According to a new research, it is found that the excessive use of smartphones in our day-to-day life may lead to personal, social and workplace problems. Furthermore, women are more prone to such smartphone addiction, the report added. Isaac Vaghefi who is the Assistant Professor at the Binghamton University-State University of New York said that our smartphones have become a tool which gives us a short, speedy, and immediate satisfaction which is very triggering.
The smartphone addiction research was published in the Information Systems Journal. The report explained that our neurones get triggered and a chemical called dopamine is being released in our brain. And over a time, the desire for getting a smartphone for quick feedback and immediate satisfaction become a habit. Furthermore, the process adds the state of shorter attention spans and make people more and more prone to dissatisfaction.
Research on the effects of Smartphone Addiction
During the research, the researchers had surveyed 182 college students and studied the routine of their smartphone usage. The researchers asked them to describe their smartphone usage and noted the responses. After the analysis of these responses, the researchers categorised the user as one of the following types- Addict, Fanatic, Highly Engaged, Regular, and Thoughtful.
The report explained that seven percent users of the study have been identified as ‘addicts’ and twelve percent were fit in ‘fanatics’ category. As per the findings, both the groups of users experience personal, social, and workplace problems because of their compulsive desire of using their smartphones. However, the research didn’t mention how many of them were using Android mobiles or iOS mobiles.
In addition, these users also reflected the signs which could signal social isolation, depression, shyness, low self-esteem, and impulsivity. Also, the research elaborated that the female participants of the study were most likely to show the status to addiction.
In DSM-V, the technology addiction is not considered as the official mental disorder, however, it is the umbrella term which is related to the addictive behaviour of people that is related to the excessive texting, social media, online shopping, online pornography, information overload, video gaming, gambling, and overall smartphone usage.
Vaghefi further said that there was a minority in self-identified addict users and he predicts that such addiction would probably gain with the advancement of technology, application and games. The gadget developers will certainly find new ways to keep users engaged for long-term with their devices and this will also add up the addiction among the users.
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