When Does Technolust Become An Addiction? 281
An anonymous reader writes "According to a CNet article, an incredible one in three people aged 16 to 24 in the UK would not give up their mobile phone for a million pounds. 'The phone-centric survey, called Mobile Life, was carried out across the UK and questioned 1,256 people aged 16 to 64 on a variety of topics ... So young people really like having a mobile phone and we all love buying gadgets. But before you dismiss this research as stating the bleeding obvious, think about this -- if someone had told you even ten years ago that people would be taking out second mortgages to buy flat screen TVs, would you have believed it?' Is this just the result of deliberately skewed marketing dressed up as research, or is this another indication of western culture's obsession with communication and technology? How much is too much tech?"
hmmm (Score:2, Insightful)
I'll take it. (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd give up my cell phone for a million pounds, if (Score:2, Insightful)
These surveys are bullshit (Score:1, Insightful)
If you held out a briefcase stuffed with a real million pounds in notes and offered that, few people would hesitate before handing over their cellphone, lover, mother in law etc.
Re:These surveys are bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope they'd find that a sufficient answer.
Re:When? (Score:4, Insightful)
To answer the question in TFA (which is just a repeat of the Register's finding that teenagers would rather give up SEX than their phone for a month) is when you are with another human being and fail to put the phone on vibrate/let everything go to voice mail. Voice Mail, SMS, and E-mail are SUPPOSED to be asynchronous forms of communication- that means you can put the phone down and drive, or actually talk to other people once in a while. USE the technology, don't let the technology ABUSE you.
I doubt it (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, I wouldn't give mine up
Re:second mortgage? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)
maybe they value communication with their friends and family more than money...
I initially expected just to agree with "this is deliberately skewed marketing dressed up as research," but that's actually an interesting point when you think about it. The survey asked people aged 16-24 "whether or not they would sacrifice being able to own or use a mobile phone ever again" according to TFA. If you are 16-24, then probably all of your friends communicate with each other by cell phone. By not having a phone, you'd miss out on a lot of social life. People are going to the movies? Oops, couldn't reach you, maybe next time. Meet a cute girl or boy? Give 'em your landline and hope they call when you're at home (and your parents don't answer and embarrass you, or your stoner roommate doesn't answer and forget to take a message). Hey, guys, what's everybody laughing about? What are you texting each other about? Etc.
Maybe the bigger surprise is that supposedly materialistic youngsters actually recognized the value of friendship over money.
Whay are you guys replying to a Goatse thread?? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:When? (Score:5, Insightful)
And the rest of the gadgets? Leave 'em at home. Now, part of this is that most of my vacations involve camping (drive up camping, I'm too fat and lazy to backpack anymore, and the only one of the people I go with who would consider doing it); and the last thing I need, when I am trying to get away from civilization, is some idiot blaring a reminder of that crap a few hundred feet away. The forest/desert have very nice and interesting sounds if you just stop and listen to them. And anyone bringing a laptop/TV/DVD player deserves a beating with a stick. I enjoy sitting around a camp fire watching the flames and hearing the sounds of the sap popping and good conversation with friends, music detracts from that.
Lastly: teenagers would rather give up SEX than their phone for a month
Either they aren't getting it anyway, so it's not a loss for them; or they only asked prudes. If my choice in High School had been talking on the phone or sex, I'd have been pants-less before they finished asking the question.
Laugh. (Score:2, Insightful)
If you have a million pounds, she'll find you. (Score:3, Insightful)
Really, if you're worth a million pounds, she'll find you.
Friends will understand that you don't have the access that they do
Believe it or not, we used to be able to get together and even find mates before cell phones and pagers. Even before answering machines.
Rather, I'm betting that this "survey" didn't have the cash in hand when they asked that question.
What Addiction Is (Score:5, Insightful)
Alcohol addiction is the classic: alcoholism. It's not just that one "drinks too much". Or too often, or the wrong stuff. Those are ways to tell someone is an alcohol addict. The alcoholic does not have self control over their drinking. Perhaps they need a drink to destroy their limits, or perhaps there is no initial barrier. Even recovering alcoholics cannot take a single drink, because the effect of that drink on their self control leaves them with no resistance - or is so likely to that they cannot take the chance. But even those not taking any drinks are still alcoholics, because they lack self control over taking it. They are behaving like they have some self control, but it's really gained by a huge, constant effort plugged into social structures, including regular meetings, and lots of conscious training, like 12 step programs.
Techno addiction is rarer, but still happens. There are compulsive shoppers to whom technology, especially media devices, have a stronger appeal than their own best interest. You can tell when people are addicts because they miss rent or meals, but have every new game.
These are all consumption disorders. Americans have them in epidemic proportions. Partly because we consume alcohol, drugs, toys, clothing, food and everything else to feed a desire really created by something else. Usually "spiritual", but most often caused by a family problem, especially early in life. And, as a buddhist will tell you, feeding the desire just makes it stronger. The resulting attachment to the material forces us further from the spiritual, which increases the desire, more consumption - the Wheel of Living [wikipedia.org].
Re:Well. (Score:3, Insightful)
I think part of the reason is that advertising has become so pervasive, and so effective. Many people think that they need these things to be happy, and it's a view that is constantly reinforced on TV.
I think another reason is that people consider collecting stuff to be an acheivement. People's homes look like showrooms, equipped with the latest tect, the trendyist furniture, and everything is accessorised. Much of this spending is fueled by debt.
They spend much of their free time thinking about how to best improve their home, and don't think about personal improvement (learning new skills, etc) as something worth pursuing.
Perhaps part of the reason for this is that we have become (well, the middle class, anyway) much wealthier in the last 10 - 15 years, and this accruing of stuff is still novel for many people. Hopefully, people will wake up and realise that they're being sucked-in to buying crap they don't need, with money they don't have, and that they'd have a much more fulfilling life if they had less stuff - or at least didn't care quite so much about it.
I'm not holding my breath though...
Re:Wealth? (Score:3, Insightful)
We have gained wealth as a society. There are still many people who don't have the same amounts of wealth, but feel the need to pretend they do, to compete with (or emulate) the Joneses.
Hope that clears things up for you.
Re:hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:second mortgage? (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, I think it sounds more like a nation of naive people who don't understand that (a) credit is just another word for debt, (b) house prices are not guaranteed to continue rising at double-figure increments per year, and indeed may fall sharply if the bubble gets too big, and (c) the combination may lead people to have a lot, lot less money than they thought, with relatively little warning.
But hey, that's good news for those of us who save up, don't buy houses at stupidly inflated prices, and only spend what we can actually afford. High interest rates now followed by a house price crash later in the year would suit me nicely. :-)
Re:Obligatory - retarded premise (Score:2, Insightful)
s/peanut/Cell Phone/g
s/20 dollars/1 million pounds/g
Re:Laugh. (Score:3, Insightful)
Anybody remember the sleazy guy in the library in the old Discworld PC game. He said he wouldn't give up his gold banana earring for all the gold in the kingdom, but quickly changes his tune when Rincewind actually turns up with all the gold in the kingdom.
We guessed that people would think twice when presented with the actual cash/cheque.
We also noted the exchange rate - in the mind of US/AU people, a million dollars isn't quite enough to live comfortably and never have to work again. We had to remind ourselves that 1GBP ~ 2.00USD ~ 2.35AUD ~ morethanyou'llearninyourlifetime. In fact, if you gave me 2 mill, I could retire and nearly hire someone to follow me around with their mobile. :)
Re:Hardly surprising (Score:4, Insightful)
However, surveys are far from scientific studies, and should never be accorded the same respect.
First, there is no trusting the actual source of the data. Humans lie for amusement. Humans lie for profit. Humans lie because they're lazy. Humans lie to computers because computers don't know the difference. When taking a survey, some people I know answer "C.", because we all learned in school that C is usually the right answer. Others pick the most outlandish answer. Look at the 2001 New Zealand census -- 1.5% of all New Zealanders are practicing Jedi. (OK, some of them are Reformed Jedi.) Does that mean you throw away those 1.5% from your data? Does that mean the other 98.5% are telling the truth? Did the Jedi answer other questions faithfully? Strangely enough, the New Zealand census removed all references to Jedi from their published figures, masking the very existence of the false data and making it that much harder to understand.
Second, the source of data is skewed. You may think it's a random sampling of the population, but there is an increasingly large percent of well educated, affluent people who have demanded to be added to "do not call" lists. They have neither the time nor the inclination to answer some random series of questions, and so have removed themselves voluntarily from the pool. That's going to skew answers in the direction of the uneducated poorer segments of society. Are the surveys adjusted for shifts like these? Hardly, as advertisers typically aim "low", and these skewed surveys provide only confirmations of the answers they want to hear, rather than the data they deserve. The answers might be fine if you're researching whether you really need Clydesdales to sell Budweiser or if you could get away with airbrushed appaloosas, but might be horribly misleading if you're selling Lexuses (Lexii?)
Science is about observation. Surveys are about asking opinions. Statistics are used to try to give surveys the air of science, but they're still originated on false premises.
Re:Well. (Score:5, Insightful)
I know someone who makes less than $30K a year yet saw fit to buy a $4K bed. We don't say people have an "expensive furniture addiction." I've met non-rich guys whose car rims cost $1.5K each. Why is this any different than with plasma screens or cellphones? We all buy what we want, and beyond food/shelter/clothing/medicine, almost all of it is luxury.
Re:Hardly surprising (Score:3, Insightful)
See, I think you lost most people there.
But then, just in case, you followed it up with:
And that's just freaking hilarious. Do you really honestly believe that?
I could spend a bucketload of money creating something, and it might still be worthless. The only intrinsic value something has based on the cost of producing it is a negative value. The produced goods or services have to actually be useful/beneficial in some way in order to overcome that initial negative value.
Suddenly a lot of things about market research have become much clearer to me.
Quality of life vs. money (Score:2, Insightful)
30% of people would not give up running water for a million pounds! 17% would not give up electric lights!
Stupid "money is everything" attitude.. *grumble*