Students try 'Unplugged' experiment.

Could you survive for 24 hours without television, radio, the internet or any other form of media? Students at Bournemouth University have been doing just that, as part of a global experiment called Unplugged.

The aim is to find out just how addicted young people now are to the media.

Source: Students try 'Unplugged' experiment

Are things really this bad for some people?

Withdrawal symptoms, overeating, nervousness, isolated, disconnected...just some of the things people suffer from when you take away the screens.

Is this addiction? Some would call it brainwashing.

Either way, i find it quite sad that people struggle this badly when technology is removed from thier lives, even if its just a very short time. 24 hrs is nothing.

I appreciate that many people need technology for business, but for things to get so bad that it is health altering to be without it, you need to sit back and have a think IMO.

I cannot even begin to think what they would be like if a lengthy power cut hit, we'd have more trouble with people struggling to cope with the loss of Facebook than the real problems that would be upon us.

CX.

They should go camping for a few days.

It's great!

-m0r

Originally posted by CX
I cannot even begin to think what they would be like if a lengthy power cut hit, we'd have more trouble with people struggling to cope with the loss of Facebook than the real problems that would be upon us.

It certainly gives one pause for thought, doesn't it?


Hopefully, more people will wake up to the subtle dangers of the technological wave of conditioning we're sitting in right in the middle of.

Hardcore tech addiction sets a dangerous precedent for emergency situations and an additional burden for those who are prepared for such.

Society (as a whole) really needs to take a step back and look at this phenomenon with such a consideration in mind.


(An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say...)

Luckily, I have others thing to entertain beside these above; such as reading book, sketching, exercising, and these just things I do around the house.
Plus when SHTF ...... I damn sure that we have tons of thing to do.

Originally posted by m0r1arty
They should go camping for a few days.

It's great!

-m0r

Umm what for

I bet there is a camping simulator around somewhere for Xbox or PC ?

Are these the same students who are leaving university with 30K in debt and complaining?

I have my gadgets, I enjoy them and use them daily. I would miss them were they gone, but I'd adjust quickly, I'm old enough to remember books made of paper.

The problem is that when you are disconnected for the first time in a long while, you try to find ways to cure your boredom. One of those ways is by doing something archaic known as "thinking." These people begin to think about their lives, how empty their days are, and understand what they have become.

This is why I believe it is impossible for the global elite to ever "turn off" the Internet. The chaos that would ensue overnight would be on an unprecedented level.

Originally posted by Thill

Originally posted by m0r1arty
They should go camping for a few days.

It's great!

-m0r

Umm what for

I bet there is a camping simulator around somewhere for Xbox or PC ?

edit on 22-10-2010 by Thill because: my reasons are my own

Sim Camp !

All the joys of camping without the mess !

Pitch your tent in glorious 3D !

Be at one with nature without needing any OFF to keep away those pesky bugs !

Sing around the campfire with royalty free non-copyrighted songs !

Make s'mores ! ( durn spell checker doesn't know what s'mores are, that's just silly )

All this and much much more all in Sim Camp !

- W -
* I should copyright this idea, but by the time I do there'll be one on FaceBook *

I think this is a good experiment.

There are millions of people all over the world who probably do not know how to cook without using a microwave.


Wouldn't it be easier to just go meet some South American Indians, or the Amish....and see how they still continue to be happy and existing without going full cybertechno?

reply to post by CX


Things like this annoy the crap out of me and make me want to slap those morons in the head....

There was recently guy who lived in his bathroom for a week, to see how he'd cope without the internet..

WTF!

Gahhh.. Morons, Damn it I still remember the days when people looked at those who used computers as nerds. I remember my cousins thinking I was a freak because I'd tie up the phone line for hours on end downloading from BBS's... You had to then at 300 baud... and eventually 1200/75..

Sure, me an my mate were the exception, we were yobbos who'd do things like get drunk for a bus ride or spend weeks at an AC/DC line up to get tickets, dressed in our usual flannel shirts and db's, etc, but when people caught us talking about things like FidoNet and chat rooms like LTUAE and how neat it was we now had a point address on a node, they'd get confused...

Years later they'd hear us discussing networking while sitting in the pub guzzling beer, and you could see it in their faces "Yobbos cant know what computers are? That's what Nerds are for."

Now everyone is into it, and people are addicted like this? Now everyone is a whizzbang on the PC and have to get detox???

Kids don't even know what a dos prompt was, let alone when they never had a computer... A young twit laughed the other month when I referred to the local network inside a college as the Intranet... He corrected me and told me it was the IntERnet....

I hate it.... I wanna go back to the 80's before the internet, when chat rooms were non-addictive to idiots who make the entire situation look like a bad movie...

Originally posted by m0r1arty
They should go camping for a few days.

It's great!

-m0r

Erm... If I went camping I would ensure take with me my Ipad, Ipod, Macbook, Korg nanokeys and kontrol, Iphone, Satnav, PSP, DSi, 1tb External hard disk filled with movies, games, music, Potable sola charger.

LoL

Korg.

Originally posted by m0r1arty
They should go camping for a few days.

It's great!

-m0r

Be careful of wild animals like bears, cougars and wolves. Otherwise, camping will be really fun.. especially doing some raw exercise in tent .

Originally posted by badw0lf
reply to post by CX

 

Things like this annoy the crap out of me and make me want to slap those morons in the head....

There was recently guy who lived in his bathroom for a week, to see how he'd cope without the internet..

WTF!

Gahhh.. Morons, Damn it I still remember the days when people looked at those who used computers as nerds. I remember my cousins thinking I was a freak because I'd tie up the phone line for hours on end downloading from BBS's... You had to then at 300 baud... and eventually 1200/75..

Sure, me an my mate were the exception, we were yobbos who'd do things like get drunk for a bus ride or spend weeks at an AC/DC line up to get tickets, dressed in our usual flannel shirts and db's, etc, but when people caught us talking about things like FidoNet and chat rooms like LTUAE and how neat it was we now had a point address on a node, they'd get confused...

Years later they'd hear us discussing networking while sitting in the pub guzzling beer, and you could see it in their faces "Yobbos cant know what computers are? That's what Nerds are for."

Now everyone is into it, and people are addicted like this? Now everyone is a whizzbang on the PC and have to get detox???

Kids don't even know what a dos prompt was, let alone when they never had a computer... A young twit laughed the other month when I referred to the local network inside a college as the Intranet... He corrected me and told me it was the IntERnet....

I hate it.... I wanna go back to the 80's before the internet, when chat rooms were non-addictive to idiots who make the entire situation look like a bad movie...

DOS ? Forget that, ask a kid what magnetic tape is, or a punch card is for that matter, I'm sure the look of total cluelessness would be worth it alone. I better stop before I go into grandpa mode.

"When I was yer age, we didn't have no inter-web-thingy, we had 2 paper cups & some string, and we liked it by gum."

I can just see myself at the old folks home saying things like that to the kids who then say "Yea, right old man" to me doubting my word that there weren't any home computers when I was a kid in the late 1960's & early 1970's, gee how did we ever survive without all this high tech junk back in the day ?

Oh yea that's right we went outside & played, fell down a lot, got hurt, no one was sued, no one was worried about the boogieman of the day, we were left alone without any parental supervision, SCANDALOUS ! No way would that happen today, kids aren't allowed to go 1in away from any responsible parent no matter what. That could be why so many are brought up with all this high tech junk, here, you can use this to go anywhere, no need to go outside where you could get hurt or kidnapped or whatever we're afraid of today.

It's sad that we're so paranoid we're forcing our kids to become total shut-ins who once they do go outside it'll be like "IT BURNSSS USSS, NASSSTI HOBBITSSS !" it's like we're turning them into vampires even if they don't want to be one. I can easily see a time when everyone will be pasty white from this whole mess.

- W -
* I hope someday all this tech becomes as useless as a rock, all we need is one huge EMP and that's all folks *

P.S. I know I'd get more done, draw, write, do creative things I don't really need a computer for.

That's pathetic. I was at my relative's place earlier this month for five days and except for some TV I never used any of those; I didn't use a computer or telephone, and no music except during the 7 hour drive.

A couple times I've tried that '24 hours unplugged' thing, and I found the biggest thing I missed was when reading a book and seeing something I wanted to research further. (a bio lookup on wikipedia, or the definition of a word, for instance) Online dictionaries have so many more words than most paper ones. (my paper dictionary doesn't have half the stuff I look up, especially long scientific words)

That's the one thing that the internet changed in the way I do things. As a kid, I used to love going to the library and checking out books, especially science fiction and astronomy. In junior high and high school, I started using the school libraries a lot more than the public ones, due to convenience, obviously. Nowadays, I still read a lot, but mostly I buy books and read them when I get to them, or I read things online. Even in university, I hardly ever used the library, and those few times I did, it was always for history or english, not my engineering major.

As a frame of reference, I'm 28, finished high school in 2000 and university in 2006. The first time I ever used the internet I was in grade 7 (1994 or so) I first had internet at home in about grade 10 or 11 (dialup, late 90s) and got cable internet in about 2001 or 02.

edit: I remember a few months ago, there was a thread somewhere (breaking news?) that was titled something like 'facebook gets hacked' or 'facebook shut down'. The OP said something like 'zomg facebook has been down for at least 15 minutes, anyone know why???? this is AWFUL!!!!' A couple other people posted and said they had no problems logging into it :p I don't remember who it was but I thought it was pretty funny. (apologies if it was anyone reading this and takes offense at my attitude towards it)

I saw that at my school website, when I tried it about 20 minutes later I was passed out for about 6 hours, I woke up and tried to continue on and so I went outside for what I thought was 2 hours and it turned out to be 30 minutes, I then tried reading a book and my mind kept thinking about what could be on TV, Internet or ATS and I just quit. I lasted about 8 hours.

New record for me!!

reply to post by Woulfe


I assume we won't be hearing from Woulfe again.

He's probably destroyed all electrical appliances in a fit of retro.

reply to post by SkyBluePegasus


Nope, I was offline for awhile, it was great. Went outside, enjoyed the rainy weather. Looked at all the fall colors around here. Went to an art gallery, looked at some art. Came back home, ate some dinner. Went to sleep, didn't watch TV, didn't use a computer, didn't listen to a radio. You should try it sometime, it's rather refreshing.

There is also the addiction of radiation from the devices that are used. I have noticed that anytime studies like these are conducted, there is always a crucial portion that is not properly evaluated.