Young Students Are Addicted to Technology    [22-04-2011] We are living in the 21st century. We are leading comfortable lives thanks to modern technology. We can get useful information quickly and easily from computers and smartphones anytime, anywhere. Technology surely makes our lives more convenient and enjoyable. However, more and more people are getting addicted to technology. Even young students are already addicted to modern devices such as tablet PCs and smartphones. According to a new study, many students all over the world are addicted to modern technology. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland in the U.S. They found nearly four in five students had significant mental and physical panic, distress, confusion, and extreme isolation when they were forced to unplug from technology for an entire day. The researchers studied almost 1,000 young students aged between 17 and 23 in 10 countries including Britain, America, and China. The participants were asked to give up their mobile phones, the Internet, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for 24 hours. They were not allowed to watch television, either. Among them, about 150 students at Bournemouth University in Britain were asked to keep a diary of their thoughts. The study found that most of the students felt very anxious and lonely without media. Only 21 percent said they could feel the benefits of being unplugged. Most students who participated in the research used virtually the same words to describe their feelings when forced to abstain from using media. These included emotions such as fretful, confused, anxious, irritable, insecure, nervous, restless, crazy, addicted, panicked, jealous, angry, lonely, dependent, and depressed. “I felt very nervous and anxious when I was forced not to use media for 24 hours,” said a 20-year-old student from Bournemouth University, who took part in the study. “I felt like a helpless man on a lonely deserted island in the big ocean. I was very shocked to learn how addicted I was,” he added. “We found college students at campuses across the globe admitted being ‘addicted’ to modern technology such as mobile phones, laptops, and television as well as social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter,” said Professor Susan Moeller, who led the research. “Most students failed to go the full 24 hours without media. This is because technology provides the social network for young people today and they have spent their entire lives being plugged in.”     출처: 어린이 영자신문 키즈타임즈 (www.kidstimes.net)