Are you a smartphone addicted? Find it out

Smartphones are everywhere. It’s calculated that we are going to reach 1.75 billion smartphones on earth by the end of 2014 and in many countries people own even two or three mobile phones each.

It’ undeniable that smartphones have completely changed our life, in a good, but also, in a bad way. We are changing our habits and lifestyle and relationships are getting more and more “digital” and less physical.

We have to consider that the Millennials, the new digitalized generation, is even more involved in technology since they are born, almost, with a  mobile device on their hands.

A world of apps

Feeding the time we spend watching our smartphone are millions of apps that everyday are popping up online. The apps we seems to prefer are mainly social (Facebook, Twitter etc.), Messaging app (WhatsApp) and Games. The last one, in particular in one of the most appreciated since many people are playing during commute or in their free time.

-> SEE ALSO: THE MOST USED APPS IN THE STATES

But, to be more analytics, how many time a day do we spend with our smartphone and media? Below are two charts, by eMarketer, which show the average time we spend daily with our devices, symptom of a real addiction.

As you can see, we spend an average 2 hours and 51 minutes per day watching our smartphones and a 23.3% of the total time we spend a day with  media.

Smartphones ans multiscreen

Apparently, in the US, tv is still one the most time-consuming media, with almost 4 hours a half daily. But, we should consider that today, people watching tv is also watching their smartphones or tablets at the same time. In fact, real-time interaction with social as Twitter, during a TV show is getting common.

Multitasking and multiscreen have also a bad side effect. We get unconcentrated easily and often, especially the new generation.

Because of the huge amount of information we see everyday on our device we are enjoying a lot of content but for a few time, shifting from an app to another and from an activity to another.

This habit affects our ability to concentrate in other activities and also our lifestyle.

FOMO and Addiction

This new addiction, is also well represented by a new form of social anxiety: FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out. This new “pathology” show up when “compulsively concerned that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience, profitable investment or other satisfying event. The fear is especially associated with modern technologies such as mobile phones and social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, which provide constant opportunity for comparison of one’s status.”

This compulsive practice, motivates us to check our smartphones multiple times a day, sometimes without any specific reason. How many time did happen you to start swiping your newsfeed or menu without even knowing why?

How addicted are you?

“Play” with our mobile devices is a form of new addiction that brings us to be completely slave of our smartphone.

Since we are talking about it. There’s also an app for your addiction. It’s called Cheeky, and it tells you how many times a day you are checking out your smartphone.

You just need to download it and the app will tell you exactly how many times a day you are watching at your screen and also, the total stats you can share with your friends. Just to become more aware of your addiction! 🙂