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Cellphone addiction impairs youth relationships – study

December 3 2012 at 06:41am
By Ethel Hazelhurst

Young people’s attachment to their cellphones is eroding their personal relationships, according to a new study.

The claims come after research revealed that young adults, in addition to sending more than 100 texts, also check their cellphones up to 60 times a day.

Experts behind a new study say compulsively checking a cellphone is an addiction similar to compulsive spending or credit card misuse.

They say their research shows cellphone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness – which also play a role in behavioural and substance addictions.

Dr James Roberts, of the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University in Texas, says it is important for students, who spend up to seven hours a day interacting with communication technology, to recognise when their behaviour is becoming a problem.

“Mobile phones are a part of our consumer culture,” Roberts says. “They are not just a consumer tool, but are used as a status symbol. They’re also eroding our personal relationships”.

Previous studies revealed young adults send an average 109.5 texts a day, the equivalent of around 3 200 messages a month.

They receive an additional 113 texts and check their phones 60 times in a typical day.

Roberts and his team say that, for most young people, losing their phone would be “disastrous to their social lives”. – Daily Mail


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