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Forget MTV--I want my Internet!

According to an article in Promo magazine on Yahoo, Inc.'s Internet Deprivation Study released this week, most of us Web-heads can't go more than five days without Internet access before going nuts.

    The study, conducted by Yahoo and OMD, asked 28 consumers in 13 households to stay offline for two weeks and keep video and written diaries about the experience.

    All participants suffered withdrawal and frustration. They said they felt "left out of the loop" and had to "resist temptation" to go online, Yahoo said. The median time that participants could stand being offline: five days.

    Participants often forgot or didn't feel like using "old-fashioned tools" like the phone book, newspapers and telephone-based customer service, reported Sunnyvale, CA-based Yahoo.

What does this mean for the future of meetings? For the present, at the very least, it would be prudent to make sure before booking that brainstorming meeting that a week-long retreat in the unplugged beauty of nature is something that won't inadvertently drive attendees crazy.

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