‘Materialism and impulsiveness drive mobile phone addiction…. they are used as part of the conspicuous consumption ritual and also act as a pacifiers for the impulsive tendencies of the user – impulsiveness playing an important role in both behavioural and substance addictions….’
So say Professors Stephen Pirog and James Roberts at Baylor and Seton Hall Universities in a study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
‘Previous studies have shown that young adults send an average of 109.5 text messages a day or approximately 3,200 texts each month. They receive an additional 113 text messages and check their cell 60 times in a typical day and on average, college students spend approximately seven hours daily interacting with information and communication technology.’
While this could be seen merely as a youthful fad, the professors suggest that ‘mobile phone addiction’ is a genuine addiction and needs to be recognised as such.
Obviously, I would be concerned at anyone spending too much time on their mobile phone because of the damage that excess electromagnetic radiation might do to their current and future health. Although I am very happy to note that the majority of young people now spend far more time texting or using their smart phones to access the internet/Facebook etc than they do talking on them – thus reducing their exposure to harmful EMR significantly. However, it seems that it is not only their physical health that I need to be concerned about…
For a fuller report see this article in Science Daily.
Whether mobile phone addiction is more or less dodgy than the pharmacological variety is an open and interesting question…