University of Washington researchers have identified a trend in which a growing number of people want to resist constant connectivity with technology and disengage from the online world. They examined personal blogs and websites, popular media sources, and academic conferences and journals to determine the motivation for what they call pushback. The researchers originally speculated the trend would be driven by frustration with devices, as well as the cost of obtaining new technologies and discomfort with having to learn new technologies. However, they found it was the result of users’ feeling that technology was not meeting their needs and expressed emotional dissatisfaction, even anger. Others expressed political, religious, or moral concerns – such as wanting to adhere to “beliefs that encourage selfless behavior and face-to-face interaction with others” --, as well as the desire to better control their time and energy. The researchers found people reducing technology use are taking steps such as limiting online activities, reverting to voice-only phones, or, in a few cases, going offline completely. They will present their findings at the iConference in Berlin in March 2014. (SlashDot)(University of Washington)(S. Morrison and R. Gomez, “Pushback: the growth of expressions of resistance to constant online connectivity.”)
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Study: Individuals Increasingly Push Back against Technology
