The Chronicle of Higher Education reported yesterday that a study at the University of Maryland suggests that students are rather fond of Facebook and their cell phones.

Hold on. Before you roll your eyes and say “duh” to that groundbreaking piece of news, it gets better. The research also indicates that when students are denied technology and social media, some will exhibit similar withdrawal symptoms to those of drug and alcohol addicts. I guess they don’t call it a Crackberry for nothing!

Joking aside, this is pretty crazy news. The Chronicle states that students showed “withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, misery, and being jittery.” One student said that texting was a “comfort” and when the ability was taken away, the student felt “quite alone and secluded from my life.”

I myself have become rather attached to technology. Just yesterday, I IMed a colleague who sits five feet away from me. I realized how absurd that was, then got up and walked around the wall of my cubicle to speak with her. That said, my entire office had to shut down their computers for an hour this morning while a crew worked on the electrical system, and I was fine. And yes, my Blackberry stayed untouched in my desk drawer–no jitters or symptoms of withdrawal, either.

As a blogger, I know that I rely on the fact that people like to stare at computer screens, but then again, I don’t want to be responsible for sending people to social media rehab. Social media and technology is awesome, but getting addicted to it to the point that you actually feel like a limb has been amputated? Not so awesome.

There’s got to be some sort of happy medium here, especially if you are a student about to go off to college. The next four years will be full of new faces and new friends, and you should be interacting with them in person, not via text or the odd Facebook wall post. I calls to mind the very sad image of everyone walking on my college campus on this beautiful spring day, heads down and thumbs working like mad to get out one more text before class.

Now that’s something that gives me the jitters.

–Barbara Bellesi