Mobiles have Aussies hooked

MOBILES HAVE AUSSIES HOOKED

By Sam Wallis

Posted Sat Jul 14, 2007 8:13am AEST
Updated Sat Jul 14, 2007 8:19am AEST

Research suggests mobile phone addiction could be the new psychological disorder of the 21st century. (AAP: Julian Smith)

An estimated 94 per cent of Australians own a mobile phone, and for some, it is their most treasured gadget.

The mobile phone boom has fascinated sociologists who for years have been warning of the potential of mobile phones to change the way we interact.

Now there is evidence that mobile phones have thousands of Australians hooked.

Research presented at the 2007 Mobile Media Conference by Shari Walsh, from the Queensland University of Technology, suggests mobile phone addiction could be the new psychological disorder of the 21st century.

She has conducted focus groups and surveyed about 500 mobile phone users, finding the length of time a person spends on the phone does not necessarily mean they are addicted to it.

"It all depends on whether or not they have negative outcomes, so whether they have a distress when they're unable to use their phone, whether there are times that they should be doing something else like driving for instance, but have such a strong conviction to use their phone that they'll actually use the phone while driving, even though they know they shouldn't," she said.

Ms Walsh says people do not get addicted to phones, it is more likely they get addicted to being connected to other people.

"The question is really whether young people particularly are addicted to being connected to other people all the time, so do they need this constant sense of connection with other people or are they actually addicted to a mobile phone," she said.

"At the moment, I don't think we know the answer to that."

'Almost an amputation'

Clinical psychologist and family therapist Andrew Fuller has a keen interest in the mobile phone addiction phenomenon.

"Many of the young people that I work with would - it would almost be an amputation being without their mobile phones, it's remarkable," he said.

Mr Fuller says mobile phone addiction also contributes to depression.

"Mobile phone usage alters sleep patterns... it lessens the time between falling asleep and the onset of the first dream," he said.

"We're not quite sure really exactly what this means, except to say that we only see that pattern of sleep in one other population, and that's depressed in-patients."

It is not just the addicts themselves who are affected by their mobile phone addiction. Mr Fuller says mobiles reduce the amount of face to face contact people have, which leads to less meaningful relationships.

"We see a lessening in sympathy and trust and empathy - the things that basically bind together, if you like, a civilised society," he said.

Ms Walsh says, like gambling or drug addicts, problem mobile users can easily lose track of their costs.

That means teenagers are finding themselves in debt before they finish school.

"The difficulty is that if people are addicted to the phone or to being connected and they can't turn it off, they're not able to give themselves the quiet time we all need and that's to me when it would become a problem," she said.