In much the same way that I have been loyal to my BB, I have also been a loyal subscriber to facebook. I remember when I first opened my FB account. I was in my desk slacking off from work when I just decided to open an account right there and then. Ever since I opened that account, I never fail to check my FB whenever I go online.
Only this December 2011, I opened a twitter account. With the ease of use presented by the twitter app for Blackberry, I am now connected to the twitter network 24 hours a day. I have tweeted 356 times in a little more than a month. I get the urge to tweet or to check my twitter through my phone almost every 1o minutes, particularly when I am bored or when I have idle time.
Which leads me to an interesting piece of research that I came across just the other day. According to a research done by students from Chicago University, it is harder to resist checking one's twitter account than it is to resist smoking or drinking.
This finding particularly interested me because just 5 months ago, I was able to quit smoking. It was a hard and tough journey. But finally, after smoking since late High School, I can now see someone smoking (like the picture) and not get the urge to light up myself. According to the team headed by Wilhelm Holfman, “Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not ‘cost much’ to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist. With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long-term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may still ‘steal’ a lot of people’s time.”
Now, if it took me that long to kick that habit, and social media, or more specifically, twitter is even more addictive than smoking, then I am definitely in big trouble..
Norman Roland E. Ocana III, Entry # 7
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