SALISBURY, Md.- Remember the days of snail mail and chatting face to face? It still happens, of course, but the way we communicate today has undergone some changes over the years. Call it the "social media revolution." A revolution so profound, a new study from Chicago University finds using social media is more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol.
So how hard is it to kick the habit? Join WBOC as we follow the journey of four Salisbury University students, as they go "cold turkey" for a week.
Ashley Ramirez is a lot like many of us: using social media is just a part of life.
"It's kind of like second nature to me. I check my Facebook I guess just as much as I check to see if I have a text message," she says.
The longest she's gone without it?
"It's hard because if it's not Facebook, it's Twitter- so honestly maybe like two days."
But she's up for the challenge. Ramirez is going social media free, for a whole week.
"It's going to be tough," she acknowledges.
Joining her is fellow classmate Bryan Kratz.
"I'm feeling pretty good," he smiles. "I thiink I can do it but I guess I'm excited to check it out, see if I can."
Also stepping up to the plate are Danielle Hart and Jessica Beever.
Day one? Already off to a challenging start for our only male participant.
Kratz explains, "Just this morning, I saw an email that said you have a photo tagged of you and I was like, oh, I want to check it out but couldn't, so..."
Stepping back for a quick history lesson, Facebook, arguably the most notorious of the social media services, launched back in 2004. Eight years later, the site boasts more than 845 million active users. Factor in Twitter, Myspace, Google+ and it's a world that just keeps getting bigger.
A phenomenon that shows no signs of stopping.
Just temporarily, for purposes of our social media experiment.
Let's check back in with our guinea pigs, who are self-documenting their journey.
"So, day three without social media. It's going pretty well. I think the funniest thing is that my roommate's birthday was today and I thought it was this past weekend 'cause he went home. Well, I would've known if I had Facebook but I don't. I can't use it," Kratz says.
"I guess I've just been doing other things to fill up time 'cause I know I can't go to it and it's not bothering me, so I'm a little bit surprised," reveals Beever.
"I'm not minding it as much since I'm a little used to not using it. I guess we'll see how the rest of the week pans out and see if I can resist temptation," adds Ramirez.
The week now over, it's time to find out how it went.
Ramirez echoes a common theme.
"I feel like no matter how many times I tried not to go to the website, it always found me. Like, with my phone, I would get the little Twitter bird on the top, or I would get like an email saying I had something going on, on either Facebook or Twitter."
Beever says giving up social media got her some shocked reactions from friends.
"They were like how are you going to do that? Like in shock like they thought it was crazy and that I was actually willing to do it, they thought was really weird," she says.
As for Hart, she had to find other ways of occupying her time.
"It's so much easier to be in line waiting, bored and be like oh, I'll get on Twitter or Facebook or something where now, I was kind of like OK, I'll look at the word of the day and stuff like that," Hart tells us.
And how about the "back-to-basics" communication?
"Instead of trying to get in touch with people on Facebook, I had to call them, you know, on the phone, which was weird," Kratz jokes.
Our group says they went in prepared for the challenge but there were a couple weak moments.
"So you know how I was telling you earlier that little Twitter bird that comes up on the top of your phone? Well, I kind of pressed on it and checked out 'cause I was tagged in something where they're like oh Ashley, want to go to the gym or something and I was just like oh my God," Ramirez says, revealing how temptation got the best of her.
Beever, who completely deactivated her Facebook and Twitter accounts, says this experiment had a surprising result.
"When it came down to it, I didn't even think to reactivate it until like Tuesday and it was because I needed somebody's number and I was like oh, I can get back on Facebook," she notes.
And Ramirez agrees. Kind of.
"Since like I didn't have it, I don't feel the need to go to it as much as I used to. Which I actually really like. It's not like, crucial anymore, it's just like oh, it's something that.. I can live without. A little bit."
AP Photo
