I don’t like to say that I’m addicted to my “smartphone.” It’s become a cliché. I recognize that it’s just another material possession that I could ditch without much pain if I really needed to. Nonetheless, it’s become clear that although I might not be chemically addicted, I’ve developed a dependency on my phone and I’m beginning to question why this is.
Recently, an article for Arianna Huffington’s “The Third Metric” estimated that the average cell phone user checks their device about 150 times a day and almost a third of people with smartphones claim to be “addicted” to them. Cell phone dependency is obviously common. It’s unclear whether obsessively frequent smartphone use qualifies as actual pathological addiction, but it is most certainly true that we feel the loss of our phones when we are without them.
During my brief phone-less periods, I felt stressed. I found myself checking Facebook on the computer more often and felt anxious about unanswered texts. But it wasn’t all bad: I also felt relieved that I was no longer tied to answering people. I had an excuse to spend lots of time in my own head.
In that time, I realized that I’m so attached to my phone because it’s a social extension of me. My phone puts me in more than one place at once by spreading out my social attention span beyond those physically near me. Now, that’s not to say I don’t pay rapt attention to those around me, but rather that my phone is an attractive, ever-present source of social stimulation that I crave like I’d crave a cup of coffee.
The same article written for the Huffington Post also mentioned that it’s highly possible that smartphone dependency is correlated with negative mood states. The article explains that’s likely because those who constantly jones for e-updates are often the same people who struggle with keeping their moods elevated. They seek the mini-rewards provided by Twitter, a text or an email. Basically, those of us dissatisfied with some aspect of our lives — likely the social aspect — seek the stimulation that smartphones offer when feeling bored or down.
There will always be popular habits that are mildly harmful. It doesn’t mean that people are less diligent than 20 years ago or that we’re all melting our brains using phones so often. We’re more stimulated than ever before, but smartphones aren’t evil. Our attention spans might be shorter, but then again, we’ve never had so much to pay attention to.