Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, March 10, 2010
Tech Vindication!
Posted by Cienna Madrid on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 10:08 AM
iPhones are addictive.
According to a new Stanford University study, iPhone users are becoming so reliant on their iPhones that they are actually reporting being addicted to their Apple smartphones.Almost half of the respondents in the 200 person study acknowledged an iPhone addiction.
The Stanford study goes on to find that 75 percent of people in the study (or 150 people) sleep with their iPhones. In bed. Next to them. A phone. Respondents also identified their phones as a "doorway to the world" and "dangerously alluring."
And then there's this!
Seven percent of the students reported roommates or partners who felt neglected due to the respondent's iPhone use, giving rise to the term 'iPhone widow' for those people who feel as though they've lost their significant other to the iPhone.
I'm not an iPhone hater—my aversion goes way beyond any singular device to encompass most extensions of social technology*—its the buzzing and twittering and pokes and virtual presents (?) and pet avatars and millions of pairs of unblinking eyes all searching to find proof that their third grade rival is now a fat ass working behind the makeup counter at the Bon Marche. iPhones are just really, really good at facilitating that. I mean, they're addictive! And now there's proof!
Thanks, Stanford, for giving my neurosis a shot of credibility.
And hat tip to Jaime for knowing my weakness.
*My dream is to retire to a potato cellar and communicate with the outside world via pigeon or telepathy. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, right? There have to be others under the age of 60 who dream of root cellars and endless games of cribbage.
1
To paraphrase another post on SLOG: Just because someone can't handle owning an iPhone doesn't make it addictive.
4
My SO has an iPhone and uses it a lot, but you know what? Saying, hey, shut off the iPhone and come to bed actually works.
If you're an iPhone widow, man (or woman) up and communicate.
If you're an iPhone widow, man (or woman) up and communicate.
7
Jesus fuck, are we so really weak and bored that every thing we enjoy must be an addiction? Like the internet? Addicted! Like sex? Addicted!
Oh no I use my phone as an alarm clock and keep its charger by my bed! Time for rehab! Preferably the rich white people kind where people with pretend problems pay tens of thousands to take a vacation at a "clinic".
Oh no I use my phone as an alarm clock and keep its charger by my bed! Time for rehab! Preferably the rich white people kind where people with pretend problems pay tens of thousands to take a vacation at a "clinic".
8
Aw, fuck iPhones. I've got a brand-new BlackBerry Bold 9700 here that blows the socks off that piece of shit.
9
It's called an "addictive personality," and it's the reason that some people can knock back two beers every night without changing at all and some people fall down the well at the first sip. With booze you can actually blame it, to some degree, on the physically addictive qualities of ethanol; with an iPhone you just have a problem and you want to divert the blame from yourself.
11
wait, who doesn't sleep with their phone? i've been using it as my alarm for years, much before the iphone, even. but i guess i'm partially deaf so the vibration really helps me wake up
12
An iPhone, or any other smart phone, is effectively no different from the computer connected to the net or TV: an access point to an absurd amount of information and entertainment one can passively receive. One difference is that you can carry it with you anywhere, but I doubt that really effects the level of "addiction" (ha ha) people develop.
All this study shows is that people are susceptible to letting floating glow boxes suck up their time (radio falls under that too), precisely because they are so easy and rewarding, in a primal sense. Yawn, nothing we haven't known for 60 years.
I sleep with my iPhone on the bedside table, and have been woken up by phone calls, texts and IMs. Oh noes!
Just don't tell these people who sleep with their phones about all the iPhone specific porn sites out there. Although that would give a boost to the laundry industry.
All this study shows is that people are susceptible to letting floating glow boxes suck up their time (radio falls under that too), precisely because they are so easy and rewarding, in a primal sense. Yawn, nothing we haven't known for 60 years.
I sleep with my iPhone on the bedside table, and have been woken up by phone calls, texts and IMs. Oh noes!
Just don't tell these people who sleep with their phones about all the iPhone specific porn sites out there. Although that would give a boost to the laundry industry.
15
@7, @11, I'm assuming they mean like next to them _in_ bed? Because people have been sleeping with phones next to the bed for as long as phones were portable enough to do so, like the 60s. How many times in movies and television have people been woken up in the middle of the night, and then reach over and answer the phone? The phones are next to the bed in most hotels I've been to too.
Also, your neurosis is still kinda weird.
Also, your neurosis is still kinda weird.
16
Oh puh-leeeze. I turn my phone off when I go to bed. (And I don't sleep with a gun either, though both are at arm's reach.)
17
My parents, grandparents, and in fact a lot of my older relatives have kept land line touch-tone phones on nightstands next to their beds for literally decades.
Should I consider scheduling a mass intervention?
Should I consider scheduling a mass intervention?
18
I have noticed people in public blatantly ignoring their partners/friends by texting or talking on their phone. I always just assumed they were assholes.
19
Really tired of people using the word "addiction" for everything under the sun. Just because a bunch of morons said they are "addicted" does not mean they are blowing people just to use an iphone.
21
Unless Ms. Madrid meant "root" in the Australian sense. Root cellar! Ho, yes, baby! I could -- wait, officer, what are you doing in my cubicle?
23
The iPhone is the new cigarette. First thing in the morning, last thing at night. Excuse yourself after a meal to grab a quick puff when no one is watching. Check your facebook status in the bathroom. Meet others who have one and talk endlessly about how cool this app or that app is to the exclusion of "non-smokers".
I'm up to a full pack a day iPhone addiction.
I'm up to a full pack a day iPhone addiction.
25
Why would you want to communicate by telepathy?
Carrier pigeons, I can understand -- you can close the window to the root cellar and keep the flying rats out. How would you stop people from thinking their mundane, pointless and boring thoughts at you?
Carrier pigeons, I can understand -- you can close the window to the root cellar and keep the flying rats out. How would you stop people from thinking their mundane, pointless and boring thoughts at you?
28
I agree with Cienna - and I think this comes down to defining what sort of addiction we're talking about.
I refer to "Addiction" article on Wikipedia (a collection of indisputable facts submitted by members of Mensa):
A *positive addiction* is a beneficial habit - where the benefits outweigh the costs. (Examples: regular exercise, eating healthy foods)
A *negative addiction* is a detrimental habit - where the benefits are not worth the negative financial, physical and mental costs. (Examples: drinking bleach, arguing with people on Slog)
A *neutral addiction* is a habit in which it is not clear if the organism (or species) benefits from the activity. (Examples: driving a Prius, arguing with my wife)
So addiction isn't *necessarily* a bad thing - the qualification of "addiction" is dependent on whether you're just interested in a thing (i might do it, i might not) or feel compelled to do a thing (i will do this every day/hour/minute, no matter what) - at its root, addiction is not defined by whether the benefit vs. cost ratio is positive or negative.
Cienna's not referring to people's usage of telephones or alarm clocks per se (in whatever form they take) as an addiction. Rather, it's in response to the compulsion/habit of iPhone users (and other types of smartphones) to use their device for as many things as possible as often as possible - perhaps more often than might be reasonable, if, once again, the benefits are weighed against cost.
Confidential to Cienna: your potato cellar or mine? so many babies will we make, oh yes
I refer to "Addiction" article on Wikipedia (a collection of indisputable facts submitted by members of Mensa):
A *positive addiction* is a beneficial habit - where the benefits outweigh the costs. (Examples: regular exercise, eating healthy foods)
A *negative addiction* is a detrimental habit - where the benefits are not worth the negative financial, physical and mental costs. (Examples: drinking bleach, arguing with people on Slog)
A *neutral addiction* is a habit in which it is not clear if the organism (or species) benefits from the activity. (Examples: driving a Prius, arguing with my wife)
So addiction isn't *necessarily* a bad thing - the qualification of "addiction" is dependent on whether you're just interested in a thing (i might do it, i might not) or feel compelled to do a thing (i will do this every day/hour/minute, no matter what) - at its root, addiction is not defined by whether the benefit vs. cost ratio is positive or negative.
Cienna's not referring to people's usage of telephones or alarm clocks per se (in whatever form they take) as an addiction. Rather, it's in response to the compulsion/habit of iPhone users (and other types of smartphones) to use their device for as many things as possible as often as possible - perhaps more often than might be reasonable, if, once again, the benefits are weighed against cost.
Confidential to Cienna: your potato cellar or mine? so many babies will we make, oh yes
29
I really like my iPhone. When my purse was stolen, I felt quite bereft until the Apple store opened the next day and I could replace it. But ya know what? I've been an addict. I've been through rehab (twice. Slow learner.) And I have never seen anyone puking, shaking, or having seizures because you took their iPhone away. And even when I'm broke and can barely pay my phone bill, I don't contemplate selling my ass on the street or knocking over a liquor store to get more minutes. Just sayin'.
31
If you are less interesting to your partner or friend then what they may find elsewhere, including on the net, then who or what is the problem?
32
@13 - actually, living in a root cellar isn't that bad. As I recall, in addition to living in a barn, one year I did that, and it was kind of neat.
Don't knock root cellars, even if they get bad reception.
Don't knock root cellars, even if they get bad reception.
36
I don' have a cell-phone either. Never have. I wonder how many people on Slog don't have cell-phones...
37
i can't stand iphones, regardless of the definition of "addiction." i'll support you in your telepathy, pigeon carrier pursuits. though...the whole reason i don't like them is that they seem to disable human interaction, so i can't quite back up the seclusion thing...
40
@29 "And I have never seen anyone puking, shaking, or having seizures because you took their iPhone away."
I don't want to diminish your post, but you seem to be describing withdrawal symptoms more than addiction symptoms. Additions that provide greater "rewards" are more difficult to break, and the reward becomes conditioned. The chemical reaction that occurs in the body and brain from certain drugs is similar to what can occur from other addictive behavior. Though crack and heroin have more pronounced withdrawal symptoms, they may not be more addictive than, say, smoking a cigarette. Other behaviors cause this to varying degree, including sex (which obviously provides a reward reaction in the brain) and other behaviors.
A negative addictive behavior is one that had overriding negative consequences and yet the person continues to indulge. Still, a line should probably be drawn somewhere, as "laziness" could almost meet the definition of a mild addiction, along with virtually anything else.
Are people addicted to the iPhone? If the iPhone offers a reward to the user, and the user starts to seek that reward to the detriment of their personal well-being, the proposition becomes something to investigate further.
"I don't contemplate selling my ass on the street or knocking over a liquor store to get more minutes." While those are obvious negative behaviors, most alcoholics do not engage in these behaviors either.
I don't want to diminish your post, but you seem to be describing withdrawal symptoms more than addiction symptoms. Additions that provide greater "rewards" are more difficult to break, and the reward becomes conditioned. The chemical reaction that occurs in the body and brain from certain drugs is similar to what can occur from other addictive behavior. Though crack and heroin have more pronounced withdrawal symptoms, they may not be more addictive than, say, smoking a cigarette. Other behaviors cause this to varying degree, including sex (which obviously provides a reward reaction in the brain) and other behaviors.
A negative addictive behavior is one that had overriding negative consequences and yet the person continues to indulge. Still, a line should probably be drawn somewhere, as "laziness" could almost meet the definition of a mild addiction, along with virtually anything else.
Are people addicted to the iPhone? If the iPhone offers a reward to the user, and the user starts to seek that reward to the detriment of their personal well-being, the proposition becomes something to investigate further.
"I don't contemplate selling my ass on the street or knocking over a liquor store to get more minutes." While those are obvious negative behaviors, most alcoholics do not engage in these behaviors either.
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