The Rise of Technology Addiction

Posted on March 5, 2007

The majority of people reading blogs like HowToWeb or similar blogs use technology a great deal in their daily lives. A BBC article says some people are using the Internet and portable gadgets so much that they suffer from "technology addiction." Here are some of the symptoms of technology addiction.

Northampton Business School Business School Professor Nada Kakabadse says, "It's addiction to portable technology, which you take with you practically to bed, the cinema, to the theatre, to a dinner party. The symptoms are, like with any other addiction, that people spend more time using their technology than spending it in socialising or in family time."

It looks like the text messaging and instant feedback types of technologies are the most addictive. Email is more formal and the recipient can wait (at least a couple days) before responding.

Stefana Broadbent from Swisscom told the BBC, "E-mail is considered the most formal. At the other end of the spectrum SMS is the most personal of all. That's where we find all those little exchanges, little endearments, what we call grooming, which is sending: 'I think about you. How did it go? How did you sleep?'"

It seems like it would take a lot of text messages and/or emails to start impairing judgment but if you are using technology so much that you aren't sleeping probably then it sounds plausible.



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