{"id":18340,"date":"2012-09-04T11:36:32","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T16:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=18340"},"modified":"2012-09-04T11:36:32","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T16:36:32","slug":"addicted-to-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2012\/09\/addicted-to-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Addicted to the Internet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whoa, you like to think that you’re immune to the stuff, oh yeah
\nIt’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough
\nYou know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re addicted to [the Internet].<\/em><\/p>\n

Robert Palmer, Addicted to Love (1986) <\/em>(more recently covered by Florence & The Machine (2010))<\/em><\/p>\n

This morning, I awoke and reached for my smartphone to turn off the alarm. Because I already had the phone in my hand, I checked the day\u2019s weather (for both the Madison area, where I live, and Milwaukee, where I work). Then, of course, I had to check email, to see what had come in during the night. And, while I was at it, I took my turn in the eight concurrent games with three different people that I have going on Words with Friends. After that, I finally got out of bed.<\/p>\n

According to an article by Tony Dokoupil<\/a> in the July 16, 2012 issue of Newsweek<\/em>, that kind of morning makes me just like more than one-third of smartphone users. We are the ones who check our phones before we even get out of bed. Really? Only one-third of us do that?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Technology has allowed us to be continuously connected to a wider world, and too many of us are tethered to those portals. According to Dokoupil\u2019s article, most of us spend at least eight hours a day with our computers \u2013 \u201cmore time than we spend on any other activity including sleeping.\u201d Being on the computer means access not only to the software programs we need to work, but also to the Internet and all that comes from having that broadband connection: instant messaging, Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Reddit<\/a>, Pinterest<\/a>, blogs and more blogs, and any number of other sites for socializing, sharing, or shopping. Staying connected has never been so easy. For instance, texting<\/a> is no longer for the young, although they still dominate in text usage. Dokoupil says, \u201c[T]he average person, regardless of age, sends or receives about 400 texts a month. . . . The average teen processes an outstanding 3,700 texts a month.\u201d These numbers make my youngest son and me considerably better than average. In a recent one-month billing cycle, my teenage son processed a whopping 14,169 text messages. Me? A comparatively measly 814, yet still double the \u201caverage\u201d person\u2019s monthly texts. (FWIW, my son was amazed @ & I think a bit impressed w\/ his 1-month total.)<\/p>\n

This continuous connectivity has changed our lives; we can always<\/em> be reached, whether by email, by text, by phone (although who uses the phone part of the smartphone anymore?). We can work just about anywhere, provided there\u2019s a wi-fi connection or nearby hotspot to keep us connected. And in an instant we can upload pictures and videos of our child\u2019s first steps, of the awesome concert we\u2019re attending, of the beautiful sunset we\u2019re watching on the beach, literally moments after those things occur. Within minutes, friends we know and \u201cfriends\u201d we know only online are \u201cliking\u201d our posts, tweeting responses, forwarding to their friends (real and virtual), and maybe getting our stuff trending. All of this feels like part of a \u201cnormal\u201d life for many of us.\u00a0 What Dokoupil gets at in his article is the dark side to the continuous connectivity. He notes, \u201cThis life of continuous connection has come to seem normal, but that\u2019s not the same as saying that it\u2019s healthy or sustainable . . . .\u201d Recent research seems to indicate that continuous connectivity is literally changing our brains, and not necessarily in a good way.<\/p>\n

Dokoupil reviews research from a dozen countries that all conclude pretty much the same thing: an increasing number of us are addicted to the Internet and some of us are suffering mentally as a result.\u00a0 Dokoupil quotes one expert as saying, \u201c[T]he computer is like electronic cocaine[.]\u201d Another expert claims that the Internet \u201cencourages \u2013 and even promotes \u2013 insanity.\u201d In fact, Dokoupil\u2019s article leads off with the story of filmmaker Jason Russell<\/a>\u2019s (creator of Kony 2012<\/em>) very public mental breakdown<\/a>.\u00a0 His diagnosis:\u00a0 reactive psychosis<\/a>, a temporary insanity caused not by drugs or alcohol but by extreme stress, very likely brought on by the whirlwind cyberspace response to his posting of his Kony 2012<\/em> documentary, sending him from relative anonymity to instant notoriety.\u00a0 Dokoupil notes that the film \u201cclock[ed] more than 70 million views in less than a week\u201d and spawned both praise and critiques. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2010, researchers at the University of Maryland asked 200 undergraduate students to give up the Internet and all their mobile technologies for a single day.\u00a0 The study authors concluded, \u201cMost college students are not just unwilling, but functionally unable, to be without their media links to the world.\u201d\u00a0 Interestingly, two other schools have been unable to do similar studies because they have been unable to find enough participants. Apparently very few students are willing to go a single day<\/em> without that continuous connectivity. A psychiatrist at Stanford University School of Medicine tells Dokoupil \u201cThere\u2019s just something about the medium that\u2019s addictive,\u201d and Chinese researchers have recently noted that images of the brains of Internet addicts look similar to images of the brains of drug and alcohol addicts.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to say, \u201cWell, that\u2019s not me.\u00a0 I\u2019m<\/em> not addicted.\u201d\u00a0 But Dokoupil has news for you.\u00a0 \u201c[T]he gap between an \u2018Internet addict\u2019 and John Q. Public is thin to nonexistent.\u201d Another study found that most people in the study (except for those over 50 years old) checked their text messages, email, or social networking sites \u201call the time\u201d or \u201cevery 15 minutes.\u201d Does sound like you? Next time you\u2019re with a group of people, notice how when one person\u2019s phone rings or buzzes, everyone<\/em> reaches for his or her phone, even though you know that many of them knew that ringing or buzzing wasn\u2019t from their phones. Still, such ringing and buzzing gives us an opportunity to check our own phones \u2013 just in case. And, conveniently, someone\u2019s phone is always ringing or buzzing and so we can always check our own phones.\u00a0 Just in case. One of the early signs for addiction is that a person spends more than 38 hours a week online.\u00a0 Combine the hours spent on your smartphone (including adding up those short times throughout the day you\u2019re checking \u2013 just in case) and <\/em>your computer and you realize that you can meet the 38-hour threshold, as Dokoupil says, \u201cby Wednesday afternoon, Tuesday, if it\u2019s a busy week.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many threads from Dokoupil\u2019s article that we can pick up and explore.\u00a0 We could consider how we educate a generation who literally cannot be unplugged.\u00a0 We could explore how the use of email, texting, and social networking changes the way we practice law and communicate with clients.\u00a0 Surely such usage raises issues with client confidentiality as well as with professionalism.\u00a0 Or we could talk about whether it\u2019s even true that we are addicted to the Internet and our portals to it.\u00a0 After all, for some professionals, their constant checking of their smartphones may not be entirely by choice as much as it is by mandate or professional expectation.\u00a0 Can you unplug?\u00a0 Do you even want to try?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whoa, you like to think that you’re immune to the stuff, oh yeah It’s closer to the truth to say you can’t get enough You know you’re gonna have to face it, you’re addicted to [the Internet]. Robert Palmer, Addicted to Love (1986) (more recently covered by Florence & The Machine (2010)) This morning, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-law","category-public","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}