Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Marc Giauque reportingTechnology is changing the way we communicate. But can it actually get to the point that some people are getting addicted to e-mails, blogs or text messaging? One researcher calls it "pathological computer use," and he wants his colleagues in the world of psychology to do more research.
Brittney Ball has gone through about seven phones of her own. "I used my parents when I was, like, 11 just to text my friend, and then I got my own when I was 13," she said.
Now 16, text messaging is her main means of communication. She says she receives around 600 text messages a day.
To quote a famous line, there's only one way you'd get her phone from her: "From [her] cold, dead hands." She says she doesn't think she could put her phone down for even a week. "I would go nuts," she said.
When faced with the proposition of being able to talk all she wanted on the phone, but not text, Ball said, "I still wouldn't, no."
"As I was driving down I-15, from my cell phone I wrote what is known as a ‘tweet,'" Politis said. "It's a microblog."
Politis, whose company caters to high-tech clients, uses "Twitter" as a business tool. His BlackBerry with Web access is never off, and rarely, if ever, leaves his side. "It would be really hard for me. It's hard to get away from business period. It's part of it as an entrepreneur. It's part of my life. It's part of how I stay connected," he said.
While planning a recent out-of-country vacation, Politis went so far as to find out what kind of access his phone would have.
But can staying connected really become a compulsion, even an addiction? Dr. Jerald Block, whose editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry got worldwide attention, thinks so. "I would call this, more generally, a pathological computer use," he said.
Block says it involves excessive use that leads to negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement or fatigue. He says there can be feelings of anxiety or anger when the gadget is inaccessible and a need for the latest and greatest equipment.
"People very rarely present for the disorder specifically. They present for depression. They present for anxiety disorder. They present for obsessive-compulsive disorder, any number of things," Block said.
Though he says his main focus on pathological computer use involves Internet pornography and video games, Block says text messaging also can fall into that category.
Addiction or not, experts say text messaging is presenting some new societal problems.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
