College Times

Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Photos.com

Day 1, early a.m.: I feel pretty optimistic that I can give up Myspace cold turkey, well, not permanently, but just for this week. I mean, it shouldn't be all that bad. It's a little strange to not immediately wake up and check my Myspace (as pathetic as that sounds), but it is annoying to see the messages in my email box telling me to check my profile because I have new messages.

The coffee has barely begun brewing in the pot.

The first rays of sunlight are beginning to filter in and, as the alarm blares its hysterical warning, I wake up to start my day.

First, I must get my fix.

I anticipate the rush I'll get. And while I know the periods of waiting - at work, when I'm out - will fill me with nervous anticipation, I know the next fix isn't far away.

It's not drugs or booze that feed my cravings. It's social networking - Myspace and Facebook.

I'm no different than you, maybe, and the millions of other young people around the world who have built a significant portion of our social lives around these two internet sites.

Am I an addict? I'm not sure. In my mind, "addict" conjures up images of hard core drug users who will get their fix anywhere. In this context, I'm not sure the term fits me.

So, to see, I opted to give up Myspace and Facebook for one week and to document my experience along the way.

I also decided to consult two experts on the subject: Dominic Patten, a social trends researcher and the arts and life editor for the Vancouver Sun, and psychology professor Greg Hall.

Day 1, p.m.: It's been a pretty busy day, I had a wedding to go to, but now that I'm back, the first thing I want to do is post the photos from it on my profile. Maybe I really am a junkie. It's difficult when your friends are asking you to put them online so they can see them, too. A week's not that long right?

Professor Hall teaches a cyber psychology class at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts where students can explore the concepts and ideas behind the nation's love for the Internet.

When it comes to cyber addiction, Hall has become an expert.

"It's an addiction for certain people," he says in a recent interview. "There are a host of psychological addictions and the research establishes internet addiction as definitely something that exists.

"That does not mean that someone who feels a level of anxiety because they've shut down their Myspace or Facebook account has an addiction," Hall continues. "But an addiction is when one cannot withdraw from Myspace, or any online environment, and their goal achievement begins to diminish."

Day 2, a.m.: I woke up this morning and thought, "Wow, I haven't checked my Facebook account in awhile and now I have some new photos to add." But then I reminded myself, I can't switch one addiction for another. One social networking site is merely a gateway for more social networking groups, so for now I guess I have to quit both. This whole thing is beginning to make me a bit grumpy.

Patten agrees that addiction is an accurate term for some who rely on social networking to an overwhelming degree, but believes it often reaches even further.

"We live in a society addicted to addictions," says Patten. "Be it drugs, be it sex, be it the internet, we obsess, it's who we are, it's the way we have developed and social networking has become the ultimate form of preauthorized obsession and addiction."

Sites like Myspace have made it easy to keep in touch with old friends or to make new ones without all the awkwardness that sometimes comes along with face to face communication.

There are many benefits to logging on, but the line between enjoyable use and psychological addiction can be a very thin one.

"With things like Myspace and Facebook you're creating the environment that you want," Patten said, "you never have to be the kid that wasn't cool enough, you never have to be the girl who wasn't pretty enough, the boy who wasn't smart enough you can be exactly what you want to exactly who you want."

It's this perfect little cyber world that keeps many logging on all day.

Day 2, p.m.: Great. My phone died this afternoon and my dog ate the charger. Now I have no contact with the outside world. Panic hit me hard as I realized I can't communicate with anyone. I keep sitting at my computer and hoping that if I stare at it long enough, my laptop will fly open and my Myspace page will pop up by itself without my help. .Maybe there should be a 12-step group or a patch or something.

Hall, the Vancouver Sun editor, said he believes that for some, Myspace and Facebook are actually a great social tools.

"There is a benefit to some people who in social situations are very shy and reluctant to establish new friendships and relationships," says Hall, "and for someone with that personality trait the social networking sites provide a nice opportunity to reach out and develop friendships and relationships."

According to Hall, it's the actual quality of what you are doing online, rather than the time you spend, that sets the addicts apart from the millions of other internet users.

When endless surfing is the main goal of each online session, a type of dependency develops and time is wasted doing nothing.

Next, friends and roommates begin to feel left out and jealous of the constant computer usage.

Finally, sleep deprivation begins as the user skips sleep in order to stay in a cyber community or internet site night after night. With this comes a lack of motivation for goal achievement and real word activities.

It is then that a full blown addiction has begun.

Day 3, a.m.: I roll out of bed, eyes half open, in search of my computer. I really feel like it is as much a part of me these days as an arm or a leg and, then it hits me: damn no MySpace. But I can check my email. At least that's something. And there it is: another pesky invitation to check out a comment. It's aggravating. And all I can think is that I should have put in my mood thingy that I am taking a one week break from Myspace and then people would know. But that seems like cheating since I would still be communicating in a way. Oh, I was able to fix my phone charger with some electrical tape. I'm finally back in contact with the world!

My experience ditching something I've come to depend on everyday wasn't easy.

The first thing that became evident, very quickly, was just how much many peoples' social lives revolve around these two sites.

What I experienced most was frustration, like this p.m. entry from Day 3: "So my boyfriend is sitting at his computer checking his Myspace when he provides the most tempting offer - he'll go to my page and tell me what comments have been left. I immediately say yes and then no and then yes like a complete druggie turning down a line of coke. 'No,' I say finally. And that's that."

By the middle of the week, friend requests were popping up, my phone kept dying and people kept trying to get in touch with me and couldn't. On day 4, I wrote: "Is the week over yet? I hate getting friend requests through my email and not being able to check out who it is … I was hoping to meet my boyfriend for lunch today and my phone died (again). I just happened to check my email here at work and it says I have two new MySpace messages from him. This is so aggravating because I'm sure he is trying to contact me about it and I can't even read what he wrote."

The other thing you come to realize, quickly, is just how prevalent Myspace has become not only for social networking, but for advertising, research and promotion. My job at College Times requires me to compile event listings from time-to-time. When researching comedians coming to town, many of them had no web page other than a Myspace site, which I couldn't go to. Avoiding Myspace, actually affected my job performance.

By the end of that day, day 5, I was beginning to think this experiment was a bad idea. I wrote. "Maybe I could cheat and just lie about it. This is the thought going through my head constantly. The end is in sight. Stay focused."

Day 6, a.m.: I've made it so close, I've decided to just do it. I'm going to check my profile right now. Here it goes: Wow, a ton of messages left by my sadistic friends who knew I couldn't check Myspace, but thought it would be funny to leave them anyway. I feel suddenly connected and happy again. Just like that, it's all over. I feel like I have a bit more insight on myself..

At the conclusion of my six days of cyber-solitude, I came to the conclusion that I'm not an addict as I originally feared, but rather one of the millions of social networkers out there who rely on their perfect profiles to keep in touch with the world.

But for those who do find themselves in the category of hard core addicts Hall and Patten offer some final words of wisdom.

"The first step is realizing that there is a problem," says Hall. "The second step is learning more about it and the third step is working with someone to move away from the online world."

For Patten, it's a huge decision the step away from the computer and into the real world.

"Wiring down is a huge social decision," says Patten, "This is a decision on the level of going off heroin, you feel it, you become a part of it, you feel disconnected. That right there is the proof of the addiction. It's a social umbilical cord to another world."

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