Don’t leave a phone in your child’s bedroom

Mike the Psych's Blog

Just the presence of a smartphone or device is enough to disturb children’s sleep patterns as they anticipate the possibility of getting a message and can’t relax.

Using devices  at any point in the 90 minutes before bedtime more than doubles the risk of a poor night’s sleep. Even leaving it charging in the corner can have a detrimental effect, possibly because children are subconsciously engaged with them if they know they are within earshot.

Researchers ta Kings College London examined the digital behaviour of 125,000 children across four continents. It’s known from previous studies that around three-quarters of children and adolescents have at least one device in their bedroom at night.

Screen-based media may adversely affect sleep in different ways: psychologically stimulating the brain, delaying or interrupting sleep time, and affecting sleep cycles, physiology and alertness. They effect both the quality and the duration of sleep.

Sleep is undervalued but…

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Dumbing down that smartphone

Have we reached smartphone-peak?

Have we finally realised we need to unplug ourselves from endless apps and social media connections? No more anxiety from FOMO or FOBO?

The NoPhone might have been a prank by two Canadian entrepreneurs having a dig at the latest smartphone upgrade but now there is a real alternative: the Light Phone.

It’s the size of a credit card and can make calls and store 10 numbers and that’s it. Retro or what?

It will be launched in the US by two friends, Joe Hollier and Kaiwei Tang, who used to design Motorola phones (I loved my flip-top Motorola) but grew jaded with the constant pressure to come up with increasingly addictive and life-consuming apps.

If you believe the statistics – and I find these figures unbelievable and not sure of their source – we tap our phones on average 2,617 times a day with almost 90% of us unable to resist checking our devises at leat once between midnight and 5.00 am. I am clearly an outlier in these statistics and in my usage despite blogging and using several twitter accounts.

Another survey from Deloitte however seems to confirm this trend with users aged 18-24 the worst offenders in that they are the ones most likely to use their phones in the middle of the night. These people are truly addicted and as Paul Lee, who led the research at Deloitte says “Consumers will need to learn how to run their lives with smartphones, as opposed to having their lives run by their devices.”

Another trend is that of using video calls and social networks rather than standard voice calls which are declining. (Perhaps people like the idea of free calls and encryption?) A third of the respondents in the survey said they hadn’t made a voice call in the previous week.

Deloitte’s Key findings:

• One in three UK adults has argued with their partner about using their mobile phone too much, according to Deloitte.
• The rows were most common among 25-34 year olds the report found, while 11% of over 65s admitted arguments about overusing phones.
• About a tenth of respondents admitted using their handsets “always” or “very often” while eating at home or in restaurants.
• A third said they regularly used their devices while with friends or watching television.
• One in three UK adults – and half of 18-24 year olds – said they checked their phones in the middle of the night, with instant messaging and social media the most popular activities.
• One in 10 smartphone owners admitted reaching for their phone as soon as they woke up – with a third grabbing the device within five minutes of waking.

However it’s also been reported that a few famous showbiz people have said they are giving up social media and doing a digital detox but I’ll believe that when I see it. They are too narcissistic to be away from their digital followers for long.

There is however a market for old Nokia phones, such as the 3310 and N70, which are selling for hundreds of dollars online (I never liked Nokia phones with their fiddly keyboards but for a time they ruled the world).

But back to the Light Phone. It will sell for $100 in America and should be available in the UK by the end of the year. It shares the same number as your regular phone forwarding calls to it. It’s called “going light” – no emails , games or apps. Perfect when you’re out for a meal or enjoying some quiet time in the countryside.

One of the inventors said  he was constantly checking what other people were doing on social media and it was chipping away at his own contentment. (See post about social media and depression which proves his point).

“I found I was getting lost in these scroll holes. I would come out not necessarily feeling good about myself. My smartphone was sucking me in. As soon as I stepped away – I call it breaking through the fomo threshold, getting over the fear of missing out, I felt free“.

He said he realised he was happier in those disconnected moments “when I can watch a sunset, appreciate my friends. We want to make a product that helps people appreciate their lives, not control their lives”.

The Light Phone is not a substitute for a smartphone but a supplement, but if it allows you to get away from all the social media intrusion. “Even just 20 minutes for a coffee“. He doesn’t see it as a retro regressive step but as asking the question about what we actually want from technology.

It reminds me that I’ve got a simple Motorola W220 phone I bought in Lithuania 10 years ago to use on my regular trips out there.

No camera, less than £50, on a “pay as you go” contract. But it’s a flip top. It  might be so retro it’s trendy!

Girls more depressed & you can blame social media

On the face of it today’s young people have never had it so good. Teenage pregnancies are down, fewer of them smoke and they drink less than previous generations.

So what have they got to be depressed about?

Well they spend an awful lot of time on social media, posting selfies, seeking approval from others. “Like me, like me” they seem to beg.

It’s a recipe for disaster and means they are continually comparing themselves with others. And it’s all artificial.

They spend hours making themselves up for selfies. I’ve taken loads of photographs at parties and invariably the women want to check the photos to make sure they’re OK.

Whether its posting selfies or posting posed photos on Facebook using cats, cuddly toys and even their babies as accessories, it’s all about wanting approval. Over half of teenagers are said to spend more than three hours a day on social media. (I’ve posted before about my views on Facebook)

And this is the most risk-averse generation we’ve seen for ages and maybe that’s part of the problem. No-one dares misbehave any more in case it gets on social media (as it will) and is then held against them later in life e.g. at job interviews.

It’s been said that young people work harder at schools. I don’t believe that for one minute. Exams are easier, course work is often group work and there has been such grade inflation over the years (at all levels in the education system) that you can’t rely on the grading system.

Nonetheless there has been a 10% increase in girls being treated for depression and a 50% increase in self-harming. For boys there has been a decrease over the same 10 year period.

The psychological distress reported includes sleep loss, inability to concentrate, feeling unhappy and worthless. Girls report suffering these twice as much as boys (30% of girls).

Whether or not social media is totally to blame it clearly plays a part. The head of the charity Sane believes the internet has played a huge part. No longer can students get relief from school or peer pressure at home. It’s now always-on.

But lets not forget pushy parents. Kids from better off families report higher levels of stress and anxiety. Lower status children seem to suffer less – perhaps because they have lower expectations, or maybe because they are more resilient.

Schools which have banned smartphones report better results. Parents need to think about reducing screen time and switching off the wi-fi.

As I’ve posted before about smartphone users – Get a Life!

The government has promised to put £1.4 billion into providing mental health support for young people. Maybe we should start helping them closer to home.

 

Ditch your smartphone, get out in the countryside, and feel better about yourself

Nature lovers are significantly less anxious and have higher self-esteem than people obsessed with their smartphones according a recent study.

They are also more conscientious, emotionally stable and more open to new experiences than those addicted to technology.

The on-line research at the University of Derby examined people’s mobile phone use and their connection to nature. Participants were also assessed on their personality and self-esteem

It found that those most in touch with nature used their phone half as much each day as the rest of the population and were more emotionally balanced i.e. 2 hrs 15 mins each day (which seems a lot to me) compared to 4 hrs 8 mins for those less connected to nature.

They also took 87% fewer selfies but three times as many pictures of nature.  So we can probably assume that they are also less narcissistic.

Miles Richardson, head of psychology, said “Nature connectedness isn’t about going back to some halcyon days where we lived in harmony with nature. It’s about realising our place in a wider ecology here and now”

I’ve posted on this topic several times over the past few years and my message is still the same. Forget the smartphone (and social media) and get a life!

Meet up after school, chat with your pals?

Spotted one afternoon in local supermarket. Teenagers after school or college. All of them immersed in their smart phones. Not actually communicating with each other face-to-face. No wonder employers complain about the lack of social skills in this generation. Too concerned with missing out (FOMO) and being away from their phones (nomophobia). iPhone zombies, get a life!

You’ve heard of FOMO, now it’s FOBO

FOBO – Fear of being off-line.

Previously we had FOMO – fear of missing out and “nomophobia” – fear of being without your phone.

People are becoming increasingly obsessed with their smartphones. You see people walking around with them in their hands rather than putting them in their pocket or bag.

In restaurants they put them on the table by their plate. They take them to the bathroom with them (how many people have dropped their phones down the loo?). They keep them switched on under their pillow at night.

At the sound of an alert they rush to see who is calling, texting or e-mailing, breaking off from conversations and interrupting their work.

If they haven’t had an alert for a while they will need to check the phone anyway. And if the battery goes flat it’s panic stations. Then they might resort to stealing electricity on a train or going on-stage to plug into a (fake) socket – both true stories.

Last year Iowa State University of Science and Technology carried out a survey to judge the extent of nomophobia or smartphone separation anxiety.

People said they would feel “worried and nervous” if their family and friends couldn’t contact them instantly and feel “annoyed and uncomfortable” without constant access to information via a smartphone and they would be “scared” if they had a flat battery.

According to a recent Gallup poll 81% of smartphone users keep them near them almost all the time during waking hours and 63% do so even when they are asleep. 75% of users log on before they do anything else in the morning and 1 in 10 checks e-mails immediately after sex!

Dr Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University thinks we’re all suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). he believes our relationship with our smartphoes are causing us to suffer from anxiety-based disorders (see recent post on smartphones and depression). We need the constant checking to re-assure ourselves.

He refers to the locus of control, a psychological concept related to how we run our lives. Do we let the smartphone control us or do we control it?

His students tested an app which measured how many times they unlocked their phones each day and how long they spent on them. They averaged 60-70 times a day for an average of 3 minutes – that’s checking eight times an hour and spending at least 3 hours a day on their phones.

Studies have shown how anxious people get if they have to have their phones switched off even for just 10 minutes. Not being allowed to answer a phone when it rang raised heart rates.

Young people believe they can multi-task, each succeeding generation claiming more and more multi-tasking ability which is nonsense.

What’s to be done? Professor Rosen doesn’t believe digital detoxing works i.e. a cold turkey approach not using your phone for several days. He recommends a technology break approach. Check your phone for a minute then switch off for 15 minutes. Gradually increase it to 20 minutes and then 30 and so on. Gradually weaning yourself off the “always on” mentality.

You could also try just answering or checking your phone when you feel like it. That means you are in control. That’s my approach but I’d happily provide cold turkey treatment for some people I know!

He also says don’t check your phone first thing in the morning Wait until you’ve showered, had breakfast etc. Even better wait until you get to work. And don’t check the phone during the night as it interrupts your sleep patterns.

He says “My hope is that people will start spending more quality time with people in front of them rather than the people contained in that box. Because of this omnipresent device we’re not allowing ourselves to have these human experiences.”

“I also hope that this will free our brains from the neurotransmitters that signal anxiety because we know that constant levels of anxiety are just not good for us. They eventually lead to anxiety-based disorders. We don’t want to become OCD. We don’t want to constantly check. We don’t want to feel driven by something outside of us” (having an external locus of control).

In other words get a life!

Professor Rosen wrote “iDisorder: Understanding our obsession with technology and overcoming its hold on us” (2012) and his new book, due out next year, is “The Distracted Mind”

Source: The Times Body & Soul section

Excessive use of your mobile phone might mean you’re depressed

Researchers have found that monitoring a person’s mobile phone for signs of depression is more accurate than asking people to complete a daily happiness questionnaire (reported in The Times).

There is a marked difference in usage between people who are depressed and those who are not with people who had been diagnosed with depression spending four time longer on their smartphones each day.

The researchers at Northwestern University near Chicago used a computer programme called Purple Robot. It kept track over two weeks of the mobile phone use (excluding phone calls) of 40 people, 14 of whom had been diagnosed with depression.

The study measured how long they spent at home, how many other places they had visited and how long their phones were active.

Those with depression used their phones used their phones an average of 68 minutes a day compared with only 17 minutes for those without the condition.

The programme was able to identify those who had been diagnosed as having depression with 87% accuracy. Researchers also thought it could also indicate how severe it was.

Psychologists have thought that excessive use of mobile phones and stressing about technology could be linked to depression but have relied on self-reporting rather than objective measures such as the Purple Robot programme (developed by computer scientist Sohrob Saeb).

Previous research has shown how much we are beginning to depend on our smart phones and how obsessed we can become.

Stephen Schueller, professor in preventatve medicine at the university, said many people used their phones to try to rid themselves of negative emotions such as boredom or anxiety.

“Phones are excellent sources of distraction. I imagine that people are probably not using their phones to reach out and call people when they’re depressed”

The research has been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research and more research is planned to see if there are specific behaviours that can predict symptoms and also how exactly depressed people use their phones (the research didn’t differentiate between texting, e-mails and other uses).

Dr Saeb also wants to investigate if it’s possible to ease some aspects of depression by encouraging people with depression to use their phone differently. “We will see if we can reduce symptoms of depression by encouraging people to visit more locations throughout the day, have a more regular routine, sped more time in a variety of places, or reduce phone use“

Smartphone users – get a life!

The latest research on smartphone use should make any intelligent person think twice about how they use their time.

Adults between 18 and 24 spend 4 hours and 20 minutes a day on their phones, with women spending 23 minutes longer than men. By comparison over 55s spend two and a quarter hours a day on their phones.

Despite this a third of us believe that smartphones have not made us any more productive.

The statistics quoted above mean that adults are spending the equivalent of one whole day a week on their phones. They use it 221 times a day for social networking, e-mailing, texting and other tasks. People connect to Facebook without realising why – just a thirst to be connected it seems.

People start using their phones at 0731 (and the new selfie trend to share pictures of people who have just woken up which is replacing the ice bucket challenge will only add to these early starters) and finally put it down at 2321. Of course if you can’t get to sleep you can always play with your phone until you do.

• 80% of us feel lost if separated from their phones (see my earlier post on FOMO)
• 70% of us use smartphones to make us look busy when we’re on our own (can’t be seen to not have friends?)
• 60% of us text people working in the same building rather than finding them for a face-to-face conversation
• 2/3 of us have started using our phones without realising why. This is more common with women (see earlier post on this)

Much of the information from this research, carried out for TecMark a digital marketing firm, is not new but as Professor Luciano Floridi at Oxford University says “If you give complete freedom to social animals, guess what happens we overdo it. We’ve never had so many opportunities to communicate with each other. But we need to learn with social media what we’re learning with obesity – that overdoing it can be bad”

And that includes being bad for your health.

FOMO: Our obsession with Smartphones

I posted in July about the fact that 40% of women are unable to go more than an hour without checking their mobile phones or tablet for a new message.

They feel compelled to repeatedly look at their digital gadgets for fear they might be missing out on news and gossip (FOMO).

And a third of British women say they would rather lose their passport than their phone that they are so dependent on.

And would you believe 1 in 5 of them say their smartphone is as important as their husband, a quarter say it’s as important as their best friend?

The study by eBay also found that almost half of the women had taken a call or sent a message during a date and 1 in 6 have done so while making love.

Obsession or what? And it’s just as bad in America where a study of students found that many of them spent half their day using digital media of some kind.

Well now. following a new survey, it has a name “Nomophobia” (No-Mobile-Phone-Phobia) and it’s being suggested that just over half of the British population fear being out of mobile phone contact. Women are 17% more likely to suffer from this new phobia than men.

1 in 5 people say they check their phones in bed and over 40% take them to the beach.

Almost a third of people check their work e-mails at home with men more likely to do that than women but women are more likely to check their phones during a date.

It’s clear smartphones are seen as much as a social tool as a business one and are used for storing a lot of personal data. The company that carried out the latest survey expressed concern that only half of us use a password to secure our data.

This is the reason we have such poor literacy levels amongst young people……..

Kindadukish's Blog - I am not a number, I am a free man (The Prisoner)

Stop teaching children how to spell because smartphones can do it for them, says academic in attack on traditional teaching.

Spelling lessons should be scrapped because children can correct mistakes on their mobile phone or computer, a university professor has claimed.

Sugata Mitra, professor of educational technology at Newcastle University, said that good grammar was necessary ‘maybe 100 years ago’ but ‘not right now’.

He said that traditional spelling classes are unnecessary when students have constant access to state-of-the-art technology.

Professor Mitra said that pupils should be encouraged not to rely on linguistic rules but to try and express themselves in new ways such as using mobile phone text messaging.

The professor spoke out as the Government introduces a drive aimed at improving educational standards that will see pupils tested on spelling 200 complex words by the end of primary school.

Professor Mitra has said that youngsters should be encouraged…

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