Smart phone Addiction...Could they be detrimental to our adolescents and young adults?

6 signs that you may be stressed out by your smart phone:

* You cannot help yourself to respond ASAP to calls, texts, likes on Facebook, and hearted on Instagram (to name a few social media sites).

* As use of smart phone activity increases, sleep decreases significantly.

* "Fear of Missing Out" other wise known as FOMO.

* Not paying attention to your friends and family.

* Feeling anxious and stressed when you are not around your phone.

* Poor grades in school or work due to the easy distraction and interference of your smart phone.

Does any of this sound familiar?   Smart phone usage is sky rocketing as we speak!  I am afraid to think of how the future will be.  We now have smart phones as watches!!!  Pretty soon there will be a chip installed in our ear and we will be hands free!  That's not true - I just made that up.  I just stumbled across this graph and the funny thing is I remember the first compact cell phone "razr flip phone"!  I had one!




I'm sure the percentages are even higher today in 2014 as adolescents who have grown up with a cell phone, and don't know life without it, are becoming young adults.

In a recent article in the Huffington Post,  Our Creepy Attachment to Cell Phones Could Be an Addiction, found that Research on the possibility of cell phone addiction is an emerging field, and a lot of it centers on the habits of the youngest millennials (now teens and young adults), a generation that can’t remember what it was like to not have a cell phone. A recent study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions found that female college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cell phones, while male students report spending nearly eight. The study also found that about 60 percent of study participants think they may be addicted to their cell phones.

“That’s astounding," said lead researcher James Roberts, Ph.D. in a press release about his research. “As cellphone functions increase, addictions to this seemingly indispensable piece of technology become an increasingly realistic possibility.” (Almendrala, A. 09/2014)

So as there may be addictive factors, as mentioned above, there is also the flip side.   This article opened my eyes to the fact that this could just be the "new normalcy" in our world. It's just a mere way of staying connected.  Smartphones can also help academically and most definitely helps us produce more at work - and faster communication as well.  

I think back to when I grew up.. Part of me thinks it was great not having a cell phone.  I didn't have to call my mother constantly to let her know where I was.  I have a 16yr old daughter and whenever she is not home I can always get in touch with her and if I have any suspicion - I ask her to take a pic and send it to me!  Ha Ha!!!

reference:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/05/cell-phone-addiction_n_5769730.html