That was the apparent finding of a study released this week by the University of Maryland, which asked 200 students to do without social media for 24 hours, then blog about it.

The report said findings indicated a reliance on the social media similar to an addiction.

“Students use literal terms of addiction to characterize their dependence on media,” the report said, later adding, “Students show no significant loyalty to a news program, news personality or even news platform. Students have only a casual relationship to the originators of news, and in fact don't make fine distinctions between news and more personal information. They get news in a disaggregated way, often via friends.”

Among the blog posts from students who took part in the experiment:

“Although I started the day feeling good, I noticed my mood started to change around noon. I started to feel isolated and lonely. I received several phone calls that I could not answer. By 2:00 pm. I began to feel the urgent need to check my email, and even thought of a million ideas of why I had to. I felt like a person on a deserted island.... I noticed physically, that I began to fidget, as if I was addicted to my iPod and other media devices, and maybe I am.”