OPINION:
A new survey to gauge how addicted Americans are to social media shows that — well, Americans are pretty dang addicted to social media.
So addicted, in fact, that a good chunk of participants said they’d rather go a year without alcohol, a year without coffee and a year without sex before going a year without social media. Others, according to the YourStorageFinder.com survey — which was itself conducted via responses from 2,021 people on social media platforms like Facebook, Skype and Whatsapp — would quit air conditioning, their jobs, their belongs, their pets and their current rates of pay, before quitting social media.
Coffee — really?
Anyhow, in a question that simply asked, “Would you rather [fill-in-the-blank] or give up social media for a year?” — the responses went like this: Nearly 57 percent said they’d toss the booze; 51 percent, coffee; almost 22 percent, air conditioning; and a bit more than 20 percent, sex. On that, almost 26 percent of women said they’d throw in the sex towel, compared to only 14 percent or so of men.
Meanwhile, more than 36 percent said they’d gain 10 pounds before relinquishing their social media accounts; just shy of 24 percent said they’d “read every word of the ’terms and conditions’ for the rest” of their lives; almost 18 percent said they’d allow their relationship to go long-distance for a year; and right around 15 percent said they’d give up face-to-face contact with friends and have their most embarrassing moments go viral as a GIF — all before giving up social media.
Others?
Almost 9 percent would give up their current job; around 8 percent, their pets and half their belongings; almost 9 percent would put a large tattoo of an ex on a shoulder; and just over 6 percent would take a 20 percent pay cut.
That’s some kind of addiction.
And here’s one more item of interest: Participants were asked, “Would you give up social media for a year to guarantee a win for your preferred candidate in the 2020 presidential election?” And while only 54 percent of Republicans said yes, nearly 71 percent of Democrats nodded.
The big takeaway from all this polling? Americans, by and large, are very sick in the brain. And Democrats are indeed, in this day and age of President Donald Trump, very desperate.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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