Have you ever found yourself constantly checking your phone, knowing there was no reason for it. Always updating social media to see if someone posted something new. Or even that vibrate we feel in our pocket, when in fact the phone hasn’t vibrated at all. I know I am guilty of all this and I am wondering is it possible to be addicted to your cell phone.
As technology becomes more and more advanced, people continue to immerse themselves in it. When was the last time you had a friend who didn’t have a cell phone? According to a study done at Baylor University, female college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their phone and men spend around 8 hours a day on theirs. Now if you factor in an average of 8 hours of sleep each night, that leaves about 6-8 hours in the day where a student does not use their phone. This study was based off of 164 college students, and they were asked how much time they spend sending emails, on Facebook, etc. Although this sample is small, it could be a could representation of the population at hand.
The study not only asked how long students spent on their phone, but to agree or disagree with certain statements. These included statements like “I spend more time than I should on my cellphone,” or, “I get agitated when my cell phone is not in sight.” The studied showed a difference in addiction for men and women. Men’s use of social media correlates to the risk of addiction. Women use their phone in order to maintain social relationships, but use of phone doesn’t equal addiction. The driving force that shows a possibility for addiction is the lift in mood from checking one’s phone.
Another study done at Elon University in North Carolina surveys students in heavy populated parts of campus about cell phone addiction. The findings further prove that cell phone addiction is becoming more frequent. More than half the students surveyed said they were addicted to their cell phone and felt disconnected without it. We thrive of instant communication with one another. Students surveyed believed that we forgot how to interact face to face and this addiction will only get worse as time goes on. More proof to my question about if cell phone addiction could be real.
These studies are both observational, as they are both surveys, so they can’t prove that there is an actual addiction to cell phones. Also correlation cannot mean causation in this case. When college students are the sample for both of these studies, it creates a bias because typically college students will own a cell phone. Also it is a very small sample compared to a population, so a larger sample size may give clearer results.
From these studies you may think, so what. People use their cell phone all the time, but that doesn’t prove addiction. Although it does not prove addiction it shows a strong correlation that people are using their phone to get a lift in mood from checking social media or either talking with friends. If you take away alcohol or tobacco from somebody that is addicted they tend to panic and get anxiety and eventually experience withdrawal. Well when somebody’s phone dies or is misplaced immediately they will look for a charger or scramble to look for it. These actions show signs of withdrawal that support possible phone addiction.
This is really a interesting topic, and my point is that, it is no longer a question of yes or no, but how much. Cell phones can replace TVs, MP3s, laptops and PSP to a certain extent. It is too convenient, and we cannot leave it. Several studies have shown that human have already been addicted to cell phones.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/cell-phone-addiction/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-mishaps/201303/are-you-addicted-your-cell-phone
And as an international students, I will add the points that the cell phone addiction is global. In China, I think the situation of cell phone addiction is even worse.
Tyler, I would say that I am definitely addicted to my phone. It is a problem and sometimes does distract me from studying, getting work done, and even walking safely to class. I was interesting in the fact about people checking their and more specifically checking social media on their phones to feel better about themselves and in a better mood. I agree with you that even though it does not technically prove addiction, people totally do rely on their phones to make them feel better as a person. Cool blog!
I find this topic to be very relevant. In my personal opinion, I believe that people may get addicted to anything that makes them release feel-good hormones like dopamine and oxytocin. That is why many people are referred to as “love addicts” or “coke addicts” which, obviously the latter has more profound negative affects than the other, but what causes the addiction is the “high” produced when the feel-good chemicals are released. So I believe that with phone addiction the same might be occurring. When people form bonds over social media/texting or get their pictures liked and commented on they feel loved and appreciated which in turn increased the amount of dopamine and other chemicals circulating through their brains which makes them addicted to that positive reaction. Therefore they crave more and more of those same responses through their cell phones to achieve that high once again. That is my theory.
This is really interesting because I would have never thought of using a phone to correlate with addiction. But now it kind of makes sense because the feelings and emotions of both do correlate with each other. It’s also really strange how it only shows addiction with men and not women. I feel that we all use our phones for generally the same thing, and if girls spend more time on their phone, why don’t we correlate with addiction?