Cure for phone fever

21 October 2014 - 02:01 By Tanya Farber
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Image: ©Robert Kneschke/shutterstock.com

It might be a bit like hosting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at a bar but cellphone apps designed to track and reduce time spent on the phone are becoming hugely popular.

One such app, Checky, was reported by the New York Times this week to have been downloaded almost 250000 times.

Another, Moment, has given cellphone users 20 to 70 extra minutes a day by pinging them to remind them of how many times they have used their phone.

The app was designed by US programmer Kevin Holesh after he realised he wasn't spending enough quality time with his wife.

This might come as positive news for parents sick of zombie-generation kids who stare at their cellphones all day. And it could be useful for kids who get no help with homework because mom or dad is addicted to online Scrabble.

But the issues run deeper: recent studies have found direct links between excessive phone use and poor mental health.

A study at Kent State University, in the US, found that cellphone use - texting, in particular - detracted from academic performance and increased anxiety.

Researchers found that "a device is typically acquired to help an individual manage his workload" but that "once the individual starts to use his smartphone the work-load management benefits are displaced by the pressure to keep abreast with a newly expanded virtual social life".

The findings echo research by British psychologist Richard Balding, of the University of Worcester, who found a direct relationship between stress and the number of times a phone is checked for messages.

The study found that the most stressed people experienced phantom alert vibrations when no alerts had been signalled.

Mandy Russell, a Cape Town business and personal performance coach, said many of her clients battle with stress because of "time thieves" - and phones are among the main culprits.

"People get stressed because they are not getting down to their work and this is because time thieves, such as social media, and the fact that anyone can reach you at any time because of your cellphone, get in the way."

She said this "eats into the day" and causes stress because people are not able to differentiate between the urgent and the important.

Cellphones were "interrupters", she said, adding: "Because of this, we perceive something as needing an immediate response when, in fact, it is of low importance."

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