When you go one day without surfing the web, does it feel like your hand has been chopped off?
That’s how one participant in a poll taken in the United Kingdom described such a day. About half the poll respondents said they would be “upset” if they couldn’t connect to the Internet for a short amount of time, and 40 percent said they would be “lonely” if they couldn’t connect for a whole day.
The poll surveyed 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and over 65 and was conducted by international consumer research firm Intersperience in a project entitled “Digital Selves.” People were questioned about their use of, and attitudes toward, the Internet, smartphones, and other digital devices.
The project challenged participants to get through a whole day without using technology, a feat considered by some to be as difficult as giving up cigarettes or drinking, according to a press release from Intersperience. One participant called the effort “my biggest nightmare,” while another said the experience was “like having my hand chopped off.”
Older people — those over 40 — coped more easily with being cut off from their wired connections, while younger people had the most difficulty, pollsters reported. Those who are younger tend to use more social media and text messaging, researchers noted.
“Online and digital technology is increasingly pervasive,” Paul Hudson, chief executive of Intersperience, said in the press release. “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 organizations.”
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