PHONES CAUSING ANXIETY
STUDIES SHOW THAT PEOPLE EXPERIENCE ANXIETY WHEN KEPT AWAY FROM THEIR PHONES
It hurts to stay away from a loved one. Whether a friend, family member or a lover, humans as social animals do not like to be separated. It turns out that it is the same when it comes to our smartphones.
In the last couple of years, smartphones have redefined our lives. We no longer need a watch, a camera, a laptop and even a TV (at a pinch) thanks to smartphones. People have thus developed quite a dependence on them, and a new study shows just how far this dependence goes.
A study by the University of Missouri found that when frequent smartphone users had their phones taken away from them, they experienced separation anxiety, and performed more poorly on tasks testing their mental capacity.
PHYSICAL EFFECTS
The effects of separation from their smartphones were not just mental, researchers discovered, but physical as well. When study subjects were able to hear their phones ringing in another room but were unable to answer them, they experienced an increase in blood pressure and heart rate.
This exercise also caused study subjects to experience general feelings of anxiety and unrest. Russell Clayton, a doctoral student at the University of Missouri and the lead author of this study, explains how this separation anxiety occurs.
“The results from our study suggest that smartphones are capable of becoming an extension of ourselves such that when we are separated, we experience a lessening of ‘self ’ and a negative physiological state,” he said.
While smartphones offer great convenience and entertainment, they also come with potential detriments. They’ve been blamed for everything from cancer to car accidents to social dysfunction. As this latest study shows, we should take our phones seriously, and understand how influential they can be in our lives.
When separated from phones, people experience a lessening of
‘self’