Study proves people spend more time consuming media than eating or sleeping

ELIZABETH BRACHELLI STAFF WRITER EAB722@CABRINI EDU

17 hours of media a day! Is that possible? Although you may not think so, from the minute you wake up; an addiction begins. As you get ready for the day, you turn on your radio, then your t.v., and if there’s time, you might check your email too.

Like everyone else, students today are facing the many forms of media addiction. Whether it’s a radio show, t.v. show, videogame or surfing on the internet the media is distracting the minds of everyone.

Kelly Taylor, a senior marketing major, who is one of the many dealing with media addiction, said, “I can’t miss Laguna Beach. If I miss it I go on MTV.com and I’ll look to see when it’s on again.”

Taylor was not the only one who constantly watches Laguna Beach and is giving into the media addiction.

Pegah Honarfar, a sophomore whose major is undecided, said, “I’m addicted to Laguna Beach and I’m a big fan of the show. I watch it because I like to see other people’s lives. It’s just like our lives, except on t.v. . I never miss it, and if I do, I watch the reruns. I would definitely recommend it to other people.”

Laguna Beach is a reality show on MTVthat takes place in a wealthy beachside community engaging in the lives of eight teenagers and their drama. MTV has unlimited access to the clique’s rich life. It airs Tuesday nights at 10:30 and it was reported by TV.com that it ranks 14th out of the top 50 shows.

Why are people so addicted to these forms of media? It was reported by Mediapost.com that Bob Papper has witnessed the media addiction first hand. Papper is a telecommunications professor at Ball State University, and he is also the co-author of what many believe to be the most empirical study ever done of media consumption.

Papper did a study which followed 101 consumers through their entire day and observed their media consumption patterns. Papper said, “People lose control. It’s like an eating disor- der - most people can say no, but some people can’t seem to stop,” citing an example of a man in the Middletown study who consumes 17 hours of media a day “He was basically in front of a TV, newspaper, or radio all day long, from the moment he woke to the moment he went to sleep.”

However, some students believe they have not given in to the media addiction yet. Conor McLaughlin, a senior philosophy major said, “It is something that I do in my free time. It just so happens that I usually have about an hour or two each day that I end up playing video games.”

Also, when McLaughlin was asked if it was an addiction he said, “No although I think my girlfriend would argue otherwise. My playing video-games never interferes with my school work, job or any other things in my life. A lot of my friends enjoy videogames as much as I do.”

The media addiction even has disorders. According to the Department Psycho-technology Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is now diagnosing individuals who spend endless hours surfing the internet.

Its symptoms are typing movements of the fingers, access- ing the internet more often or for longer periods of time than was intended and using a significant amount of time spent in activities related to Internet use.

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