London – If you find yourself constantly fiddling with your phone and checking for updates, you may be trying to alter your mood, a new study claims.
People who can’t put down their cellphones are more prone to moodiness and temperamental behaviour, according to researchers.
They have found a link between phone addiction and emotional instability, as well as a reduced ability to focus on the task at hand.
Scientists from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, said that individuals who relentlessly check their phone may be trying to improve how they feel emotionally.
‘A person who is moody and temperamental may be more likely to be addicted to their cell phone than more stable individuals,’ they wrote in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
‘Much like a variety of substance addictions, cellphone addiction may be an attempt at mood repair.
‘Incessant checking of emails, sending texts, tweeting, and surfing the web may act as pacifiers for the unstable individual distracting him or herself from the worries of the day and providing solace, albeit temporarily, from such concerns.’
For the study, the researchers recruited 346 men and women between the ages of 19 to 24, and with an average age of 21.
They assessed the volunteers’ personalities and level of mobile phone addiction by analysing their answers to a detailed questionnaire.
As well as emotional instability, the researchers found that ‘attention impulsiveness’ - defined as a person’s inability to concentrate on the topic at hand - had a significant link with cellphone addiction.
They also discovered that quieter, more introverted people were less likely to be hooked on their technology than more outgoing individuals.
‘Those who express feelings of shyness and bashfulness may be less likely to become dependent on their cell phones than their more extroverted counterparts,’ they said.
Another study by the same university, which was published last year, found that 60 per cent of students felt agitated if they couldn’t access their phone.
On average, the students spent 95 minutes a day texting, 49 minutes emailing and 39 minutes checking Facebook on their phone.
Some were spending ten hours a day on them, the study revealed.
Daily Mail