Twitter and Facebook more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol

We’re no longer surprised when we come across research that claims checking emails, tweets and scrolling through Facebook is addictive. Just go into any office around midday and you’ll see good, hard proof of that.

However, a new study of our everyday desires has found that the urge to keep on top of our emails and check what our friends are doing online is stronger than the desire to smoke and drink, which is pretty worrying given how addictive they are.

The research was published this week in a journal called Psychological Studies, which also found that our ability to resist a quick Facebook fix lessens throughout the day.

Dr Wilhelm Hofmann, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who oversaw the study, said:

“Modern life is a welter of assorted desires marked by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success. As a day wears on, willpower becomes lower and self-control efforts are more likely to fail.”

However, although we admit to being completely addicted to checking emails, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (the list really could go on and on) constantly ourselves, we’re a bit wary about the conclusions drawn from a study that’s only polled 200 people. Let’s hope more conclusive research is carried out in this area soon before everything becomes a little too much like The Matrix.

[Via All Facebook Image via Geekosystem]