New study on smartphone addiction causes controversy amongst experts

A NEW STUDY PROPOSES THAT THIS POSSIBLE ADDICTION TO PHONES COULD BE CHANGING BRAIN STRUCTURE.

Constant access to social media on our phones has many of us seeking neurological rewards from all the likes and comments we get, and it’s possible that our dependency on this handheld tech is habit-forming. However, a new study proposes that this addiction to phones could be changing brain structure. A team of scientists at Korea University used imaging technology to find that smartphone- and internet-addicted teenagers have imbalanced brain chemistries compared to teens who weren’t addicted to technology.

Scientists in the broader community, however, argue that ‘smartphone addiction’ isn’t a scientifically proven fact and, thus, not recognised as a mental health problem. With no standardised markers to study the ‘condition’, it’s hard to measure what addiction actually means, raising questions as to the veracity of the study.