Are You Plagued By 'Internet Fatigue'?
Category: InternetPosted: June 10, 2009 12:59PM
Author: jammin
Are you the type of person who has their cell phone constantly within arms reach and that conducts a majority of their work and social communication through the use of technology or the internet? If you are, then you are probably less likely to feel harassed by phone calls or constant messages on services such as Twitter. However, if you feel that sometimes it all gets a bit too much, then you wouldn't be alone, as is suggested by recent research conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The report, titled "The Mobile Difference" puts people into 10 groups depending on how they feel about technology, as well as how much of a role it plays in their day to day lives. CNN talked to the report's author, John Horrigan about the findings of the research, drawing particular attention to those people who make wide use of mobile devices and social networks but that also feel concerned about being constantly available to others, or rather that they need to be. Horrigan says that the challenge is for people to see services such as Facebook or Twitter as tools, rather than as obligations.
If you want to find out for yourself which of the 10 groups you fit into, you can still take the online survey. The groups have playful titles such as "Roving Nodes" and "Mobile Newbies", though it is the "Digital Collaborators" (8% of those surveyed) that are most involved with technology and happy to be so (and being an news editor on an enthusiast website, the group that I happen to fit in to). Interestingly, the number of people 'off-network' (14%) was roughly the same in 2008 as it was in 2006, though Horrigan believes that will shrink as more people become dependent on cell phones. You can read the full report here.
