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DECEMBER 7, 2012
Sir, I need you to step away from the smart phone! Step away from the keyboard, sir!
NOW!
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relationships. What’s more, the handwriting on the wall — check that — the texting on the screen indicates that device addiction is growing faster than a Columbian cannabis crop. The signs are all there What does a clinician look for when making a diagnosis of addiction? Seven factors (see box, above) are in play when it comes to drug addiction. They are: • withdrawal • tolerance • preoccupation with the substance • loss of control over the substance • more use of the substance than intended
• continued consumption of the substance despite adverse consequences, and • loss of interest in other social, occupational, and recreational activities Comparing those symptoms to device addiction, think about behaviors you and I have seen (and have done ourselves): • feeling anxious when your cell phone shows no bars • checking text and email messages first thing in the morning (if not during sleepless periods at night) • driving back home to retrieve a forgotten phone (even though you were only going to be gone briefly) • not being content to simply sit
and read, meditate or do some quiet activity, choosing instead to text or play a video game even if it happens to be mindless. University of Maryland researchers say students they studied admitted to being “incredibly addicted,” mainly to social media. In the study, 200 students aged 18 to 21 were instructed to abstain from all media for 24 hours, and afterward to write about their experiences on the class blog. “Students reported tremendous anxiety about being cut off,” said researchers, noting that students equated going without media to going without friends and family. That’s not particularly surprising given
the fact that data shows those addicted to their cell and smart phones spend an average of nearly 109 minutes per day on their phones. If that sounds like a lot of time, it’s nothing compared to the Baylor-Seton Hall study which has found that the average college student spends about seven hours a day using some kind of information and communication technology. Researcher Louis Leung writes that adolescents and young adults ‘treat their cell phone as a companion with whom in profound and fundamental ways they play, communicate, shop, and spend their leisure time.’ Please see STEP AWAY page 9
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lectronic devices are flying off store shelves these days, and are no doubt a big gift item during this holiday season. Ironically, the so-called reason for the season — one of them anyway — is family togetherness. We say ironic because, well, don’t hold your breath on improved family togetherness if you give the gift of electronics. An increasing body of scientific evidence says that our ever-increasing interface with machines — cell phones and their growing capabilities in particular — is having a predictable effect: it is eroding human interaction and personal
To clinically define addictive use of cell phones, it is necessary to compare it against criteria for other established addictions. The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (known as DSM-IV) has established objective and measurable criteria for assessing “substance dependence” (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The main diagnostic criterion is a maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to significant psychological impairment. This impairment is manifested by seven symptoms from a list of conditions including withdrawal, tolerance, preoccupation with the substance, loss of control over the substance, more use of the substance than intended, continued consumption of the substance despite adverse consequences, and loss of interest in other social, occupational, and recreational activities. Addictive cell phone use can be regarded as an impulse control disorder that does not involve an intoxicant and is similar to pathological gambling. Bianchi & Phillips (2005) identified a number of signs that cell phone addicts would exhibit and developed the cell phone problem-use scale. It was found that dependents of cell phones preoccupy themselves with the cell phone (e.g., when out of range for some time, users become worried with the thought of missing a call); use the cell phone for an increasing amount of time in order to achieve satisfaction; report repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop cell phone use; feel lost, restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down cell phone use; staying on the cell phone longer than intended; hiding from family and friends or others to conceal the extent of involvement with the cell phone; and using the cell phone as a way of escape from problems or to relieve feelings of isolation, anxiety, loneliness, and depression. — from a study by Louis Leung
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