane, everyday information. So familiar has become the pervasive nature of the Internet that some participants often forgot or lost the desire to use “old fashioned tools like the phone book, newspapers and telephone-based customer service."

Surely not, who were these people that just couldn’t get by without their fix?

Apparently it was incredibly difficult to recruit participants for the actually study, because they simply couldn’t find enough people who were willing to be without the Internet for two weeks.

Sad and all as it may seem, this cruel "qualitative" torture was inflicted on just 13 households containing 28 guinea pigs. However, a broader "quantitative" trawl of 1,000 web addicts found that 48 per cent of respondents simply could not go without access to the Internet for longer than two weeks.

This unwillingness to even contemplate disconnection from the digital world was confirmed by Yahoo! They stated the study was entirely indicative of the many, many ways that the Internet, in just ten short years of mainstream consumer use, has irrevocably changed the daily lives of its consumers.

The “chilling” effects of the cold turkey on those who were willing to risk all in the name of science are, one would hope, still undergoing group therapy as a result of their trauma, will benefit from Wenda Harris Millard’s finding’s that: "Deep ethnographic research like this enables us to do much more than look at consumer trends, it allows a rare glimpse into the reasons consumers make the choices they do and how they are emotionally impacted. We can then help marketers apply these insights to reach their target audiences."

So what kinds of results did the study come up with?

Ok, and wait for this, those in the study described their offline time as "feeling left out of the loop," and seriously, having to "resist temptation" to check out the web and missing their "private escape time" during the day.

Interestingly the other finds of the deprivation study were that participants felt that they were at a disadvantage when compared to those still online when it came to finding lower prices. They also felt that they were cut off from their outer circle of friends - obviously those they typically kept in touch with via email and instant messaging - and further believed they looked "lazy" to co-workers when they resorted to traditional means of communication or news gathering such as talking on the telephone or reading a printed newspaper.

Ummm – Not that I’m the disbelieving type but is there any other supporting evidence of these errr, facts?

Well try this - It used to take flat feet or something equally unfortunate to get out of the army. Not any more, these days young Fins are using Internet addiction as a means of avoiding required military service.

The Finnish Defence Forces have decided to excuse Internet addicts from their six months duty all together, according to a report from Reuters. Apparently, for people who play (Internet) games all night and don't have any friends, don't have any hobbies, to come into the army is a very big shock! How strange. There are no numbers of just how many net-addled men have returned back but 9 percent of the 26,500 men called up in 2003 were dismissed for medical reasons.

Well, this sounds like a serious case addiction - if not a pandemic?

According to US-based organisation Net Addiction, Internet Addiction is a broad term, covering a wide-variety of behaviours and impulse-control problems. It suggests that the comfort of anonymity may be one of the main attractions of life online. Research indicates that most people are less inhibited and more risk-taking if they lack accountability for their actions.

Take for example the increasing numbers of teenagers in China who are being admitted to hospital, suffering from what doctors call ‘Internet Syndrome’. Symptoms include delirium, paranoia and psychosis. One case cites a 19-year old who, after surfing the net for five to six hours everyday for five years, had come to believe that “invisible pairs of eyes in cyber-space were peeping at him and examining him all the time”.

A doctor at the hospital explains that sufferers are typically having difficulties with social interaction in the real world, and turn to the Net to avoid conflict with friends and family. “To start with, they turn to the virtual world for comfort and gradually become more reluctant to face life," he said.

Ok, Ok, let’s be serious, even if somewhat humorous, obviously there is an element of fact to all of this?

Perhaps none of this should be at all surprising, when you consider how the growing acceptance of the Internet through out the world has radically transformed information exchange, personal interactions, and business transactions.

On the individual level, the Internet has allowed personal economic transactions, given rise to new entertainment options and remote work arrangements, and supported long distance personal relationships and interactions. In the case of government institutions, the shape of public opinion has greatly changed. Voters are no longer dependent exclusively on their government as a means of political information. The flow of political information now also crosses national boundaries, altering governmental monopolies on political news.

From a business sense, certainly, services such as Virtual Private Networks and secure email carried over the Internet have enabled businesses to work with full informational connectivity over broad geographically areas with dramatically lower operational costs. Similarly, the Internet has enabled remote work arrangements, formation of virtual teams across wide expanses of space and even virtual companies without "brick and mortar".

An interesting report below would also suggest change in other areas regarding the Internet:

Report: Internet surpasses TV as media choice
Jonny Evans, Macworld.co.uk 9/24/04
Entertainment habits are changing with the Internet emerging as first choice stimulation for most. A report from the Online Publishers Association (OPA) reveals that 45.6% of 18-54 year-olds will turn to the Internet, rather than the TV, as first choice for home entertainment.

The OPA surveyed 1,235 U.S. respondents in the following age bands: 18-24; 25-34 and 35-54. In a head-to-head comparison, online media compared very well with traditional entertainment formats.

Asked, "If you could only use two media in your life, which two would you use?", over 50 percent (50.5 percent) of 18-24 year-olds chose the Internet as their favorite choice. Just 28.5 percent in that age group chose TV. 43.6 percent of 25-34 year-olds and 42.8 percent of 35-54 year-olds also chose the Internet. TV moved to be the general second choice.

Internet time becomes real-life

People are spending more time online too, for example: 52 percent of 18-24 year olds agreed they spend more time using the Internet now than they did one year ago. Interestingly, 35 percent of respondents indicate that they spend less time playing video/PC games and 28 percent say they spend less time watching television.

The Internet's strength is that it provides both information and fun. "No other media compares to the Internet when it comes to information and fun," the analysts said, adding, "Young people show clear preference for using the Internet as a primary source for news."

Traditional publishing moves second place

The Internet-based knowledge renaissance is clear: 97 percent of the sample group believe the Internet is the same or better than magazines for finding information about products or music; and 83 percent said reading a story online is the same or better than reading one in a newspaper.

"Consumers continue to move beyond purely functional uses of the Internet into more media-oriented activities, such as reading stories, looking at photos, and watching video," said Michael Zimbalist, president of the OPA. "These results show how receptive people of all ages are to the Internet as a medium and not just a tool."

Arthur Hissey
Computer Research & Technology
www.crt.net.au