'Addiction To Mobile Phones' Is A Deadly Disease, Spreads Like Epidemic

Mobile phones dictate people's daily lives in a fashion that no one even expected a few decades ago. These influence the lives as well as livelihoods of many people. The increasing usage of mobile phones has made people addicted to it. More number of people, especially youngsters, are suffering from addiction to mobile phones and they do not even know that they do.

Scientists from Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, studied the behavioral pattern of people who are addicted to mobile phones. They proposed that phantom ringing of phones, i.e., repeatedly checking the mobile phone for an incoming call or text message or e-mail that is actually not there, is one of the main pointers that helps in identifying people who are addicted to mobile phones, The Michigan Daily reported.

Daniel Kruger, lead researcher of the study, said that, "When people have addictions, there is a phenomenon in which they are hypersensitive to stimuli associated with a rewarding stimulus."

A total of 766 undergraduate students, half of which were women, were recruited for the study. First, they were asked to complete a Personality Inventory, which was designed to test the personality characteristics and emotional stability of the subjects. They were then questioned about their experience on phantom ringing, i.e., whether they experience it, and if they do, how frequently, Business Standard reported.

The participants also took the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale survey, where they were asked whether they used mobile phones to feel better when lonely by talking or chatting online with friends. They were also asked whether they feel anxious when they are asked to turn off their mobile phones.

The study results that were published in the Computers in Human Behavior journal indicated that people who are emotionally stable were less dependent on their phones, while the others, especially women, are more likely to develop addiction to mobile phones.

Kruger commented that, "This study provides some real insight and maybe some evidence that people can have a real dependency on cell phone use."