14 DAY TRIAL // It is clear that everything in our life has something to do with the Internet, from news and information to shopping and entertainment. But for many of us this seems to have turned into a pathological obsession, affecting our social and even sex life.
A survey aiming to assess the impact of technologies in people's behavior and made by the advertising agency JWT in September 2007 on 1,011 adult Americans revealed that 80 % cannot spend a week without going online and 35 % give this up in favor of friends and sex. 15 % experience anxiety after less than a day without net, 21 % in a couple of days and 19 % after a few days.
"People told us how anxious, isolated and bored they felt when they are forced off line," said Ann Mack, director of trend spotting at JWT.
"They felt disconnected from the world, from their friends and family," she told Reuters.
The results of the survey showed the increasing role of the mobile phones and the Internet in our life with 48 % of subjects stating that Internet access was something crucial in their life. 28 % of the subjects recognized they spent less time in face-to-face encounters with their friends because of the time intervals spent in front of the computer's monitor. 20 % admitted they allocated less time for sex because of the same reason.
Mobile phones and television lose ground when compared to the Internet if we take into consideration devices people couldn't miss. It is clear that people are increasingly tied up to the new technologies.
"It is taking away from off-line activities, among them having sex, socializing face-to-face, watching TV and reading newspapers and magazines. It cuts into that share. I don't suppose their partners are too pleased about it." said Mack.
"A clear trend to emerge from the survey was the increasing need for mobility with people no longer satisfied with just broadband access from home and wanting hand-held devices like iPhones and BlackBerrys. We are calling them 'digitivity denizens,' those who see their mobile phones as an extension of themselves, whose on-line and off-line lives are co-mingled and who would chose a Wi-Fi connection over TV any day. This is how they communicate, entertain and live," said Mack.