Smartphone Addiction Research Paper

“Half of Teens Think They’re Addicted to Their Smartphones”, written by Kelly Wallace is an article displaying statistics and personal experiences that prove a large number of today’s teenagers and parents are attached to their handheld devices. The article, by Wallace from CNN, was submitted on May 3, 2016, only a few short months ago.

Also stated in the essay to strengthen his argument is “ If you’re like the typical owner, you’ll be pulling your phone out and using it some 80 times a day, according to data Apple collects” to enlighten that even Apple agrees smartphones can be addictive. Another statistic stated by Carr to strengthen his position on how smartphones affect our minds is as stated “A second experiment conducted by the researchers produced similar results, while also revealing that the more heavily students relied on their phones in their everyday lives, the greater the cognitive penalty they suffered.” Carr also constructs evidence by incorporating

As much as I regret to admit it, I’m attached to my phone. I’m constantly reaching into my pocket to check the time, make sure I haven’t gotten a new update, or to send a message. I do this even when I’m not talking to anyone! It’s become an addiction, having to make sure I’m not missing anything, and I'm not the only one who has this problem. Seventy-five percent of the world population has a cell phone, and that number will only increase. With the creation of new technology portions of life have become easier. Technology has changed the way we go through life. It’s made talking to people easier, as well as keeping up with the lives of others. However, the effects have affected the aspects of our lives that don’t include technology.

Being tethered to a phone, as opposed to simply having and using one, has become the norm and does more harm than good at times. People, especially teenagers, cannot seem to put the phones down. Some even admit to being addicted to their smart phones and experience anxiety when they are without it. According to Ellen Gibson, author of “Sleep with Your iPhone? You're Not Alone”, more than thirty-five percent of adults in the U.S. have a smart phone; two thirds of those people actually sleep with their phone due to the anxiety they feel from the thought of missing something such as a text, phone call, email, or social media posting. Gibson states “…being away from their phone will almost certainly cause separation anxiety… some people have become so dependent on being able to use their smartphones to go online anytime, anywhere, that without that access, they ‘can no longer handle their daily routine’”. To some, being addicted to a phone is like being addicted to a drug; there is a strong dependency that makes it hard to focus or concentrate on anything else. After speaking with a group of students from Cranston High School in Connecticut, Turkle says “These young people live in a state of waiting for connection. And they are willing to take risks, to put themselves on the line. Several admit that tethered to their phones, they get into accidents when walking” (236). This is an issue that will

We all carry a smartphone. We have what some might call an addiction for them. They are convenient in certain classes and easy to use. They are also our own escape. We can easily talk to

The brain keeps becoming more dependant and reliable on the use of smartphone slowly causing it to start to become more and more intellectually weakened. Thus, the brain becomes more incapable of processing the same thoughts it would before, an addiction with excess amounts of dopamine from the brain being released given off pleasure. Today phones are shaping a person's daily thoughts and ideas when using the device, but even when they aren’t using it either.

When people think of addictions, usually, drugs and chemical substances come to mind. A frequent trend observed in today’s age is not being able to go anywhere without one’s digital device and being addicted to that device, especially one’s cell phone. Adopting a cell phone separation anxiety, is a type of behavioral addiction that is seen more and more today. On average, people are spending about three hours on their phones each day. Alter states, “‘Behavioral addictions are really widespread now...risen with the adoption of newer more addictive social networking platforms, tablets and smartphones’” (Dreifus). As new technologies that cater to people’s wants increase, addiction to these technologies will increase as well. People become so attached to their phones that they will perhaps get distracted from their current situation. In the article “Hooked On Our Smartphones”, the author Jane E. Brody talked about how sometimes commuters or drivers put themselves in a dangerous position when they pay more attention to their phone instead of what surrounds them. The almost

That feeling of when one has momentarily misplaced their smartphone creates a sense of panic that can only be compared to withdrawal symptoms of someone without the source of their addiction. Richtel brings up an interesting correlation between the decline of drug use in teenagers and the rise of using smartphones becoming the status quo. This question is something that is entirely probable when the thought of behavioral addiction comes into play. Social psychologist Adam Alter who was interviewed by Claudia Dreifus in her article, describes addiction as “something you enjoy doing in the short term, that undermines your well-being in the long term — but that you do compulsively anyway”. Smartphones are something that most people use as a way of passing the time or for procrastination. This dependency is built over time with the smartphone; for example, while 30 minutes scrolling through Instagram occasionally seems harmless, it becomes habitual when this is the thing you reach for every time you have a free minute or two. Slowly we as a society, and most especially teenagers who have only known this their entire lives, have become dependent on the convenience of

One way that teens are being impacted by over using their cell phones is emotionally. A study by Adriana Bianchi, and James G. Phillips showed the more teens use their phones the more likely they are to be anxious, depressed, and have a low self-esteem

Cell phones are used by so many people and do so many things to help people that they have become a necessity, rather than a convenience, in order for people to carry on their lives. This necessity or dependency is the addiction that people face with their cell phones. When these people lose or break their phones they panic, feel anxiety and look for the quickest way to fix the problem. For example, the car needs the oil changed and at the same time the phone is broken. Most people today

In the article “Who says smart phone addiction is a bad thing? The case for constant connectivity.” (Toronto Life, 2012), Jesse Brown breaks down his reasons and beliefs on the negativity surrounding smart phones that perceived as an addiction. Correspondingly, Brown states that notification sounds and buzzing from our devices tells us, we are important and wanted, however we fear that we won’t be able to live without this constant stream of reassuring stimulation. Moreover, Brown tries to convey that smartphones are not the problem, we’re the problem. We reply on smartphones for everything way more than we need to. Furthermore, we make checking our smartphones our top priority by immediately jumping when we hear sounds that indicate notifications. Accordingly, we are on high alert because of these notifications, which could be anything from an important work update or a friend’s text.

Luigi Gallimberti, et. al discusses in their article “Problematic Cell Phone Use for Text Messaging and Substance Abuse in Early Adolescence (11- to 13-year-olds),” that problematic cell phone use (PCPU), is associated with psychological distress, low self-esteem, depression, drug abuse, insomnia, and thoughts of suicide (356). The overuse of cellphones can really detriment a person mentally and could cause them to arrive at one of these issues stated. An issue also arises when a person with a cell phone addiction is in school. They tend to remain unfocused while on their phones and they don’t participate during class. In a sample, the students who had better test grades were less likely to have a problematic cell phone addiction (Gallimberti, et. al 360). This finding confirms the positive association between cell phone addiction and poor performance in school. In schools, it was concluded that this overuse of cellphones was positively connected with deficient school performance in teens with an average age of 15.7 years old (Gallimberti, et. al 360). Aviad Hadar studies in his article “Answering the Missed Call: Initial Exploration of Cognitive and Electrophysiological Changes Associated With Smartphone Use and Abuse” that cell phone addiction was studied to be linked with reduced attention, changes in how someone processes, stores, and applies information about other people and social

    The smartphone is a poisonous thing we have in this world. People find what it can really do to you in everyday life. As technology grows into days time the phobia gets worse everyday, apps consuming people's social life or even just their life. The effects on students and adults are unbelievable stats.

Technology has become a great benefit to us but many people have taken it too far. According to researcher and surveys taken all over the world shows that a large number of people may have become addicted to their technological devices and are not able to make it through a day without their cell phones or other technological devices. Many have concerns that people would rather use these devices than to have a face to face conversation. The addictions of technological devices are on the rise. Although these devices were meant to make our lives easier there have been many problems to arise ranging from health risk, relationship problems, classroom, church, and work interferences. Statistics show that cell

The smartphone is still a fairly new invention and is constantly being developed and improved. This device has integrated itself into our culture and is slowly becoming essential to our lives. The younger generation known as "Millennials" in the age range of 18-35 years old check their cell phones on average about 75.6 times a day (Soto et al., 2017). This number is exceptionally high when compared to the older generation who only check their phone around 23 times a day, according to the same research. This paper will cover cell phone addiction and its effects on the college students lifestyle. Addiction in this case is tied with the substance use criteria in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5). In the criteria it states that substance use is "a pathological pattern of behaviors related to use of the substance." Extremely high smartphone use can lead to these behaviors where dependency is an issue.