Ever had that experience wherein you left your iPhone at home, and you just can’t stop thinking about it? Even though you have tons of work to finish, you just can’t focus because you keep thinking what you’re missing. You probably even post on all your social media accounts that you left your iPhone at home, how awful you feel, and they can reach you on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
That, my friends, is what is called iPhone Separation Anxiety.
Just like a child who has to go to school for the first time and can’t bear to part with his mom, people who who are overly attached to their iPhones may suffer from this condition.
The Extended iSelf: The Impact of iPhone Separation on Cognition, Emotion, and Physiology, a study by Russell B. Clayton, Glenn Leshner, and Anthony Almond, specifically looked at people who can’t answer a ringing iPhone for one reason or another.
In occasions like these, the effects on the subjects include “heart rate and blood pressure increased, self-reported feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness increased”. In addition, the subjects reported that they were had lower cognition capabilities during this period. In short, their brains weren’t functioning well.
Extending this situation to actually not having one’s iPhone on hand…imagine the increase in anxiety levels!
In fact, the researchers concluded that iPhone separation negatively affects cognition, emotion, and physiology.
So how attached are you to your iPhone? If you felt rather anxious as you read this article, you might have experienced (or think may experience) iPhone separation anxiety. For the sake of your smarts, maybe you should try being away from your iPhone a little at a time…
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