218 Cell Dependency

Based on research by Cheever, Nancy A., Rosen, Larry D., Carrier, L. Mark, and Chavez, Amber (2014) written by Mara Rowcliffe, MS.

A major symptom of withdrawal from addictions is anxiety.  Would you experience anxiety if you had to sit without your cell phone or anything to do?

People use their cellphones to talk, read, view TV, play games, listen to music, text and use social media. Psychologists examined the psychological dependency on cell phone use. They evaluated college students, a group likely to be attached to their phones; thus at risk for the negative impact of cell phone overuse. They randomly assigned half of the 160 participants to have phones taken out of their possession, while they allowed the other half to keep theirs, but off and placed out of sight. They asked all participants to sit quietly with no distractions for 80 minutes. They administered a questionnaire measuring anxiety three times, 20 minutes apart, beginning 10 min after the experiment began.

Whether or not the cell phone was in their possession, the heavy users (greater than 10 hours per day) progressively became more anxious, the longer they were ‘deprived.’

If you experience anxiety without your cellphone or using electronics; take time; stop, relax, appreciate life and your loved ones, meditate.

References:

Cheever, N. A., Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Chavez, A. (2014). Out of sight is not out of mind: The impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users. Computers in Human Behavior, 37, 290-297.