Wait for a friend or colleague or wait for a doctor's visit. How much time do you think it takes until you check your smartphone? Two cents; Three;
An experiment conducted on behalf of Kaspersky Lab by the University of Würzburg and the University of Nottingham-Trent showed that participants who stayed alone in a waiting room were averaging only 44 seconds before touching their smartphone.
Men could not even manage half of this time, expecting an average of only 21 seconds, compared to women who "lasted" 57 seconds.
To deepen people's relationship with digital devices, the researchers ρώτησαν μετά από δέκα λεπτά τους συμμετέχοντες πόση ώρα πίστευαν ότι είχε περάσει πριν πάρουν το κινητό στα χέρια τους. Οι περισσότεροι απάντησαν μεταξύ δύο και τριών λεπτών, αναδεικνύοντας μια σημαντική αποσύνδεση μεταξύ της αντιλαμβανόμενης και της realof our behavior.
Commenting on the findings, Jens Binder of the University of Nottingham-Trent said: "The experiment shows that people are much more attached to these devices than they realize. Now, turning to our smartphone when we're alone has become second nature. We just can't wait any longer. The immediacy of information and interactions that smart devices provide make them a digital companion that connects us to the outside world, rather than a technological accessory.”
Additional research conducted by the above Universities shows that this frenzy to control our phones could be a result of the "fear not to lose something " (Fear Of Missing Out or FOMO) when we are not online. In an accompanying survey, participants who used their smartphones more strongly reached higher levels of FOMO.
"The more the participants use their mobile, the more they are afraid they will lose something when they do not have access to it. It's hard to say what causes what: People use their phone more because they are afraid of losing something? Or are they using it so much that they worry that they lose something? ", comments Astrid Carolus from the University of Würzburg.
Also, the study found that the more we use our smartphones, the more stressed we become. But paradoxically, when participants were asked about their overall happiness there was no difference between "light" and "heavy" users. So, the pressure caused by the use of smartphones does not seem to have a significant impact on our welfare in general.
During the 10-minute waiting session, participants used their smartphone for almost half a year (five minutes) on average. As an earlier research from Kaspersky Lab has shown, we now rely heavily on mobile devices and we often use them as an extension of our brain so we do not have to remember things. For example, the majority of respondents could not remember his partner's phone number, but he could still remember his father's home number.
"Today, the smartphones are an integral part of our lives, but we must remember that it is a good that people often take for granted. Having them around us all the time, we forget how valuable they are in fact due to personal memories and more and the data they contain, said David Emm, Senior Security Researcher of Kaspersky Lab. «It is not only valuable to us but also to the criminals. Aif our personal information is violated in any way - either because of theft or malicious software attack - we will be in danger of losing contact with our friends and sources of information, he added.
For two years now, Kaspersky Lab has been researching the social consequences of digitization and how this trend is making people δυνητικά πιο ευάλωτους στο electronic έγκλημα. Μια επισκόπηση των αποτελεσμάτων είναι διαθέσιμη στην ηλεκτρονική διεύθυνση amnesia.kaspersky.com.
