A recent survey entitled ‘Digital Selves’ by Intersperience, a consumer research company, has found that over half the people interviewed for their survey reported feeling ‘upset’ when denied access to the internet, with around 40% experienced loneliness when deprived of their online fix.
Now we at Aqueous are all in favour of new and interesting research that gives an insight into the behaviours of people in an online environment, however, we can’t help but feel that this research could just as well have been carried out in a class full of year 11’s. As anyone with kids between the ages of 14 and 18 knows, trying to prise them away from their online fix, be it via mobile, pad or laptop, is simply a battle not worth having.
Astonishingly the research only interviewed people between 18 and 65, so clearly missing the group that exhibit this behaviour the most, yet even amongst adults, there seems to be a reluctance to unplug from the net for even a day. In the study, of those that did manage to spend the day apart from any kind of digital connectivity, 23% said they felt free.
So have we moved the sum of human knowledge along any further with this research? We don’t know. All we do know is that if you really want to find out then leave all the trappings of modern day life behind and head for somewhere there isn’t an internet connection. Like Siberia. Or Antarctica. Or anywhere further than seven miles from a BT exchange…..
