Smart Phone Addiction – Lovelace
Great infographic by Lovelace Health System
Sources:
Pew Research Center, Smart Phone Usage
Huffington Post, Smart Phone Addiction Time Survey
The Telegraph, Smart Phones Hardly Used for Calls
LA Times, Survey: 59% of People Would Reach into a Toilet to Retrieve a Phone
ESoftLoad, Smartphone Statistics and Side Effects
A South Korean campaign against smartphone addiction involves warning kids in classrooms that too much internet use makes them “mindless slaves” or “losers.”
More than 80% of kids aged 12 to 19 were found to have a smartphone in 2012, double from 2011.
Losers!
read more: http://www.thefix.com/content/south-korea-fights-digital-addiction-school-speakers91860
“If your iPhone’s battery, God forbid, ever runs out, and you have left your spare charger in your car and you’ve lent out your other spare, you find yourself having a nervous breakdown” – Jessica Poter, considers that to be one of the worst and scariest symptomps of a smartphone addiction.
I personally think that bumping into strange people on the street is alot more disturbing.
To read more from jessica http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles/9-signs-youre-iphone-addict
Mike Luckovich: “Totally Over Smartphones”
Andy Bailey is telling us how he felt when his smartphone was stolen on the way to a conference:
For the first 24 hours, I felt textbook withdrawal: I was anxious, disoriented and a little scared.
He observed himself for the next few days, and of what he named as Cellular Compulsive Disorder (or CCD). Then he got to some positive conclusions:
We can survive without our phones. I’ll admit, when I realized I was phoneless, I panicked. My travel tickets, hotel reservations, calendar and itinerary were all stored in my phone. Further, without apps such as AroundMe or Google Maps, how was I going to choose a place to eat or navigate in a foreign country?
After a momentary freakout, I regrouped. Turns out, airline kiosks can still print your tickets, hotels have your reservations on file, and you can access your calendar and itinerary from any computer. For restaurant suggestions or directions, I resorted to asking the locals — worked like a charm.
• The CCD afflicted are obnoxious. I began my 90-minute speaking sessions by asking the audience of entrepreneurs to turn off their phones. Sure enough, minutes later, I’d be at the crux of a point and a phone would ring. If it wasn’t a disruptive ring tone, I’d look into the crowd and notice several texters completely zoning me out….
• After my personal CCD recovery, I participated in more in-person conversation than I had in years. Since I couldn’t fill my extra time buried in the virtual world, I re-entered the real world. I met fantastic people, and our conversations delved beneath the surface. I experienced true engagement. It was a beautiful thing…
• A CCD-free life bolsters productivity. Although we all rationalize we can accomplish more with our contacts and reference materials in the palm of our hand, it’s not true. If you’re like me, and most I witnessed during my CCD-free week, you’re using your smartphone as a distraction rather than a work tool…
I recommend reading the full piece here.
Source: tennessean.com
// Lior Frenkel
By Andy Davey from The Sun
Have you ever pretended to be talking on your phone just to avoid something or better yet, someone? it seems to be the most deadly symptom of smartphone addiction according to lifeteen.com.
Next time, maybe talking to the creep coming on to you on the bus in not as bad as the alternative.
read more http://lifeteen.com/the-5-phrases-cell-phone-addict/
The Child Welfare League Foundation survey revealed nothing new by presenting a shocking 36 percent of respondents saying they would feel unhappy, anxious or angry if they could not use their phone. So, you are warning us about smartphone addiction. Tell me more.
no, really, tell me more http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/07/17/2003567305
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? If you have a beatiful meal, at the best resturant and there is no one to photograph it – were you ever there? did you realy eat?
read more about the 10 ways you are ruining everything with your smartphone
A new poll taken by Insights West in British Columbia, Canada, found some interesting stats on Smartphone addiction in BC:
- 18% consider themselves “addicted” to their smartphone (3% an “unhealthy addiction” and 15% “a strong addiction, but manageable”), and another 43% consider it very important to their lives.
- Among 18-34 year olds, the addiction rate rises to 27% (compared to 17% of those 35-54 and just 3% of those 55).
- In an average week, these self-described addicts spend 2.5 hours a day actively using their smartphone (compared to 1.6 hours for those not addicted) and half (51%) check their smartphone at least once every half an hour (compared to just 24% of those not addicted).
- If they left home for the day without their smartphone, nearly all smartphone owners (76%) would return home to retrieve it – 31% would travel 10 or more minutes to do so.
- Smartphone users were asked to choose hypothetically between giving up their smartphone for three days, or from a series of other small sacrifices instead. Only 30% chose to “lose” their smartphone. A majority (56%) would prefer to give up Facebook for three days, and 17% would prefer to get stood up on a date.
- Only 18% of younger (18-34 years of age) smartphone users would give up their device (compared to 26% of 35-54 year old smartphone owners and 57% of 55 years +). 70% would rather give up Facebook, 25% computer Internet, and 25% get stood up for a date.
See the full results of the poll here.
The next step in smartphone addiction- toilet texting. According to a new study, the magazines and newspapers have lost their appeal in the bathrooms among 75% of the american people. Nothing says “i missed you”, like a good old fashion text from the toilet of a loved one.
ToiletTexting-infographic
read more http://www.sociableblog.com/2012/03/07/toilet-texting-smartphone-addiction/
The Prince Charles Cinema in Londons Leicester Square is taking matter in their own hands by employing so-called ninjas to stop rude texters. A semi questionable method, but at list they look great in leotard.
read more http://www.slashfilm.com/wtf-london-theater-employing-volunteer-ninjas-to-confront-rude-moviegoers/
Don’t Stand With Your Phone On
Smartphone addiction is not only degrading your quality of life. It also affect others.
Some people think it’s rude when one talks on her phone next to them – “we don’t want to hear about your personal problems” they think. Moreover, when you’re texting someone, you got to remember he might be in a meeting now, or is trying to study or work. So by texting him, you might get him distracted from what he’s trying to do.
Neha Gandhi, on a great post on refinery29.com, is detailing a Cell Phone Etiquette. It is under the title “The New Rules For Real Life” but unfortunately these are unwritten rules, and only a few respect such behaviour. Still, following her suggestions, we could have a much nicer world. Here are few examples:
Unless you are waiting for an urgent call that you plan to take outside, it’s still considered bad manners to leave your phone out at the table. Yes, we do it all the time. But it turns out…
When you’re at a movie, play, or other indoor performance, you can leave your phone on vibrate if you put it away, but it’s definitely not okay to pull your phone out and check or send text and emails during the show…
But basically, here’s where you shouldn’t take a call, unless it’s an emergency: public restrooms (just don’t take it out — it makes people feel weird), theaters, waiting areas, lines, gyms, coffee shops, elevators, trains, buses, and restaurants. If you do have to take the call, be quick and quiet, and try and step away, as quickly as possible…
Read her full post here.
Bonnie Tubbs in a detailed and funny post explaining about Smartphone Addiction:
Hi, my name is Bonnie and I am a cellphone addict. It has been about two minutes since I last checked my phone.
…
I personally don’t feel my irrepressible compulsion to check my phone every couple of minutes has affected my work or relationships. I have no doubt my editor would back me up on that, once he has forgiven me for overshooting deadline again. And if I had any real-life friends, I am sure they would attest to it too.
Great read, enjoy.
We see more and more articles about Smartphone Addiction. Some contain tips for “how to stop” the addiction, but more times than none I disagree with those tips.
Susan Davis has published a post about Smartphone Addiction and what to do about that. The post is very detailed, acknowledging some research on the subject. And then there’s the “tips” section.
Yeah right…
Here are the tips brought there, and my comments on each of those, as someone who is practicing the Digital Diet on a daily basis, trying different methods:
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.
Well, that’s an interesting tip, as it drives you to think WHY you want to check your phone so much. A good exercise indeed, but I don’t know anyone who could “think” philosophically about those things 150 times a day when he wants to reach out to his phone. And “Maybe something else would sooth you” – is not a great tip IMHO for any rehabilitation process. Should I smoke or eat out of bordom instead of checking my phone ?
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.
OK. I always wanted to be strong. Rocky Balboa strong. But I don’t know how to be strong when my phone beeps. I just wanna check out what’s in there.
The second half of the advice is a super smart one, which I personally recommend – turn off the alert signals, and you don’t have to be strong anymore. You can just forget that your phone is there.
Be disciplined about not using your device in certain situations (such as when you’re with children, driving, or in a meeting) or at certain hours ( for instance, between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.).
That’s a great tip indeed. These days when I get in the car, I put my phone into “airplane mode”, so when I’m in traffic, I’m not tempted to check my whatsapp. Same trick at night time, so when I wake up I don’t see those 20 notifications that delay me from starting my day with a great shower and breakfast.
Do you have a great tip for how to overcome your smartphone addiction?
Lifehack.org – a great collection of posts about how to improve our lives, wrote about UNDIGITIZE.ME.
Ohad Frankfurt explains:
Put your phone face-down.
I recently had the good fortune of discovering a fantastic project called undigitize.me. This project is a creation of a young entrepreneur who had enough. He wanted to focus on the things that mattered the most, mainly the people he encountered and his thoughts. One day he realized that the phone was his biggest obstacle.
So what does it mean to put your phone face-down? It means that you are preventing your mobile device from capturing your attention every time you receive an email, message, or any other stream of information. It’s not just a statement; it’s a way of life. Keeping your phone face-down means that you are trying to normalize the way you think and act, it means that once again you are in control of your time and focus and will not let any app or service control you.
South Korean doctors have found that increasing use of smartphones among young Koreans has led to a surge in incidence of “digital dementia” characterized by deterioration of cognitive abilities and symptoms found in people who have suffered head injury.
…
…heavy reliance on smartphones creates an imbalance in brain development which leads to the left side of the brain becoming overstimulated while the right side suffers and becomes relatively stunted. Heavy use of smartphones engages the left brain at the expense of the right, leading to deterioration of right side-leaning cognitive abilities and symptoms of “digital dementia,” which include loss of memory, short attention span and problems regulating emotion.
Gi-won said: “Heavy [technology] users are likely to develop the left side of their brains, leaving the right side untapped or underdeveloped.”
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/353047#ixzz2XhO0v21y
In this nice blog post from the Bangkok Post, Sukhumaporn Laiyok is writing her opinion about Smartphone addiction.
One of her stories in that post really caught my eyes:
People find it hard to tear themselves away from these little gizmos. The other day I saw a woman using her smartphone when exercising. As she was working out on a treadmill she used one hand to hold the…
Wherever you are in the world – New York, Tel-Aviv or Bangkok – people see the same sights, and feel the same about the Smartphone Addiction.
// Lior Frenkel
Vignesh Ramachandran went to a Digital Detox Camp – a no-technology summer camp for adults which ran for four days, and survived to write about it.
UNDIGITIZE.ME 