Imagine that you move into your new dorm room only to find that your internet connection isn’t working. Do you feel a little frustrated, mildly anxious, or totally panicked?

If you chose Option C, you might just be an internet addict. Don’t laugh—a growing number of doctors believe that internet addiction is a serious problem, one that’s on par with established dependencies like alcoholism and compulsive shopping. There’s even a brand-new internet rehab center in Fall City, Washington called reSTART that aims to cure netheads of their wicked ways in just 45 days by reconnecting them to “the real world.” Ironically, the treatment center is located less than 20 minutes away from Microsoft’s corporate headquarters in Redmond.

So far, reSTART has treated a grand total of one patient: 19-year-old Ben Alexander, who says that he used to spend up to 17 hours playing World of Warcraft before he checked in. Ben’s paying a whopping $14,500 for the privilege of participating in rehab activities like “Discovery Quest” and “Weekly Shopping/Planning” (seriously, look at reSTART’s sample daily schedule). That’s more than the price of tuition for PA residents at Penn State’s flagship campus. Read More »

"Hey, mama - did you get that text I just sent?"

I am, without a doubt, addicted to technology. I spend 10 hours a day in front of my computer and the minute I step away, I’m checking my email/Facebook/Twitter/IMs/stock market reports from my iPhone. (Note: stock market reports are a real downer these days.)

When I’m out with friends, I’m constantly checking to see if anyone has texted/emailed/called. Or looking things up on Google maps. Or getting Yelp reviews for anything and everything we might be doing over the course of the evening.

And, obvi, I’m uploading pictures and status updates the entire time.

I have a problem and I know it. My addiction to technology is taking over my life and, despite the fact that I am always an email or text (fromlastnight) away from anyone, all this “connection” is really ruining me. I can’t even go to the bathroom without my phone anymore. And, yes, that’s a true statement.

I know I’m not alone, so this week I asked the CollegeCandy writers to share their personal peeves with technology. What are yours?

Kathryn – University of Wisconsin-Madison: People who have really personal cell phone conversations in really public places. I definitely do not want to hear about your latest sexcapades and either does the rest of the room. I’m embarrassed for you.

Anna – Northeastern University: I hate when people have to research online reviews on everything, from the restaurant they want to get dinner at to the movie they want to see. Nobody can be spontaneous anymore!

Read More »

The New York Times is reporting on a new study of American media consumption that says the average person spends 8.5 hours every day in front of some sort of media screen (television, computer, cellphone, etc.). If you think about it in terms of your average day, that is a HUGE portion of your time. More than the average night of sleep, more than a day spent at the office, probably more than you study or even go to class. Math may not be my strong point, but I figured that we are devoting more than one-third of our entire day to media exposure.

The study also organized data by age group to show, among other things, that “18-to-24-year-olds — generally college students and new entrants into the work force — watch the smallest amount of live TV of any age group (three and a half hours a day).” While television isn’t at the top of a college student’s to-do list, text messaging and watching videos online are. Read More »

Last year a friend of mine sent a mass email out to everyone updating us on his new job and, subsequently, his new work email address.

I too had just accepted a new job – right here at CollegeCandy – so I wrote back to let him know that I was also getting a new email address. And that my old bosses were pompous a**holes who didn’t know how to treat an intelligent (and hilarious!) woman with respect.

The next morning I learned that I had responded to all 156 people on that email list, many of whom were friends with my bosses (I’m Jewish…the community is small). I hid in my apartment with my cell phone off for four days, deathly afraid of my mistake coming back to haunt me.

Now, only a year later, the Google Gods have gone and created a new gift that could have saved me that horrible night. Rumor has it (though I have not seen it yet) that Gmail will now have an “Undo Send” feature. Yes, just like AOL did back in the day (but only if you were sending to other AOL-ers), you can now fix those one-unfixable email errors. Read More »

Happy National Grammar Day, everyone!

Hope you stopped by the card store on the way back from class because today we are celebrating proper punctuation, spelling and, of course, the ever important verb-noun agreement. I don’t know about you, but nothing grates on my nerves more than bad grammar. My eyes bug out, my brow furrows and I forget what I was reading as all the words seem to melt into that one misplaced apostrophe.

Maybe I’m a nerd but I just can’t get passed it. For this reason, I think we need to celebrate National Grammar Day the right way.

Being that the local bars don’t seem to be offering any specials for this momentous occasion (what, can’t a girl get a shot for outstanding English?), I thought we could celebrate by learning a few things. Yeah, we’re all in college, but judging from my recent IMs, emails and texts, it looks like our higher education left a few things out.

So open the Tostitos, check out these 5 common grammatical errors, and let the party begin!

I am currently staring at four W2’s, which are piled neatly on my desk next to my laptop. My dad has informed me that two more are at my parent’s house, and I need to call the restaurant I worked at last spring because I’m pretty sure they don’t have my current address. Oh, and I’m expecting at least three 1099’s for freelance work.

It’s not that I change jobs like I change my underwear. Last spring, I waited tables and worked for a travel website on my days “off.” I also had one week in January where I was paid for work study from the Fall ‘07 semester. Over the summer, I worked Summerstock at a theater. Last semester, I had a paid internship, and I did marketing work for a parent company, so each of the branches I marketed for are considered a separate entity.

What the hell am I going to do? You might be asking yourself the same thing, even if you’ve only held a normal number of jobs (one, two… three?) in the past year. I mean, all the pointless Gen Eds they make us take, and none of them are “Filing Your Taxes 101.” Don’t worry. If the IRS expected everyone to file their taxes on their own, well… it would be like George W. getting reelected.

Here are a few resources I’ve come across as I’ve begun my slow descent into the Hell that is my personal tax season. Feel free to share any other links that you’ve come across. We all want to make it out of college without being arrested for tax fraud. Read More »

At least that’s what she told Star Magazine.

This kid is so cute, we maybe, kinda (not for a long, long time) want kids.

Do lip plumpers really work?

Nicole Richie heads back to work.

The Halloween Costume Generator (for the ladies).

Nominate your school for the next Victoria’s Secret collection!

Does anyone use the phone anymore!?

Yes! We can finally get Zac Efron to sleep with us!

Britney set to perform live on Dec. 2! Trainwreck? We hope so!

Michigan grad to be on Vh1’s “The Pickup Artist”

The perfect Halloween accessories.

Everyone loves an e-card. Yeah, they’re kind of cheesy, and they usually feature singing animals, but who the hell doesn’t want a singing polar bear wishing them a happy birthday?But not all e-cards bear good news. According to CNN.com, a website called inSpot.org has started producing e-cards that tell the recipients to get checked for STDs. So ladies, if you’re trying to figure out how to break it to the cutie you hooked up with last weekend (whose phone number you do not have, but email address you found while stalking him on Facebook), you can let him know via email that he left the party with more than empty condom wrappers.

Maybe the inSpot peeps will make a Facebook application next? Or maybe a Urine Cup you can send as a gift? That would make things so much easier.

[photo courtesy inSpot.org]

[It doesn’t matter what school you go to, what state it is in, how big it is, whether it is public or private, all girls or coed…there are experiences that all college students share. No matter how crazy you think your personal situation is, it is not just you.

So, let’s bring it all out in the open. Right here. Because you are not alone - we’ve all been there before.]

The Drunk Email:

The boy you love just broke your heart, so your girlfriends decide that drinking is in order. Because nothing numbs the pain quite like a few shots of SoCo. Together with your roommates, you pick out a super hot outfit (consisting of some combination of low cut top/push up bra), take a few pre-gaming shots and head out the door to either “show him what he’s missing,” or “forget about that prick.” Read More »

So, tonight is the final debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. Party!

The event will be taking place at Hofstra University over in good ol’ New York. How cool! All these college students get to miss class to go on Candidate Watch, not to mention be a part of American history! We can’t be there (something about national security and blah, blah, blah), but we are dying to know what it is like over thre in Hempstead, NY.

So, dear readers of Hofstra University, be our eyes and ears! Tell us what is going down on your campus in preparation for tonight’s big event.

Email pictures, spottings, or comments on general craziness to Lauren@CollegeCandy.com. We can’t all be lucky enough to be a part of such a momentous occassion, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pretend.