SMARTPHONE ADDICTION

December, 2013 – Software firm FrontRange surveyed more than 800 smartphone owners globally to see how they felt about technology usage and addiction.
– Almost half said they use their phone at least once every hour.
– Two thirds claimed they couldn’t go without their smartphones for a day.
Researchers then recruited seven people to go without their phones for one week, and record their feelings during that period. Some of the findings:
– During the seven-day trial there were 11 instances of high anxiety and 16 instances of high frustration when not being allowed to make calls or send texts.
– Over the course of a week frustration levels peaked on Day 4, but dropped on day seven, suggesting it is possible for people to wean themselves off technology over a short period of time.
– One subject said the urge to check their phone was strongest when they saw someone else checking theirs.
– Another subject said it felt ‘really good’ not to feel like they were on call at all times.
* Yeah, I saw this on Pinterest.
* You could almost conclude from this that we like our gadgets.
* 800 smartphone owners globally? Like, 800, from the entire planet? And seven test subjects! They really went whole hog on this one.
* “Let’s see, Lenny, there’s you and me here in the lab, we can get Marci the receptionist and her sister, that’s four …”
* 11 instances of high anxiety? Sounds like my wedding night.
* And the 16 instances of high frustration sound like my spouse on the honeymoon.
* These stories will seem so quaint once they plant the chips in our foreheads.
* The category: More problems the Amish don’t have.
* Who knows? Maybe if they don’t raise a barn every few months they get a hankering too.
* PHONE TOPIC: Are you on your phone every hour? Does it run your life? Have you ever found yourself without your cell phone and panicked?