The volunteers had to stay away from all emails, text messages, updates on Facebook and Twitter. They were even deprived of newspapers.

All they could have access to was a landline phone and books. Then the students kept diaries of their feelings during their period of ‘information deprivation’.

The scientists reported the volunteers told of physiological and physical symptoms comparable to addicts trying to quit smoking or drugs.

These included feeling fidgety, anxious and isolated, and even reaching out for their mobile phone, which was no longer there.