14 DAY TRIAL // A survey of the German cell phone and Internet industries has revealed a worrying fact: most German males in their twenties would rather ditch their girlfriends than part ways with their cell phones or Internet connections, investigators have recently announced. The young men would also renounce cars, if that would allow them to keep their phones and the Internet. This is very concerning, as it hints at the addictive effect of the Web and that of instant communication.
The German broadband association Bitkom has been behind the new study, and its researchers have surveyed some 1,000 males, aged 19 to 29. A whooping 84 percent of them said that they would rather do without their girlfriends than their means of talking to each other. In addition, 97 percent admitted that they would not imagine their lives without their mobile phones. The main reasons for these answers, associations spokespersons uphold, is that at least one in two of the respondents maintained that they had made new friends via Internet chat and social media outlets.
August-Wilhelm Scheer, the president of Bitkom, announced on Monday, at CeBIT 2009, in Hanover, that the results of the new study did not imply that “The Web is an anonymous medium that leads to social indifference.” His opinion is criticized by psychologists, who share that this is exactly the case. And the results of the new study are, indeed, all the evidence they need. If we have reached an age where we would rather part ways with a human than technology, they have it, then people really need to start asking themselves serious questions.
Scheer also adds that Germany is currently faced with an unusual divide, in that while the younger population, people in their mid-30s and mid-40s, has basic knowledge of the Internet and its purpose, those in their mid-50s do not. “There's a gap and it's not with 30-year-olds or 40-year-olds, it's with those 50 years of age and above. One of the main challenges in society today is to ensure that all age groups are up to par when it comes to the Internet,” he concludes.