According to a study led by Wilhelm Hofmann of Chicago University’s Booth Business School who looked at 205 people aged 18 – 85 checking emails or social networking on Twitter may be a stronger desire than alcohol, tobacco and even having sex. From the study:
Resisting the desire to work was likewise prone to fail. In contrast, people were relatively successful at resisting sports inclinations, sexual urges, and spending impulses, which seems surprising given the salience in modern culture of disastrous failures to control sexual impulses and urges to spend money.
Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not ‘cost much’ to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist. With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long-term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one.
We kinda saw this one coming...