“Addicted to Text Messaging” KSL Radio Asks
That was the thrust of Part 1 of a two-part news report filed for Salt Lake City-based KSL radio by Marc Giaque: “Addicted to Text Messaging - Part 1.”
Giaque’s story was triggered by an editorial entitled “Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction” written by Jerald J. Block, M.D. and published in the March 2008 edition of The American Journal of Psychiatry. (NOTE: Apparently, DSM-V refers to the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is targeted for publication about 2011. DSM-IV is the current manual used by mental health professionals.)
Dr. Block suggests that excessive use of e-mail/text messaging is just one of three common types of Internet-connected “compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder(s)” that “involve online and/or offline computer usage,” the other two being excessive computer gaming or “sexual preoccupations” (his term, not mine).
Each of these three Internet disorders exhibit four characteristics (Dr. Block claims), namely
- Excessive use,
- Withdrawal,
- Tolerance, and
- Negative repercussions.
For Part 1 of his piece, Giaque focused specifically on text messaging, and we had a long and wide-ranging on-the-record interview on the subject in our Draper, Utah offices about a week-and-a-half ago.
If you check out Giaque’s story online, you’ll note that there are more than 90 comments on the subject in a little more than 24 hours, meaning it generated a higher than average interest among KSL listeners.
Interestingly, none of the comments centered on Twitter, which was the main focus of my section of the Part 1 story.
It made me wonder if Twitter has yet to crossover to mainstream usage yet? Curious.
Chances are if you’re reading Utah Tech Watch you already use text messaging as another vehicle for staying in touch. But do you Twitter (or “tweet” as us Twitterians say), either as a user or a follower, as a way of staying connected and in touch?
If so, I’d like to hear from you. And if not, I’m also curious to hear why not. Thanks.
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UPDATE:
I guess I should have dug a bit further, as Part II of Giaque’s story is running today and is up on the KSL Website already at http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=3367797.
Hmmmm. It’s generated more than 25 comments already today.
Filed under: Industry News
I Tweet. It’s a balancing trick. There is value, if you know how to extract it, in online contacts and social networking. But there’s also value in not alienating or ignoring the people around you.
And there’s value in chatting with friends on your porch on a summer evening and Tweeting about it in hopes that more friends will show up!
-Mike