SMS Addiction and Texting Addiction

[austin552]

Had the Step sons(Ages 28, 29) out for a week and their phones never stopped. The youngest even kept texting while the phone was on the charger. I wanted to drop their phones in the toilet but kept my cool. It was kind of insulting not having their full attention ever during their stay.

Found this article:

SMS Addiction and Texting Addiction
by John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
March 1, 2008
Leave it to psychologists to label yet another behavior an “addiction” — short message service (SMS), also commonly known as text messaging (or just plain “texting”). But let’s back up a bit, because this is becoming commonplace with any new technology that seems to eat up people’s time and attention.

In modern times, we can trace the desire to call certain behaviors without drugs “addictions” to the rise and popularity of coin-operated and home video games in the 1970s and 1980s. Parents watch their children move from spending hours in front of the television to spending hours in front of a video game (or going to the video arcade to escape their parents’ watchful eye). The following pronouncements were not uncommon in the research literature at the time:

“It is suggested that the potential usefulness or harm of video games is still open to empirical validation; however, the potential for abuse is inherent” (Soper & Miller, 1983).

Inherent. Well, that’s such a generalization, it could be made about anything. The potential for abuse of the phone is inherent. The potential for abuse of one’s friendships is inherent. The potential for abuse of getting really into any hobby you enjoy is inherent. By definition, something we enjoy doing is usually not a problem, no matter how much you do it or how much other people think you’re crazy for doing it so much. Look at how much athletes work-out for instance. Are they addicted to working-out, or is it something that is rewarding to them (not only potentially financially, but intrinsically as well)?

In 1995, along came “Internet addiction disorder,” a term cooked up by researchers by taking the symptom list for “pathological gambling,” and changing the word “gambling” to “Internet use” and giving it to a self-selected sample of people who said, “Hey, I think I use the Internet too much.”

I could create a dozen new disorders tomorrow doing the exact same thing, but unfortunately it would be no more scientifically valid.

Since that time, of course, a lot more research has been conducted. But alternative hypotheses which could readily explain this behavior are rarely considered in this research, and no long-term studies have been done to see whether this is a problem related to the relative “newness” of the Internet as a technology (just as few researchers look for “video game addiction” or “television addiction” to join the diagnostic manual any longer, as people became acclimated to the technology and adapted to it for everyday use).

So here it is 100 years after the invention of the radio, 60 years after television became popular, and more than 30 years after video games hit the scene. Are any of these technologies — technologies where people spend many hours every day (depending upon the decade) glued to it — “addictions” today? Nope. Not a single one. As a society, we learned to cope with them, integrate them into our lives, and even though we may spend too much time with any given one at a time, basically recognize the value of life (and living it) beyond the radio station, TV screen, or video game.

Really, is SMS and texting an addiction, or just the latest technological fad that people obsess about for awhile? Ten years from now, it too will just be a blip on the screen of history.

Reference:

Soper, W. Barlow; Miller, Mark J. (1983). Junk-time junkies: An emerging addiction among students. School Counselor, 31(1), 40-43.

[Z-man]

I disagree with the premise of that article. There is a huge difference between enjoying a hobby and getting engrossed in it, vs. an uncontrollable desire that leads to addictive behavior. He presents no scientific evidence to back his point - merely references to vague studies and pop-culture (TV, video games, the internet).

Addictions are real. Go to any AA, GA, OA, SA, fill-in-the-blank-Anonymous meeting and you will see people who are struggling with their addictions. If there were no such thing as an addiction, these meetings would fold. As would the illegal drug market, and prostitution, and bars would probably make less of a profit if folks couldn't be addicted to booze. Never mind all those therapists who help people who desire to overcome their addictions -- they'd be out of business as well! (But that's a circular argument...)

There has been scientific evidence which supports addictions. Some type of hormone (endorphin related) is released in the brain of an addict when they act out.

There is also a psychological aspect of addiction which the author of the article fails to mention. Many people turn to addiction to cope with their precieved reality. The person whose mom was an alchonolic and whose father skipped town when he was 5 will have some deep psychological issues. Sometimes the best way they feel to deal with this harsh reality is to escape to a world where no issues exsist. So while that person is high, or drunk, or gambling...etc., he need not think about his horrid past.

The addict is someone who has a problem and can't stop pursuing the object of his desire even if his life depended on him stopping.

And yes, IMHO, people are now addicted to that stupid text messaging stuff. When I hear folks sending over 1,000 texts a week (or a day?) I find that to be something that is beyond that person's control. Put the blackberry or phone down -- go outside and do something worthwhile for a change...

Just my $0.42,
-Z-man.

[dhoward]

U R so OTH...
JK.