It's 4 a.m., you've got a paper due, and instead of working on the introduction you're checking your e-mail for the fifth time in 20 minutes. Allowing the Internet to devour precious time is no longer the exclusive domain of procrastinators.
Newly collected data suggests that for many Americans, spending more time with technology has left them with less time for a multitude of activities - including sex.
A recent poll of over 1,000 adult Americans conducted by JWT, the largest ad agency in America, showed that the ability to be constantly connected to the Internet - and, by extension, to other people - has had a profound impact on many people's habits.
According to Ann Mack, director of trend spotting at JWT, due to the proliferation of Internet access, "Americans are spending less time with other activities."
The JWT poll, which was initially designed to catch early trends in Americans' purchasing habits, found that 28 percent of respondents spent less time interacting with their friends in real life because of their Internet use, while 44 percent reported being less likely to read newspapers or magazines in print. Perhaps most shocking: 20 percent of respondents reported that they were having less sex as a result of their Internet usage habits.
The report also found that 55 percent of respondents felt they would feel "OK" going without access to the Internet for a few days, while only 18 percent felt that they could hold out for an entire week. Only 17 percent of poll participants said that in the past year they had willingly abstained from going online for longer than two weeks.
Junior Caroline Choi said that Internet access has become such an integral part of her life that not being able to use it would nearly be inconceivable.
"I use the Internet every day, so I've never experienced not having the Internet," Choi said. "I know I get really frustrated without having a computer."
Mack explained that many Americans feel uncomfortable without Internet access.
"Most people don't feel okay without connectivity for more than a week," she said. "They feel deprived. They speak about feeling anxious ... or bored."
But senior Lucas Walker said that he can go for quite some time without feeling the need to go online.
"I try not to rely on that sort of thing," Walker said. "I'm not one of those people who gets anxious if I can't check my Facebook or my e-mail," he said.
Choi said that she has had to make an effort to ensure that she doesn't lose too much time to the Internet.
"Facebook and checking e-mail take a lot of time for me," Choi said. "I shut down the [Facebook.com] wall ... otherwise I'd be constantly checking."
Walker admitted that while he does not spend much time online, he does spend time pursuing other digital passions.
"I lose most of my time to video games," Walker said. "I think it's just a matter of 'pick your electronic poison.'"
The need to be constantly connected can become a problem for some. Alcohol and Drug Treatment Specialist Jeanne Haley, a clinical social worker at Tufts' Counseling Center, helps people with addictions related to online gambling or gaming.
She said that she has not encountered a case where someone was addicted to the Internet itself, but that there are generalizations that can be made about addictive behavior that would indicate when an activity such as Internet use becomes a problem.
"I guess the line would be ... when you keep having negative consequences when you don't want to have them," Haley said.
Haley added that other troubling signs include lying about one's actions, letting one's interpersonal relations suffer, or feeling unable to change one's behavior.
"If you don't feel like you can leave [the computer], it's probably going to have some negative consequences somewhere down the line," Haley said.
According to Haley, the ability to be in constant contact creates different expectations about how interpersonal relationships operate.
"Another addiction to technology ... is that our relationships depend on 24/7 access," Haley said. "It's often less face-to-face access ... I think that's a different technological shift we have to deal with."
Mack agreed, saying that people are increasingly less likely to see "online and offline as mutually exclusive. Their online and offline lives are so intertwined."
Haley acknowledged that it is difficult to say when an individual's Internet usage has become problematic, or even addictive.
"It is kind of a cultural phenomenon," Haley said. "No one goes anywhere without being able to check their e-mail, Facebook ... I guess that's the question: 'When is it addiction and when is it just the way we live our lives now?'"
Walker said that although he dislikes constantly checking Facebook or e-mail, it has become a necessary way to keep in touch with people.
"Lots of Facebook, lots of e-mail tends to be more annoying - but to keep up with people, you kind of have to," he said.
