From the CTIA Newswire: "Studies from around the world are suggesting people are addicted to their wireless phones. A Korean study found that nearly one-third of high school students showed signs of paranoia when they were without their phones and two-thirds were constantly worried about missing a text message when their phones were off. A British study concluded that people are intimately connected with their wireless phones and see them as essential items and extensions of themselves. A professor at Rutgers University asked his 220 students to shut off their wireless phones for three days. Only three of the students completed the assignment. A professor of psychology at Boston College suggests some consumers have a wireless phone addiction and should put themselves on a quota system so as not to become too dependant on the device. (Source: Chicago Tribune)"
I am off to find the actual papers on the subject. I suspect someone from the school of communications at Rutgers to be the "professor at Rutgers University" so this should be relatively easy to find.
Lets start with looking at Chicago Tribune articles themselves.
Chicago Tribune seems to dislike cell phones and like sensationalism. Here is the source article for the newswire summary: When Cellphone love becomes hang-up by Cynthia Hubert.
The article talks about cell phone use as an addiction and users displaying signs of paranoia when without access to their phone. "Dependence on electronic devices is hardly limited to cell phones, said Bill Lampton, a communications specialist and author in Georgia. Electronic mail, he said, is equally addictive." Yes the topic of Internet addiction is still alive and well. I've posted links to this before here, here, and here. Obviously, the step towards extending the concept to all electronic devices is not far off.
One of the more entertaining concepts in this article is that of a cell phone as a "contemporary pacifier" Meaning, "as long as we're holding it, we don't show signs of unrest." Towards the end, the pundits interviewed for the article announce that the "society as a whole has created a dependency." Then there is a wimpy call to action: " "We need some voices out there to tell people to be cautious," Chaparro said. "It's not about stopping progress. It's about making people realize there are other ways to interact." Right... and before the cell phone we never used anything like it to interact... As teenagers, our parents never yelled at us for spending hours on the phone? Nobody ever broke down to get a second land line because the first was always taken either by mom or daughter and they had hot fights over who was to use it just then. Then we went and got cell phones and created an addiction.. hrm.
While the first article doesn't dwell on the questions of why, there are others that do. Here is one: Don't hang up! written by Louis Rene Beres from Purdue university. The author suggests that the cell phone perpetuates a "much more than reasonable need to remain connected" because talking on the phone makes us feel better, more important, less lonely. It's all about us, right? Chanelling Goffman, I would argue the idea of "reasonable" in a culture where being alone and idle in a public space is not exactly kosher is a little bit strange. You mean, we have found a way to deal with the socially awkward situation of being alone in a public space without a purpose and this is "more than reasonable?" hmmm... now lets be reasonable. The article quotes Freud, Nietzsche and T.S. Eliot and suggests that we have slid further down the slippery slope of hyper-individualism. This is less cultural critique than fiction, but entertaining none the less. Mr. Beres doesn't use a cell phone himself in defiance to cultural pressure I suppose. He would probably quickly endorse the idea of addiction... hmm... next?
So cell phones are addictive and they are making us want to be connected "more than reasonable". Watch out you cell phone users, it's a technology as evil as the Internet, it will erase increase your herd mentality and make you anxious when you can't use your phone. Are things really that extreme? I doubt it, but I am off to search for those papers now.
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