Abstract

The aim of the study was twofold: to describe self-reported habits of ICT use in every-day life and to analyze feelings and behavior triggered by ICT and speech deprivation.The study was conducted on three randomly selected groups of students with different tasks: Without Speaking (W/S) group (n=10) spent a day without talking to anyone; Without Technology (W/T) group (n=13) spent a day without using any kind of ICT, while the third group was a control group (n=10) and had no restrictions. The participants’ task in all groups was to write a diary detailing their feelings, thoughts and behaviors related to their group’s conditions.Before the experiment, students reported their ICT related habits. Right after groups were assigned, they reported their task-related impressions. During the experiment, participants wrote diary records at three time-points.All participants used ICT on a daily basis, and most were online all the time. Dominant ICT activities were communication with friends and family, studying, followed by listening to music and watching films.Speech deprivation was a more difficult task compared to ICT deprivation, resulting in more drop-outs and more negative emotions. However, participants in W/S expected the task to be difficult, and some of them actually reported positive experiences, but for others it was a very difficult, lonesome and terrifying experience. About half of the students in W/T claimed that the task was more difficult than they had expected, and some of them realized that they are dysfunctional without technology, and probably addicted to it.

Highlights

  • Communication is an essential and fundamental part of human life

  • Participants were randomly assigned to one of the groups: Without Speaking (W/S) group spent a day without talking to anyone; Without Technology (W/T) group spent a day without using any kind of ICT, and Control group

  • Before the start of the experiment we asked participants to describe their habits related to the use of communication technology

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Summary

Introduction

Communication is an essential and fundamental part of human life. During human history various changes and improvements have been made in order to enhance communication. Origins of language and speech date about half a million years to the past, and symbols were developed about 30.000 years ago. First writing symbols from the Bronze Age about 6.000 years ago meant that people were able to send messages without direct contact with the recipient. The first true alphabet is the Greek script that was developed 3.000 years ago. Humans were intentionally writing and sending messages to each other, overcoming barriers of space and time. Computer revolution started in the first half of the 20th century, and resulted with a massive progress of communication devices, culminating with the World Wide Web

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