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Smartphone addiction scientist calls for digital diet for mobile phone users
Especially for many teenagers, a life without a smartphone is hardly conceivable today. But the cell phones make dependent, unproductive and unhappy. That's what a researcher from the University of Bonn claims. He recommends a "digital diet".
"Smombies "are always busy with the mobile phone
"Smombies", a new word creation for smartphone and zombie, has the chance to be voted "Youth Word of the Year" in November. This indicates that many teenagers seem to make fun of people who are constantly busy with their mobile phones. One can also approach the problem more seriously or even scientifically. The researcher Alexander Markowetz, junior professor for computer science at the University of Bonn, evaluated the mobile phone usage of 60,000 people with the help of an app and concludes: "Smartphones are addictive, unproductive and unhappy."
Even in the evening in bed many can not keep their hands off the phone. (Image: Ana Blazic Pavlovic / fotolia.com) Smartphones have a drastic impact on our lives
Especially children and adolescents are too often on the computer, many adults criticize. According to various studies, many children keep it out for only 30 minutes without a mobile phone, until real withdrawal symptoms appear. Although the electronic devices have also contributed to a huge improvement in the quality of life through the various applications, their use is also associated with negative developments. In his forthcoming book "Digital Burnout" Alexander Markowetz explains the connections and describes the dramatic consequences for our private lives and the working world.
Mobile phone is activated 53 times a day
Around 300,000 people have now downloaded the app "Menthal", which was developed last year by computer scientists and psychologists of the University of Bonn for research purposes. This app records the smartphone usage and submits the data anonymously to the researchers' servers. The 60,000 records so far evaluated showed that the owners activated their mobile phone 53 times a day on average. "Smartphone apps work like gambling machines. We keep pushing them to get a little kick, "says Markowetz in a press release. In an interview with the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" (FAS) he said: "If we assume eight hours of sleep a day, we interrupt our activity every 18 minutes to pick up the mobile phone." 35 times are short Activities such as a look at the clock.
"Origin of Homo Digitalis "
This behavior runs through all age groups and social classes: "We are witnessing the emergence of homo digitalis, which handles most of its activities using digital media," the author explained. "People spend a lot of their time using social media applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and games." According to the junior professor, the constant interruptions that never allowed him or her to do any activity are dramatic.
The consequences are, according to the press release "unproductive and a lack of happiness". Especially teenagers are extremely focused on their cell phones. The 17- to 25-year-old participants of the investigation used their smartphone even more frequently - a total of three hours. And that, although much of their time has already been seized by school or training.
Everyday work is constantly interrupted
The economy has not yet realized what is important to them. Thus, some companies would equip their employees with tablets and smartphones and allow them complete flexibility - and thus increase dependence and burnout risk. Others would in the evening prevent the professional use of smartphones - for example, by turning off email server, but this leads the researchers according to the actual problem over: "Decisive are the constant interruptions in the daily work and less the evening e-mail."
Expert recommends a "digital diet"
According to their own statements, Markowetz is not concerned with abolishing or "demonizing" smartphones. "In a first step, we have created the devices, in a second we have to get used to healthy manners." According to the scientist, educational campaigns, research projects or political initiatives for dealing with the Internet are so far in short supply. In the interview with the FAS, the expert recommends a "digital diet": So put away your mobile phone, concentrate on something without interruption - "and realize that the world does not collapse, that we still live and our friends still like us".
Create mobile-free zones
He says that he does not want to talk about digital benefits, but "we have to be aware of how we use them, so that we can get as much happiness as possible and stay healthy." Moreover, it is "high time" for etiquette in everyday digital life - It could include not communicating unimportant things. One can get rid of the automatisms of the permanent use of smartphones by concrete techniques. For example, by declaring the bedroom a cell phone-free zone or setting the rule to use the smartphone only on an uncomfortable kitchen stool. However, this naturally increases the risk of getting a so-called mobile phone syndrome or other postural damage. As the use of smartphones and co. Is just beginning to develop, we need urgently a societal debate and an interdisciplinary exchange in science to understand what digitization is doing to our psyches, according to Markowetz. (Ad)