Drugs and Alcohol are Not the Only Addictions Looming Over US College Students' Heads

Students fall prey to technological addictions without recourse to recovery

In the States Internet addiction is being investigated among college students. The “24 Hours: Unplugged” experiment among many US college students reveals withdrawal symptoms among participants who have removed themselves from the grasps of technology. Cut off from the Internet, social media, cell phones and devices like iPods and TVs. Students experienced agitation, aggression, slight depression and a sudden overabundance of time.

Having participated in this study myself while in college, I was surprised to find just how dependent on technology I really am. It’s become more than a helpful tool, transforming into the center of daily life and acting as an itch at the back of the mind whenever I tried to do something else, something productive. From our test group of 150 students, it also becomes apparent that college kids suffer from a loss of maintained concentration and may retain less information while attempting to focus on things like studying than previous generations.

With online social networking becoming a necessity of daily life, and with young people beginning to actually rely on checking things like Facebook and Twitter every five minutes, it seems like we’re fostering a youth culture devoted to their online lives rather than their unplugged ones. When forced to actually go see someone to ask a question, it seems like an insurmountable burden. We’re slowly losing the ability to communicate face to face, and in one of the more frightening unveilings of this study, researchers found that young people are less able to “read” people than older adults, leading to undue misunderstanding and unjust emotional responses.

This dependence has changed into a full-blown cultural addiction, one with little recourse to cure or compromise. Internet addiction has already become recognized as a legitimate condition, but what kind of treatment can we offer? In a society relying upon technology for every facet of life, there’s no abstinence treatment, as there is for alcoholism or drug abuse, so what’s left?

While definitive answers may be out of reach, the options do present themselves to offer students the support needed to cope and maintain a healthy level of wireless consciousness. Preventative measures, like those used in drug and alcohol prevention among youths could be the best options. By preparing those at risk we may be able to cut down the overwhelming dependency to get back to an interpersonal/in-person communication society.

Tags: college addiction, gaming addiction, internet addiction, teen addiction