Are Smartphones addictive?

​Are Smartphones addictive and we should be warned against regular use? Analyst Ben Wood from CCS Insight does not think so.
“The smartphone has become part of the fabric of today’s society,” he told the BBC, adding it was ‘the most prolific consumer electronics device on the planet and it seems most people can’t live without one.”
To illustrate, he says we have now reached the point where there are more smartphones than people in the UK.
A study by Texas’s Baylor University concluded that smartphones can actually be as addicting as drugs and alcohol for some.
Professor James Robert who headed up the study said people can be addicted to behaviours and that habitual cellphone users can begin to depend on their phone in ways that seem quite similar to how people respond to drugs.
For example, spending time away from the phone can make them feel anxious or panicky, looking a bit like withdrawal. A dead battery can cause right-out chaos and anxiety.
Dr Mark Griffiths however Professor of Gambling Studies at the Nottingham Trent University, and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit does not see smartphones as actually being addictive.
“Most people habitually use their phone; they use it a lot, but it’s not what I would call an addiction,” he explains. “Just because something is very important in your life, and you carry it everywhere, and when you forget it, you feel like your left arm’s missing, that doesn’t mean that you’re addicted.
“Often, the excessive use is symptomatic of other underlying problems in that person’s life. Therapeutically, if you find out what that problem is, then the excessive use can disappear.”
The Therapy Studio Basingstoke specialises in problem behaviour such as unwanted habits or addiction - things you feel you have no control over which affects your life and the lives of those you care about.
Habits such as overeating or smoking are the most common,  but there are many other behaviours that can affect people’s lives, make them unhappy or cause a risk to their health and the health of those around them.”
If you have an unwanted habit or behaviour Hypnotherapy at The Therapy Studio Basingstoke can help by working with the subconscious mind, to identify the root and then reduce anxiety using a range of different techniques to allow a life free of anxiety.

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