• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 7, 2011

That's right, Colleen Fahey Rush, executive vice president and Chief Research Officer of MTV Networks, revealed some startling research indicating that consumers are becoming addicted to apps, and that apps may be contributing to attention deficits.

That's interesting, because if you ask me, MTV was one of the media phenomenon that contributed to ADHD, especially the rapid-fire, quick-cuts, early version of MTV before they went into long-form and reality programming.

How addicted are "app-addled" consumers (that's the term Fahey Rush used to title her presentation at OMMA Mobile this afternoon? Pretty darn hooked. To prove that, she conducted one of the media industry's favorite research tools, a so-called "deprivation study." Well they don't really deprive consumers of something, but they ask them what kind of trade-offs they'd make if asked to choose between losing a certain medium - in this case, their favorite mobile apps - and something else.

Eighty percent of men said they'd give up their favorite reality show, and 69% said they'd give up their favorite news source to keep their apps, while 79% of women said they'd give up the Super Bowl.

Interestingly, two thirds of men and women said they'd give up coffee, to which Fahey Rush quipped, "that's a morning ritual."

"They were pretty freaked out about" the prospect of losing their favorite apps, she said.

Have you been paying attention? Good, because here where the attention deficit questions come in. According to Fahey Rush, a significant percentage of respondents said they were "less tolerant of boredom" and more "addicted to instant gratification" as a result of using their apps.