Dopamine, the same neurotransmitter that drives us to seek out sex and great food, is also behind our obsession with social media, Sales Angle reports. That's right; our 'need' to keep up with Facebook updates and tweet about Kim Kardashian's latest marriage is so strong that our brains actually place it before our need for food and water.
This is all based on a study performed by Cisco on attracting young people as employees. The study, which surveyed over 2,800 students and young professionals in 14 countries, found that over one in three of the people under 30 would place social media freedom and device flexibility over salary. 56% of all those surveyed said that they wouldn't want to work for a company that didn't allow access to social media, regardless of salary. 41% of employees said that their employer's use of social media helped attract them, and 31% believed that their familiarity with technology helped them to get hired.
The study also found that employees want to decide what devices they use at work, when, where, and how they use them. This is in stark contrast to a lot of enterprises, who try to hang on to the technology that they already have for as long as they can. Many businesses still use aging PCs equipped with Windows XP, although this is changing fast. The study suggests that this might be costing them new talent.
The real finding of the study, though, is just how deeply ingrained social media, and technology in general, has become in our lives. The point where people begin to place the access to the technology that they want at their job over the salary that they receive is a major milestone, not just for business, but for society in general. It says a lot about how we have changed as a society, for the most part within the last decade or so. The Internet has become just as profound as the automobile, or electricity at home. When something that is so integral to our lives is taken away, we feel deprived. To people who are growing up with constant access to the Internet, the Internet is just as important as electricity or indoor plumbing.
Check out Cisco's cool infographic.
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