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College Students Feel Isolated Without Social Media, Study Says

by Caleb Johnson on April 25, 2010 at 10:30 AM

A study recently conducted at the University of Maryland asked 200 students to give up social media -- we're talking Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, instant messages, text messages and so on -- for one entire day and to blog about the experience (ironic, we know). That doesn't sound like too much to ask, but judging by the results, reports the Huffington Post, the experiment was akin to solitary confinement for some kids. In total, the 200 participants wrote about 110,000 words on their experience, which is equal to a 400-page novel.

"But we noticed that what they wrote at length about was how they hated losing their personal connections. Going without media meant, in their world, going without their friends and family," Susan D. Moeller, the study's leader, told the school's website. Keep in mind, these are kids whose lives are centered on a college campus with thousands of other students. One student wrote that he or she felt "alone and secluded from my life" without text or instant messages. Another, who failed the experiment, said he or she wouldn't have known about the earthquake in Chile without logging onto Tumblr.

What this study shows is not that kids are necessarily social-networking addicts, but displays that asking someone to go without a networks of blogs, friends and feeds is akin to asking a college student to go without speaking or reading the news, once upon a time. Sure, relying on Twitter is no way to hear about Chile, but a news source is a news source, no matter if it's served via 140 characters or a broadsheet. [From: University of Maryland and A Day Without Media, via: The Huffington Post]

Tags: addiction, college, college students, CollegeStudents, email, facebook, research, social media, SocialNetworking, study, top, twitter, web

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