Wired News reports that at least one addiction center is reporting that its patients are exhibiting "compulsive behavoir toward" their text messaging capable mobile phones. The article goes on to note that "engagement with [. . .] communications devices is perhaps unhealthily frenetic, or overly compulsive." I'm wondering if such mobile text-messaging devices are more 'addictive' than regular old IMs?
Text Messaging Addiction?
Submitted by scott on October 26, 2003 - 23:13.
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addicted to being human?
This is ridiculous - it's like saying people exhibit compulsive behaviour in wanting to spend time with their friends, or their family, or talk, or cuddle. We're HUMANS! We like being social! We like to communicate!
If text messaging's more popular than IM it's simply because you use it differently. It's always with you, so you use it for telling a friend you're late, you're thinking of them, you'd like to meet them. A huge percentage of SMSes are about organising physical meetings - can't find hte study showing that now, though, sorry...
Looking for a disease to treat.
Jill,
I think you're right here. What seems to be going on is a doctor or a treatment center looking for a disease to treat. If you push the historical frame back a bit it's a bit like those folks concerned about women, working class people, or any other excluded group reading and writing. In the 19th century there were crackpots who thought that if women became educated or were to devote themeselves to scholarly pursuits they'd somehow become physically or mentally ill.