Smartphones – More Addictive Than Crack?

Smartphone owners are sometimes literally addicted to them. British researchers have named the reason. They analysed how average users use their gadgets. And we found out what takes the most time.

Scientists from the London School of Economics and Political Science have disproved the theory that notifications bring users the most discomfort. And they proved that most of the time is spent reading the news feed, according to Science Direct.

As part of the study, a few middle-aged volunteers had to simply interact with the gadget, as always. At the same time, they had cameras that recorded everything that happened in the first person.

It turned out that in 89% of cases people pick up the phone without any notification. In total, during the experiment, the subjects performed 1130 actions with their smartphone. Most of them were on the machine.

The authors of the study cited accurate statistics: 22% of the time is spent on instant messengers, 17% is just an automatic screen check for notifications. Instagram feed takes 16% of the time, while Facebook takes 13%. Emails are the reason for 6% of interactions. And only 1% out of 100 used the phone to make a call.

Users paid a lot of attention to group chats. However, they noted that they did not consider these messages significant. And the most important were named email alerts.

The study also showed that people reach for their phones more when alone, rather than when in a company. Scientists compare the desire to check social networks to the craving for a cigarette in a smoker.