back to article Technology turns us into RAGING CRACKHEADS

Tech is like crack. If young people were to go without their favourite gadgets, they'd suffer withdrawal symptoms comparable to those of a heavy drug user going cold turkey, it has been claimed. A study has shown that students who were subjected to a tech-free day reacted in a distressed, confused and isolated state. Some were …

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  1. Ru
    FAIL

    Yay dichotomies

    So you're either a helpless device addict who suffers physical withdrawal symptoms or you're a happily liberated individual enjoying the benefits of your freedom from the bondage of consumer electronics and the interwebs.

    No middle ground.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I call bullshit

    "heavy drug user going cold turkey"

    I've been addicted to some fairly heavy duty prescription painkillers. Going without tech for a while just does not compare.

    One is habitual, the other is physical and habitual. Withdrawing from drugs physically hurts _a lot_.

    And that wasn't even cold turkey

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Yeah

      I'll take 'gadget withdrawal' over heroin withdrawals any day.

      Mine's the one with the pack of BD 29G 1CC in the pocket.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Parents, what are parents?

    tech is heavily used by our kids, because todays parents can't be bothered to be a parent, instead letting the web babysit their sibblings.

    Oi! Tosspot! Read a book to your kids, play with them, talk to them, take an interest. Maybe you will become worth more to your kids than their facebook/twitter account, iphreak or DSi.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Only downvoted

      'Cos I think you meant offspring, not siblings.

      Beer, because I could do with one right about 4 hours ago...

      1. jai

        unless

        he lives in Norfork :)

  4. heyrick Silver badge
    FAIL

    Only 24 hours?

    Pah.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Tech is...

    ...another lazy parenting substitute that has taken the place of the TV. I see eight year olds with smart phones today. Why?

    Any child that carries a Blackberry or other smart phone is as abused as those with black eyes. The difference is just more subtle. Convince yourself that your child is more accessible, but in reality you are isolating them from reality.

    Texting your child is not the same as a face-to-face conversation. Teach them social skills not typing skills.

  6. Anon E Mus

    Amazing!

    Taking away someone's primary means of communicating with people leaves them "distressed, confused and isolated" who would've thought it.

  7. serviceWithASmile
    Flame

    some wifey on radio2

    was banging on about this thismorning.

    apparently her son got grumpy when she banned his use of the playstation.

    3 year olds cry when you take their toys off them, too. and if you took a phone away from an adult (even if your son) they would bloody well have something to say about it.

    kudos to el reg for the fantastic headline and article, brings it into perspective.

    next up: releasing studies that compare drug addiction to playing gears of war CAUSE BRAINDEATH OF RESEARCHERS NATIONWIDE

  8. Tom 38
    Go

    "simple pleasures"

    http://xkcd.com/330/

    fnar fnar

    1. Michael Thibault
      Go

      not so simple pleasures

      Just three doors down, the neighbours are getting out of hand...

      http://xkcd.com/333/

  9. Captain DaFt
    Joke

    This news is sooo old!

    Case in point:

    This famous individual has spent decades using technology to feed his obsession.

    Note the emaciated, wasted frame that closely resembles that of a crack addict. Coincidence?

    http://yourownimage.com/Wile-E-Coyote.jpg

  10. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    24 hours ? So what ?

    I've just been forced to go 5 days without Internet access or phone, due to my SFR box biting the bullet and having had to wait that amount of time for its replacement to arrive.

    It wasn't fun, but hey, there are more important things.

  11. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Sixth sense

    I think Anon E Mus hits it on the head. And, contrary to a few comments, I don't see young people getting a phone as parental neglect or abuse or whatever, not saying it's a great thing but it sounds to me like those people in the 1950s that said Rock and Roll was corrupting our youth, and so on. It's a societal change and you can either fight it or go with it.

    Food for thought, if you read some of Victor Vinge's writings on the technological singularity, he sees the possible methods of some super-human intelligence emerging as being:

    1) Computer becomes self-aware and gains super-human intelligence.

    2) Computer netwrok (and possibly associated users) does the same.

    3) Computer/human interface becomes so intimate the user can be considered superhumanly intelligent.

    4) Biological upgrades.

    Obviously, Facebook updates and tweeting are not helping anyone's intelligence. But it appears to me things are moving very much towards #3, at least in terms of people being able to stay in communications; I see people fire off and read texts almost subconsciously, they can literally keep up a verbal conversation while they are having a text conversation with someone else. This seems for some much less like them typing and reading an external device, and more like the device is a direct extension of their consciousness. Even with those awful touch screen keyboards haha.

    I could see it being unnerving to have this taken away, it's almost like saying you are going to remove someone's sense of hearing or touch for a day to see how they like it.

    So, a couple of my cousins have this bad (they're about 10 years younger than me.) It's like

    (One of my uncles): "We're going to the retirement home to visit your great aunt, she's not in good health so we're seeing her while we can."

    Them: "OK." *tap* *tap*

    Me, I say real casually... "Oh, umm... when I was there a few days ago, there was not cell phone service, the mountain blocks the signal."

    Them: "Umm, what? Really?" *TAPTAPTAPTAPTAP* (they both looked a bit startled, and started texting like madmen, I think warning everyone they'd be out of contact for a good half hour or hour.) They managed not to get the shakes for that hour or so. When we got back in service, it sounded like their phones were going to explode from dozens of queued texts shooting into them.

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