Could you go without your smartphone? Over 50% of smartphone users experience anxiety when they can’t use their devices, new research from software firm FrontRange has found.
More than 80% of people surveyed believe it’s possible to become addicted to smartphone usage, with 71% claiming to know someone who suffers from addiction. More than half of those surveyed admitted to checking their phones at least once an hour, while two thirds said they couldn’t be smartphone-free for a day.
Dr. Graham, from the Capio Nightingale Hospital in Central London, explains, “When people feel an uncomfortable sense of withdrawal when not online, we know that the relationship with technology is not being managed properly.” While study participants found Thursday to be the hardest day to give up their smartphones, authors think it might be because that day marked the middle of the trial.
Dr. Graham adds, “The benefits of the technologies we all use on a daily basis are clear to see. However, in a short period of time the world we all inhabit has drastically changed and we have had little time to adapt. Unfortunately, unhealthy relationships with technology such as phones, computers and games can cause destructive consequences; physically and psychologically. Lives can be impaired by extensive and unregulated time online, on-screen or in-game.”
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