According to a study conducted by researchers at the British University of Derby, and just published in the Guardian, the use of smartphones can cause addiction in users, as well as encourage narcissistic tendencies, meaning that every device should carry a health warning for users about the risks of their use.
The University of Derby study, originally published in the scientific journal “International Journal of Cyber Behaviour, Psychology and Learning”, found that 13% of the participants in the study were addicted to using their smartphone, with the average user spending 3.6 hours per day on their device.
The majority of the 256 study participants admitted that their smartphone use caused them to experience symptoms of distraction from many aspects of their lives, including work, hobbies, and interpersonal relationships.
One of the professors who wrote the study, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Derby, claimed that the level of addiction to smartphones may not equal that caused by smoking or alcohol, nevertheless, the devices should carry health warnings, similar to those found on cigarette packets.
"The public needs to be aware of the addictive properties of new technologies," the professor stressed, adding that "The warning could precede the purchase of a smartphone or before downloading an application, such as Candy Crush or Flappy Bird.".
Among the other findings of the study on the relationship between user behavior and smartphones, it showed that social networking sites rank at the top of the apps preferred by users (87%), followed by instant messaging applications (52%) and news reading applications (51%).
Source: kouti pandoras
