The New Addictive Drug: Mobile Technology

Photo by Mervi Eskelinen aka tasselflowerSunday, 19 May, 13

?‣reach for your smartphone first thing in the morning?

‣check your smartphone last thing at night?

‣take your smartphone to the bathroom with you?

‣play with your smartphone while people are talking to you?

‣look at your smartphone even although it isn’t doing anything?

‣have to charge your smartphone more than once a day?

Do you...

Sunday, 19 May, 13

Young adults spend up to 7 hours a day interacting with communication technology.

Send on average 109.5 texts a day, over 3,200 messages a month.

Receive 113 texts a day

Check their phones 60 times in a typical day

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51% check continuously during vacation.

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Sunday, 19 May, 13

70% said they check their smartphone within an hour of getting up.

Photo by mindy_g

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90% sleep with their phone right next to the bedPhoto by Jeff Croft

Sunday, 19 May, 13

44% said they would experience "a great deal of anxiety" if they lost their phone and couldn't replace it for a week.

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Majority of youngsters claim losing their phone would be "disastrous to their social lives".

Photo by Thomas Hawk

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Photo by Charlotte Spencer!

Nomophobia: People who

experience anxiety when they have no access to mobile

technology.

Sunday, 19 May, 13

What DO we do on

our devices?

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For most part we read email.

More accurately...we compulsively check if a new email has arrived,

in the hope that an incredibly exciting missive will somehow have found its way into our inbox.

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Sunday, 19 May, 13

We’re often on Facebook to read messages from people we don’t even bother to see in real life

AND to post our latest thoughts, or more accurately...compulsively check what the people we don’t even

bother to see in real life think about our latest thoughts.

Image by marcopako

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The one thing we hardly ever do is actually make

phone calls.

We browse the web, play games,

take pictures, check directions, or watch videos.

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"One thing my research made clear is that human beings have a deep, primitive desire to know

everything that's going on around them" - Nicholas Carr

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Why is this a PROBLEM?

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Researchers have found that constantly checking for messages is an addiction which like other drugs can ruin

your personal relationships.

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1 in 3 smartphone owners would rather give up sex than their PHONE

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1 in 10 say they are awakened at least a few times a week by PHONE notifications

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1 in 2 say if they wake up during the night for no reason, they’ll check their PHONE right away

Photo by sean dreilinger

Sunday, 19 May, 13

"Research is starting to show the association between smartphone use and grave consequences like car accidents

and poor health in work-life balance" - Antti Oulasvirta

(Senior researcher at Helsinki Institute for Information Technology)

Photo by Klearchos Kapoutsis Sunday, 19 May, 13

“For me, the iPhone had become a toxic compulsion. It had completed its invasion and

occupation of my interstitial time — all those minutes riding

the train, waiting in line, that used to be such fertile territory

for daydreaming and storymaking.”

- Robin Sloan

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How to control your usage?

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Sunday, 19 May, 13

Be conscious of the situations and emotions that make you want to check your phone.

Is it boredom? Loneliness?

Anxiety?

Maybe something else would soothe you.Photo by Inextremiss

Sunday, 19 May, 13

Be strong when your phone beeps or rings. You don't always have to answer it. In fact, you can

avoid temptation by turning off the alert signals.

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Be disciplined about not using your device in certain situations

"You'll be surprised and pleased to rediscover the pleasures of being in control of your attention," - Carr

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“Even after a few days of this self-discipline, I found that I was concentrating better, more aware of my surroundings, and more relaxed -- and I was more aware of when I was

looking for something specific, as opposed to just looking for some kind of connection.” - Susan Davis

Photo by @Doug88888

Sunday, 19 May, 13

Sources

http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/addicted-your-smartphone-what-to-do

http://www.androidauthority.com/signs-of-smartphone-addiction-201270/

http://www.onlinepsychologydegree.net/2012/11/12/sleeping-with-gadgets/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/addiction-to-your-smartphone-can-result-in-dire-consequences-53075/

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865577739/Dumb-is-better-Kicking-the-smart-phone-addiction.html?pg=all

Sunday, 19 May, 13