A recent BBC article, on a London School of Economics (LSE) study showed that “89% of interactions with phones were unprompted, with only 11% responding to an alert”. This suggests that smartphone addiction is unlikely to be caused by notifications: group chats were found to be a “source of distress” for many. Perhaps unconsciously, people have a need to check their phone, instead of using it for communication. According to Prof Saadi Lahlou, chair of social psychology at LSE, “This is a serious issue, especially for children, and we are running into the dark without having fully understood how these devices are changing our way of living”. Tech addiction is a serious problem. In the New York Times, Dr. D. A. Christakis, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, suggests that the relationship between media exposure and health follows an “inverted U” pattern, where “very high exposure and very low exposure might both be associated with poorer mental health outcomes than moderate amounts of usage”. There are two phones in the world that can be managed remotely by a parent, limiting access to apps and inappropriate internet sites and can help stop this addiction: Blabloo and Geniora smartphones.
