Rapid Web News

When was the last time you turned your phone off for the day or didn’t go online to send that all important Email, post up a status update on Facebook or Twitter? Been a while eh? In a survey carried out for Virgin Media by the analysts Future Laboratory apparently identified a type of consumer who “switched on to switch off”

A psychologist named James Brook said; “…These people know that, the modern world waits for no one and that taking a break from technology means potentially missing out…”

Hhmmm I thought sounds a little fantastic but then when you actually think about it, he’s got a point. Like I said when was the last time you actually turned your phone off? What with the advent of aeroplane mode and now being able to put your phone on silent why would you turn it off? If you come out of the cinema or step off a plane for most of us the first thing we do is check if we have any texts or Emails.

The same can be said about the internet. With social networking growing by the day it was a natural progression to integrate them into phones, Bebo on the move or MySpace on the train without need of a laptop, do we just love to chat or is it a compulsion? I’m sure there are lots of us who prefer to send 20 txt messages as opposed to just calling and chatting for a while, it’s possibly even cheaper to call after all if you work it out most texts are 10p so if you send 20 that’s £2 and it’s also 10p a minute average to call so you could have a 20 min chat. I know kids who live next door to each other but still prefer to sit at home on MSN chatting to each other. So should the question be does it cause anxiety not being able to use these social portals or would it suggest that we’re actually becoming less social because we think a short Email is a good way to communicate once a week?

“…As many as 85 per cent of full-time mothers always have the internet turned on at home, while a third of people said they no longer felt any sense of guilt about always being “connected” either by having their mobile phone or computer turned on…”

Now this is an interesting statement. Potentially 85% of full time mothers continually have the internet on? What are they doing? Does this suggest that the internet gives the majority of single mums a gateway to a social life in the day?

James Brook continues; “…At any time we might miss an important email or a phone call, an old friend may try to get in touch via Facebook or breaking news may come in. If they feel that they cannot keep up with these things because they are not connected, it will naturally have a negative impact on their emotional wellbeing and peace of mind…” – we sure do live in interesting times…