"Yikes! Did I just get a text message, or did I imagine I just got a text message?"
A new study has found that smartphones can actually increase people's stress levels. The reason is that smartphones produce "a relentless need to immediately review and respond to each and every incoming message, alert or bing."
The stress gets so bad for some users that they actually begin to feel phantom vibrations, thinking their phone is buzzing when it isn't.
"Smart phone use is increasing at a rapid rate and we are likely to see an associated increase in stress from social networking."
Tom Stafford, a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, believes smartphone "addiction" stems from the same place as gambling problems.
"Both slot machines and email follow something called a 'variable interval reinforcement schedule,' which has been established as the way to train in the strongest habits. This means that rather than reward an action every time it is performed, you reward it sometimes, but not in a predictable way. So with email, usually when I check it there is nothing interesting, but every so often there’s something wonderful – an invite out, or maybe some juicy gossip - and I get a reward."
Want to feel more stressed? Read this.
Y'all can have your smartypants phones. I'll stick with my dumbphone for as long as possible.
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