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Dayton Business Journal...
Report: Technology
withdrawal leads many to despair
by DBJ Staff
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
As the Internet and other digital technology becomes even more
entrenched in the lives of people, it also can lead to despair when
it’s not available.
A new study into the impact of online and digital technology on
people’s lives in the UK found more than half of people feel upset at
the prospect of being without the Internet even for a short time.
The study of 1,000 individuals was done by Intersperience, an
international consumer research. They questioned people about their
digital lives including the Internet, smartphones and other connected
devices.
The study said giving up technology was considered by some to be as
hard as quitting smoking or drinking. Many participants found it
difficult to fight the urge to go online and 40 percent of respondents
said they felt lonely when not not using social networking, e-mails,
texting or watching TV.
“Online and digital technology is increasingly pervasive. Our ‘Digital
Selves’ research shows how just dominant a role it now assumes,
influencing our friendships, the way we communicate, the fabric of our
family life, our work lives, our purchasing habits and our dealings
with organisations,” said Paul Hudson, chief executive of
Intersperience.
This study follows one earlier this year by psychologists from
Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland that found the more ‘friends’
people have on Facebook the more likely they are to be stressed out and
anxious.
In the university study, many students told researchers that they were
anxious about withdrawing from Facebook for fear of missing important
social information or offending contacts as they became dependent on
the social network Web site for self-esteem.
It’s not only people becoming technologically dependent.
A recent survey conducted by The Business Journals indicated small and
mid-size business owners are more connected than ever to technology,
significantly boosting the time spent on the Internet, their use of
social networks, and their adoption of new tech tools.
This includes companies all over the Dayton region, including a law
firm that outfits all lawyers with iPads. But the clamor is just
beginning, as newer, and better, devices continue to flood the
marketplace.
Among smartphones, Apple Inc. continues to roll out new versions of its
popular iPhone. And Google Inc. ’s Android devices, as well as Research
In Motion ’s Blackberry phones, are giving consumers more options with
each new model.
Competition also is heating up in the mobile tablet category to combat
the iPad. Dell Inc.has announced it will produce a tablet with the
Microsoft Corp. operating system. Hewlett-Packard is launching its
Wi-Fi TouchPad this month, and Apple is rumored to be releasing the new
iPad 3 later this year.
And Intel Corp. has unveiled a plan for a new group of laptop computers
to challenge the popularity of the iPad and other tablet devices.
Amazon.com Inc. also is rumored to be releasing a tablet of its own
soon, which has garnered a lot of buzz lately.
Click here for the full Intersperience study.
Read the story with links at Dayton Business Journal
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