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The Cell Phone in the Twenty-First Century: A Risk for Addiction or a Necessary Tool?

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From Carbonell, X., Oberst, U., Beranuy, M., 2013. The Cell Phone in the Twenty-First
Century: A Risk for Addiction or a Necessary Tool?. In: Principles of
Addiction:Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders. Elsevier Inc., San Diego:
Academic Press, pp. 901–909.
ISBN: 9780123983367
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Academic Press
Author's personal copy
CHAPTER
91
The Cell Phone in the Twenty-First Century:
A Risk for Addiction or a Necessary Tool?
Xavier Carbonell, Ursula Oberst, Marta Beranuy
FPCEE Blanquerna, Universidad Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain
OUTLINE
What Makes Cell Phone Use So Gratifying? 902
Euphoria 902
Instrument 902
Symbol of Identity 902
Social Status 902
Social Network 902
Online Social Networks 903
Independence 903
Short Distance 903
Increased Security and Control 903
Permanent Mobility and Access 903
Entertainment and Games 903
Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication 904
Family Conciliation 904
Individualization of Assets 904
What Is the Social Significance of Text Messaging? 904
Functionality of Written Language 904
Expression of Feelings 905
Abbreviated Language 905
Use of Emotion Icons 905
Nocturnal Networks 905
Avoidance of Telephone Conversations 905
Respect for Privacy 905
Anxiety 905
Differences in Usage in Terms of Gender and Age 905
Is There Such a Thing as Addiction to Cell Phones? 906
Summary 908
Social progress parallels that of human communica-
tion. The need to communicate led to the production of
written languages, a plethora of communication chan-
nels, and has been a crucial element in the development
of our brains. This chapter deals with the importance of
one of these communication channels, the cellular tele-
phone, and how it impregnates our culture. The cell
phone is a portable device which has become a social
object that is personal, exclusive, and intimate. The
different names used for this device help us see the
very particular relationship each country has with this
tool: it is called a mo
´vil in Spain, celular in Latin Amer-
ica, cell phone in the United States, handy in Germany,
“sho ji” (handheld) in China, and makhmul (portable)
in Arab-speaking countries. In Japanese society, this
technology is so commonplace that cell phones are
simply called telephones. Whatever its name, people
everywhere have developed an intense relationship
with their cell phone, much more intense than they
ever did, in its day, with an ordinary (fixed-line)
telephone.
The fusion of computing and telecommunications in
the 1970s gave rise to the development of the so-called
information and communication technologies (ICT).
This moment saw the birth of the philosophy of mobile
telephony, a technology which combines the Bell tele-
phone, Morse telegraph, Marconi radio, and computing.
Humans have always tried to overcome distance as
901
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Principles of Addiction, First Edition, 2013, 901–909
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a barrier to communication, giving rise to carrier
pigeons, telegrams, letters, postcards, books, magazines,
radio, television, fixed-line telephones, electronic mail,
Internet Relay Chats (IRC), and videoconferencing.
The latter few overcome more than just the distance
barrier, achieving real-time communication at
a distance.
Cell phone use in today’s society is common, and
sales have increased notably. The number of cell phone
subscribers has risen all over the world, Europe being
the continent with most lines (followed by Oceania,
America, Asia, and Africa). Between 2002 and 2003
the total cell phone users worldwide crossed the
1000 million boundary. It had taken 130 years for
fixed-line–based telephony to reach this figure, whereas
cell phones did it in a decade. Eight of every ten people
in Europe possess a cell phone. Many people who only
a few years ago would not buy one, or used one only
sporadically, nowadays use one daily. Some models
are truly objects of desire and have provoked changes
in forms of communication. Cell phone uses even
include things like teaching English, helping people
give up smoking, or therapy in people with driving
phobia or agoraphobia. Cell phones have played an
important role in communication between opposers of
the totalitarian regimes of northern Africa in 2011 and
in the diffusion of images of their repression.
In parallel with increases in use and social accep-
tance, there has also been consideration of the possible
negative consequences: medical (negative effects of the
electromagnetic waves emitted by cell phones them-
selves and by their base station antennas), in road safety
(effects and risks of cell phone use while driving or
cycling and their involvement in traffic accidents), and
psychological. Cell phones can play an important role
in bullying (recording and diffusion of acts of vexation),
in violence (recording and diffusion), and in sexual
harassment. One of the most worrying negative conse-
quences is the possibility of creating addiction, particu-
larly among teenagers and young people. This
possibility will be dealt with in the next section.
WHAT MAKES CELL PHONE
USE SO GRATIFYING?
One of the factors determining the capacity of
a substance to create addiction is its gratifying proper-
ties. It is accepted that the more intense the positive rein-
forcement, and the shorter the delay between
consumption and physiological response, the greater is
the capacity of a substance to produce addiction. So,
let us analyze the positive reinforcement properties of
cell phone use.
Euphoria
Euphoria from cell phone use appears to be at least as
strongly related to message emission (calling or sending
someone a message) as reception is to being feeling
valued or loved when calls or messages are received.
Instrument
A cell phone may at the same time serve as pocket
watch, alarm clock, digital camera, sound and/or video
recorder, electronic diary, video console, radio, mp3
player, or Global Positioning System (GPS). It is a multi-
function instrument with many utilities adapted to the
age and social role of its owner.
Symbol of Identity
Cell phones have become one more element among
the intimate components which constitute the personal
sphere (just as other things do, such as a wristwatch,
wallet, photos, key ring, etc.) with which the bearer
has an emotional bond. Never before has a technological
apparatus come to have such importance in so many
people’s daily lives, so essential to revealing identity.
The degree of personalization possible with a cell
phone is one of the factors favoring expression of indi-
vidual identity, particularly among younger people.
The cell phone appears to have become an object
through which a person can provide clues about their
gender identity, social and professional position, atti-
tude toward society, character, personality, or mood. A
cell phone, like clothes, may transmit information about
an individual’s characteristics and about the idea they
have of themselves, and which they want to transmit
to others.
Social Status
Cell phone technology appears to confer power on
young people. A young consume r who buys a cell phone
feels powerful, not only through the use made of it, but
also through the purchase in itself. Also, the number
and/or quality of messages received, the number of
calls, the number of contacts in the address book, the
sophistication of the games and services offered by the
cell phone, and the brand of the apparatus, all help to
enhance the user’s social status.
Social Network
Cell phones also are a tool to build a social network
via the device’s contact list. These networks are
constantly evolving; the rate at which new phone
numbers are added to contact lists is as rapid as that
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of numbers falling into disuse. Moreover, we may speak
of a collective identity. The social networks based on cell
phones have created a new sense of identity for teen-
agers and young people.
Online Social Networks
In its short life, the cell phone industry has managed
to adapt to keep pace with the demands of users, and
create new needs: cell phones for professionals and busi-
ness people, cell phones with only basic functions for
children and the elderly, others for listening to digital
music, and finally the cell phone as a discrete medium
for checking emails and online social networks, and
consulting Internet.
Independence
Cell phones play a significant role in socialization and
creating a feeling of belonging to a group, particularly
among teenagers. They foster a process of emancipation
from parents and act as a kind of barrier between teen-
agers and their parents. In other words, for young
people the cell phone is above all a personal telephone,
and having a personal telephone not accessible by
parents marks a boundary. Having a cell phone helps
a teenager to acquire an ever greater sense of self and
an increasing orientation toward the peer group. The
cell phone favors independence and reinforces contact
with friends and other people outside the family.
The cell phone is definitive when it comes to deciding
if a young person can enter into society so that young
people use them to maintain their social framework.
At the same time the social contacts allow them to main-
tain their status in terms of class and peer group. In
Tokyo public schools cell phone owners have more
friends than nonowners. Children and teenagers usually
receive a cell phone as a gift from parents. Making
a present of a cell phone could be seen as a rite of
passage, a gift related to initiation into the teenager
phase, into social independence. And it would appear
that this rite occurs at ever earlier ages.
Short Distance
The cell phone is an instrument which facilitates
contact over short distances, in the sense of contact
with people with whom we do not relate on a daily
basis. One typical characteristic of youth is that it
involves tightly closed, local social circles, neighbor-
hood, school, club, etc., and the cell phone here is a prac-
tical medium for maintaining contact when face-to-face
conversation is not possible. When members of the
social network are a greater distance away, other
communication channels are preferred, such as elec-
tronic mail, social networking, fixed-line telephone, or,
ever more rarely, letters.
Increased Security and Control
Cell phones are instruments of control which
generate feelings of security among parents, between
couples, or even for oneself when away traveling.
Parents buy their children cell phones because of
a need to control them and restrain them with a “digital
leash.” This eagerness to control is a feeling which
parents transmit to their children. Often the degree of
control and sense of security is false: it is very easy to
lie about where one is, and, anyway, battery life and
coverage are both limited. Teenagers can mutually
communicate while at home without parental control,
something which was more difficult with ordinary
(fixed-line) telephones, as well as at school without
being controlled by teachers. In adults, this sensation
of controlling/being controlled also occurs in senti-
mental and workplace relationships.
Permanent Mobility and Access
The fact of being mobile means that accessibility of
people carrying a cell phone is perceived as permanent.
This process gives rise to two opposing illusions: one,
believing that we are not being controlled when in fact
we can be located at virtually any moment wherever
we are, and two, believing that one can control others
when really cell phones only allow us to hear someone’s
voice or receive an SMS without us really knowing from
where. Even so, parents prefer to believe they have some
degree of control than to let their children escape from
their clutches. Something similar could occur in senti-
mental and workplace relationships between adults,
and some firms employ cell phones with GPS function-
ality permitting their location to be tracked.
When the user does not answer calls or respond
immediately to SMS text messages, the caller can experi-
ence a sensation of concern. This arises because of the
wrong interpretation of availability, often understood
as obligatory creating an illusion of permanent avail-
ability and the cell phone user is pressured to carry
the device turned on, and to always respond to calls or
SMSs. Even so, the user is more interested in being
able to call others while on the move, lending less impor-
tance to always being locatable.
Entertainment and Games
Cell phones carry a broad range of functionalities,
and may even act as a portable videogame console.
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Being up-to-date, playing the latest games, feeling inte-
grated, and/or up with the fashion are goals pursued
by many of today’s teenagers and young people. One
must also bear in mind that, increasingly, more leisure
time activities are available through cell phones, for
example betting, buying, getting sexually stimulated,
and downloading music and videos. Children under
10 years of age regard games as the most important char-
acteristic of cell phones, since at their age communica-
tion in itself is too abstract. The incorporation of
applications (“Apps”) in the latest generation of cell
phones (so-called smartphones) has opened up an enor-
mous range of possibilities for their use at work, for
leisure, and for practical aspects of daily living; in
many of these applications, these functions are inter-
mixed. Cell phones are becoming personal mobile
computers.
Synchronous and Asynchronous
Communication
Voice calls and text messages are used differently
depending on the purpose and on the characteristics of
the message sender and receiver. Voice is synchronous
communication, simultaneous in time, whereas text
messages are asynchronous, like electronic mail.
Family Conciliation
The social evolution of family structures could partly
explain the increase in personal telephone use. We may
speak of various factors: (1) the emergence of single-
parent or patchwork families: particularly reliant on
external phone connections due to characteristics of
their structure; (2), internal democratization of the
family which accentuates individual autonomy and is
susceptible of favoring diffusion of a less collective,
more personal, form of telephonic communications; (3)
the demand for individual communications devices
given that children remain living with their parents for
longer in some countries. The increasing incorporation
of women into the workforce might be considered
a fourth factor. Even though cell phones have not
changed any social conventions, women tend to use it
to cope with family responsibilities across a space-time
gap, bringing their private world of domestic responsi-
bilities to their public, occupation-related world, and
vice versa.
All these changes in family morphology are reflected
in affective and social bonds. Cell phones have made it
possible for teenagers to construct a kind of virtual broth-
erhood. Moreover, cell phones promote individual
thinking and networks of external support and propi-
tiate virtual proximity (in the double sense of the word
virtual). Connections mediated by cell phones only
deal with the issue generating the call, leaving the
parties involved free of any emotional commitment
beyond the topic dealt with in the conversation or
message. Present society demands fast and efficient
connections. In this respect, distance is not an obstacle
for connecting, but being connected is likewise not an
obstacle for maintaining distances. Being connected is
more economical than really relating. Thus, we may
speak of new family constellations and emotional
processes deriving in a society, still under construction,
which gives rise to new ways of communicating to
maintain family unity and the sense of belonging which
both adolescents and adults need.
Individualization of Assets
This is one aspect of social evolution and the
increasing quality of life in the Western world. In the
technological field, telephones have followed the same
path as television, in becoming an individual asset
rather than a family one. Just as teenagers may have
a television set in their own bedroom, they also have
their own computer, and cell phone, etc.
WHAT IS THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE
OF TEXT MESSAGING?
The short message service (SMS) is the facility which
permits sending text messages between fixed-line or
mobile phone devices. The SMS culture has hit our
society and their use is a social phenomenon: inviting
users to political meetings or parties, follow-up of
patients, as vehicle for therapy, obtaining status of
commercial and bank transactions, participating in tele-
vision contests and programs, receiving official bulle-
tins, etc. Let’s consider the inherent characteristics of
the SMS separately.
Functionality of Written Language
Written information has an added value: its perma-
nence. SMSs, with this attribute, are thus very different
from oral conversation. The transmission of information,
petitions, and self-expression represent the genuine, and
historically almost invariable, dimensions of communi-
cation. An SMS is not a letter, but could be considered
the equivalent of the postcard or telegram at least in
regard to brevity and condensed content, with the addi-
tional advantage that they may be sent to various people
at a time. An SMS can be a substitute for electronic or
postal mail. At Christmas and New Year people use
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skyrockets, as they are a quick and instantaneous
replacement for Christmas cards.
Expression of Feelings
SMSs help to express, with little direct involvement,
the feelings that people cannot or do not want to express
orally and moreover they respond to the impulsive need
to share feelings at the moment they are being felt. Also,
regardless of age, sending an SMS indirectly implies that
one is manifesting their very presence to the receiver,
and thus the SMS carries an important symbolic load.
This all means that SMSs are perceived as particularly
satisfactory and, in the view of some authors, end up
promoting more intimate ties and enriching personal
relationships.
Abbreviated Language
The need to communicate as much as possible in the
reduced space of an SMS has contributed to the develop-
ment of an intensive use of abbreviations. In this form of
expression, all kinds of strategies are used to abbreviate
as much as possible, for example “lol” to mean “laugh-
ing out loud” or “xD“ to mean happiness or laughing
very hard. Lists giving the translation of these abbrevia-
tions abound, as do certain rules for writing SMSs.
Use of Emotion Icons
Diagrammatic representations of emotional states,
(for example a smiling face, whether written by using
ordinary keys :-) or via the symbol, may be used to
indicate happiness. These icons, known as emoticons,
serve to express feelings in the middle of the written
text. The advantage of emoticons is more notable in an
SMS than in electronic mail because the available space
is more limited. How better to save words than to
replace them with a pictorial representation.
Nocturnal Networks
SMSs can be used to set up a virtual nocturnal
network of friends. Whereas most adults use SMSs
mainly to confirm appointments, teenagers use them
to express a broad spectrum of emotions and feelings
which result when they find themselves alone, usually
just before going to bed. With the responses to their
SMSs, also charged with romanticism, they feel that
their emotions have been corresponded, and hence
they feel valued. As a result of all this, there is a tendency
for young people to save emotion-charged messages in
the cell phone’s memory.
Avoidance of Telephone Conversations
The unilateral aspect of an SMS, and its concise,
direct, and synthetic nature responds simultaneously
to three needs: to save time, save money, and, most inter-
esting of all, maintain bonds even when the user does
not want to get into a telephone conversation, due to
the degree of commitment a voice call involves.
Respect for Privacy
The beep notifying reception of an SMS is usually
shorter and more discreet than that of a normal call.
SMSs are an easy form of communication for shy people,
or people in embarrassing situations. Some people
politely send an SMS before calling, to check that the
other person is available and wants to speak with them.
Anxiety
Some people feel uncomfortable or irritation when
they do not get a response to an SMS they have sent.
This could be due to a variety of factors: the immediate-
ness and permanent availability, the particularity of
written language, the exclusive dedication needed to
send an SMS (typing an SMS requires dedicating time
exclusively to its composition, and hence of thinking
about the person for whom it is intended, whereas
making a call permits doing several other things at the
same time). A user faced with an unanswered SMS
could feel the time spent writing it has not been corre-
sponded and interpret that the investment in involve-
ment has likewise not been corresponded by
a response of similar intensity. This can lead to increased
anxiety. To cope, some users use the missed calls tech-
nique with the aim of attracting the receiver’s attention
so that they realize they have received an SMS, or in
order to make them understand the need for an imme-
diate reply. This can lead to the creation of a loop, and
can thus escalate levels of concern until a state of
genuine anxiety is reached. Some users even go further,
in a desperate attempt to get a reply from anyone at all,
by sending an SMS to an entire list of contacts, in this
way, as might be expected, increasing their anxiety
even more.
DIFFERENCES IN USAGE IN TERMS
OF GENDER AND AGE
Possession of a cell phone nowadays is independent
of age group and gender, although their preferred
modes of use differ. In regard to gender, cell phone use
by girls is characterized by being mainly to keep up
with their social network, whereas boys use it more to
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coordinate their movements, and to play games. The
structure of social relationships mediated by cell phones
coincides with the typical differential gender character-
istics: (1) women extend their social networks through
the use of SMSs more than men; (2) women use cell
phones to maintain social contacts whereas men use
them for commercial gain, similar to what already
happens with fixed-line telephone use; and (3) women
are more compulsive in their cell phone use than men.
Among teenagers, for example, girls’ cell phones are
used as a security measure and for controlling their
autonomy, whereas among boys cell phone use is related
to a process of independence and gender identity
charged with the symbolism of modernity. In some
countries, women use cell phones more than men
precisely because they have less freedom of movement.
Young, highly educated adults also face a particular
form of socialization. They aspire to company leader-
ship positions and cell phones are well suited to
bolstering their image, epitomized by giving and
receiving orders while running between flights. In fact,
business people tend to use cell phones more when on
the move than in other circumstances. The issue here
is about marking the difference between oneself and
the people around us, and parallels the teenager
drawing a boundary line between themselves and their
parents. Adults tend to prefer voice calls due to their
synchronicity and because they are simple and practical.
Nor is there so much personalization of the device,
perhaps because they correspond to a different genera-
tion whose need for establishing an identity is a phase
that has been passed. Still, adults are not entirely
strangers to fashion or to using a cell phone as a symbol
of status and identity. For example, think of the migra-
tion from company-provided Blackberrys toward iPhones,
from the micro-keyboard to touch screens, etc.
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS
ADDICTION TO CELL PHONES?
To date there is little scientific literature with reliable
data on prevalence, symptoms or clinical cases of addic-
tion to mobile telephones, yet there is a climate of social
alarm, generated by mass media insistence on their
addictive risks.
The colloquial usage of the word addiction can be
confused with its technical usage. One initial possibility
is that the supposed addiction to cell phones is
a problem which is limited in time and in severity of
its consequences. It may arise through a “novelty
effect,” where stimulation by something novel
provokes an increase in the frequency of a behavior
during a short period of time, after which the behavior
becomes less frequent or disappears. Something similar
to what can happen, say, with the purchase of a new
camera, or bicycle, or attendance to a fitness or wellness
center. A period of adaptation to the new technology is
also necessary, not only for the user but also their
immediate social circle (in many cases the parents of
the user). A second possibility which likewise must
not be confused with true addiction is the non-severity
of the consequences. Abuse of a cell phone can generate
discipline problems at school (paying attention to the
device when not allowed) or problems with parents if
the bill is too high. However, these problems cannot
be considered equivalent to those caused by an addic-
tion to substances and must be seen as comparable to
other limits which teenagers need to have imposed on
them as part of their maturing process. Just as the
behavior of biting fingernails is a bad habit but not an
addiction, and although it may be considered a problem
of control of impulses, in fact it is not treated as such in
the classification of mental disorders.
Another aspect is that this type of pathological cell
phone use would only be possible in people suffering
a mental disorder or primary personality disorder. Path-
ological cell phone use would be a symptom of depres-
sion or an impulse control disorder, and would not be
observed in healthy people. A third aspect would be,
as with Internet, not to confuse addiction to a device
with an addiction on a device. A pathological gambler
who uses Internet or a cell phone to place bets is
addicted to gambling, not to Internet or cell phones.
Similarly, addiction to phone sex must not be confused
with addiction to telephones. Finally, some cell phone
users confuse dependence on a technology with
a symptom of addiction. For example we cannot do
without servo-assisted steering in our car, or electricity
in our home or workplace. Similarly, a young person
who feels the need to always carry their cell phone so
as to be able to give warning in some emergency or
simply to be available for receiving calls does not suffer
true addiction, rather they are making conscious use of
a security measure, just like a safety belt, or a car’s
servo-assisted steering or braking system.
When comparing problematic cell phone use to the
well-known symptoms of addiction, among the most
commonly described aspects, we may observe:
-Tolerance. The well-being originated by gratifying
stimuli, such as receiving a call or SMS, is short-lived
and reinforcing behaviors are repeated more often,
such as calling insistently for no precise purpose, or
soliciting further SMSs.
-Abstinence. As soon as the possibility to use the cell
phone is lost, symptoms similar to a withdrawal
syndrome appear. For example, a flat battery or
a loss of coverage leads to displays of anxiety,
general malaise, anger or uneasiness, and the same
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may be felt when one does not receive a reply to calls
made or messages sent.
-Insecurity. Some people are afraid of going out of the
house without their cell phone, and would go back
for it if they forget it; they may feel nervous or
experience debilitating insecurity, and not be able to
do anything when without their cell phone; children
are particularly sensitive to developing uneasiness,
even anxiousness, if they are obliged to do without
their cell phone, whether this be as a result of
a breakdown or as a punishment imposed by
parents. This is related with the fear of losing
something important, of being left out of the
information circuits (fear of missing out, FOMO) or
of missing that hoped-for or anxiously awaited call
or SMS. Moreover, the user knows that other users
expect one to always have their cell phone with them
and fears that the others may be disconcerted if their
calls are not answered.
-Attempts to control or cut usage. Some users attempt
to control their cell phone use by blocking calls or
setting quotas, by disconnecting the ring tone or
switching the device off.
-Persistence in using the cell phone despite its
negative effects. The most common of these are
(1) spending more than initially intended (children
can even fool, lie to, or steal from their parents);
(2) using the cell phone in places where it is
prohibited, or while driving; (3) use the cell phone so
much it reduces time available for sleeping; and
(4) have discipline problems in class or at school.
In any case, it appears that the symptoms found in the
literature regarding pathological cell phone use are less
consistent and less serious than those relating to Internet
use. It is rare to find clinical cases of cell phone addic-
tion. But it seems that there are certain maladaptive
behaviors (or problematic uses) with respect to this
medium. The reported prevalence rates of problematic
cell phone use in population surveys vary from 2.8 to
10.4%. This problematic use was greatest in the youngest
age groups. The results suggest that females have more
difficulties with phone use than males and perceive their
use as more problematic.
Some authors have conducted research into possible
addiction to instant messaging (IM) among teenagers,
i.e. one aspect of cell phone use. In a sample of 330
Chinese teenagers, 9.8% of them were classified as IM
addicts; factor analysis identified four major addiction
symptoms: preoccupation with IM, loss of relationships
due to overuse, loss of control, and escaping from reality.
The distinction between information use, communi-
cation use, and identity-altered communication use
could explain why cell phone use is not itself an addic-
tion. The traditional use of cell phones has been for
communication. Since calls and messages are exchanged
with people whose identity is known, there is no iden-
tity-altered communication and therefore the risk of
problematic and/or addictive use is likely to be very
low. In identity-altered communication, playing with
one’s identity can become problematic and/or patholog-
ical as the users take on alternative (i.e. false) identities
that provide greater satisfaction than their true self,
allowing them to escape from their true self. In the
case of cell phone use or Internet chat applications
such as Messenger, the negative consequence is time
wasted, while the positive aspect is maintenance of
social relations with friends and acquaintances and
broadening of the social network. However, this risk
could potentially be higher for newer generation cell
phones since applications that promote alteration of
user identity may be supported.
For instance, some people may confuse or self-define
dependence on a particular technology as an addictive
behavior. For this reason, some people consider them-
selves cell phone addicts because they never go out of
the house without one, do not turn it off at night, are
always expecting calls from family members or friends,
and/or they overutilize it in their work and/or social
life. Finally, there is also the importance of economic
and/or life costs. The crucial difference between certain
forms of game playing and pathological game playing is
that some applications involve a financial cost. If
a person is using the application more and is spending
more money, there may be negative consequences as
a result of not being able to afford the activity (e.g. nega-
tive economic, job-related, and/or family conse-
quences). High expenditure may also be indicative of
cell phone addiction but the phone bills of teenagers
are often paid by parents, therefore the financial prob-
lems may not impact on the users themselves.
The latest generation of cell phones, with permanent
Internet connection, web 2.0, and a growing multitude of
related functions (Apps, real-time emailing, VoIP, etc.),
could increase the risks of problematic use, since they
combine the elements of ICT and remove the clear
demarcation between information and communication.
Every day more and more people use their cell phones
compulsively to check their email or SMS inboxes and
social networks, play games, listen to music, or idly
scroll the appstore in search for interesting and useful
applications. whenever not occupied with something
else, or indeed, even when they are. Thus the cell phone
is becoming a catalyst of FOMO, and hence increase
stress and anxiety.
Studies show that teenagers are the population most
at risk of suffering the negative effects of cell phone
use, and may need psychiatric help to avoid relationship
and academic after-effects. It would also be beneficial to
develop school-based preventive programs, aimed at
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both students and their parents. For the former, through
their tutors, promote well-adapted use of this communi-
cation medium. The way to tackle this would have to
promote self-esteem, autonomy, self-concept, etc. in
such a way as to ensure they have a favorable effect on
the overall health of the adolescent. For parents, through
seminars, facilitate guidelines for actions and support to
follow-up, with the same objective.
SUMMARY
In conclusion, while perhaps it is not wise to label
these possible problematic uses as addiction, one may
assert that there is a series of maladaptive behaviors in
regard to cell phone use, which change people’s daily
lives and play an important role in their feelings of
personal security, identity, and belonging to a social
group. While not intending to pathologize this behavior
we would rather classify it as problematic or
maladaptive the possible negative consequences in
the long run must still be recognized. We suggest
studying the possible negative consequences of mobile
phone use not exclusively in the context of addiction,
but in a broader context of the negative consequences
for psychological health in a postmodern society, for
three reasons.
First, we live in a society where, encouraged by the
style of advertising, type of leisure activities and social
values, high-impact, but short-lived emotions seem to
be more valued than deeply felt and long-lasting senti-
ments. The new technologies and especially cell phones
with texting are perfect channels for expressing these
types of emotions in a quick and volatile (“light”) way.
They are more addictive than deeper feelings, for the
same reason that gambling is addictive: its quick, but
not always contingent recompense. Second, the overall
possibility of permanent and global access to informa-
tion creates in many people a feeling of “infoxication,”
an information overload impossible for the individual
to cope with; but the fear of missing important details
for their personal or professional lives keeps people in
a constant state of concern about catching up that may
ultimately lead to anxiety and stress.
And finally, the changing ways of relating to other
people, identified as “liquid bonds” by the sociologist
Zygmunt Bauman, not only allow, but also encourage
the individual to create and dissolve social relationships
easily, a life style that can lead to considerable psycho-
logical distress. Calling and texting behavior could
become excessive precisely because it corresponds to
contemporary communication styles and habits. In this
sense, “addiction to the cell phone” can be understood
as a social over-adaptation to the predominant values
of our society in order to avoid being excluded from
social dynamics: being always informed, being always
available, but preserving continued possibility to avoid
the other, to refrain from implication, and to elude
compromise.
SEE ALSO
Internet: Immersive Virtual Worlds, Overuse of Social
Networking, Video Game Addiction, Substance Use and
Mental Health Issues on the College Campus, Historical
Understandings of Addiction
List of Abbreviations
FOMO fear of missing out
GPS global positioning system
ICT information and communication technologies
IM instant messaging
IRC Internet relay chat
SMS short message service
VOIP voice over Internet protocol
Glossary
Apps in general, short for “application software,” a program designed
for end users. The term was broadly introduced by iPhoneÔ; app,
or application, is what AppleÒcalls third-party software programs
developed specifically for the iPhoneÔand the iPodTouchÒ. The
applications available can be downloaded directly by the cell
phone, or downloaded to a computer and transferred to the phone.
Other providers now also offer application software for their
mobile phones.
Emoticon portmanteau of emotion and icon, a facial expression picto-
rially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express
a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to
the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve
interpretation of plain text.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) a term that
stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of
telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), intelli-
gent building management systems and audiovisual systems in
modern information technology, including computer and network
hardware and software. The term ICT is now also used to refer to
the merging (convergence) of audiovisual and telephone networks
with computer networks through a single cabling or link system.
Instant messaging (IM) a form of real-time direct text-based
communication between two or more people using personal
computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user’s
text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet. In many cases
IM includes additional features. One broadly known type of IM is
Windows Live Messenger (formerly named MSN Messenger), created
by Microsoft, or whatsapp, an application created by Apple.
Internet relay chat (IRC) a form of real-time Internet text messaging
(chat) or synchronous conferencing, mainly designed for group
communication in discussion forums, but also allows one-to-one
communication via private messages well as chat and data transfer.
Mobile telephone (mobile phone, cellular telephone, cell phone)
electronic device used to make mobile telephone calls across a wide
geographic area; it allows to make and receive telephone calls to
and from the public telephone network which includes other
mobiles and fixed-line phones across the world, by connecting to
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a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator. In
addition to telephony, modern mobile phones (“smartphones”) also
support a wide variety of other services such as text messaging,
multimedia messaging, email, Internet access, short-range wireless
communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications,
gaming and photography.
Online social networks an online service, platform, or website that
focuses on building and maintaining social networks or social rela-
tionsamong people. Socialnetworking sitesallow users to shareideas,
activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.
Currently, the most famous online social network is Facebook.
Short message service (SMS) text messaging, or texting, refers to
the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone
or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network.
Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) one of the family of Internet
technologies, communication protocols, and transmission technol-
ogies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia
sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks (Internet). Internet
telephony refers to communications services voice, fax, SMS,
and/or voice-messaging applications that are transported via the
Internet, rather than the public switched telephone network.
Web 2.0 the term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that
facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-
centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web
2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in
a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content, in
contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing
of content that was created for them. Social networking sites or
video sharing sites are typical examples of Web 2.0.
Further Reading
Alexa, R., Frank, M., Lester, D., 2010. An exploratory study of
students’ use of cell phones, texting, and social networking sites.
Psychological Reports 107 (2), 402–404.
Bianchi, A., Phillips, J.G., 2005. Psychological predictors of problem
mobile phone use. Cyberpsychology and Behavior 8 (1), 39–51.
Gardner, W., 2005. Just on click-sexual abuse of children and young
people through the internet and mobile phone technology. Child
Abuse Review 14, 448–449.
Huang, H., Leung, L., 2009. Instant messaging addiction among
teenagers in China: shyness, alienation, and academic performance
decrement. Cyberpsychology and Behavior 12 (6), 675–679.
Igarashi, T., Motoyoshi, T., Takai, J., Yoshida, T., 2008. No mobile, no
life: self-perception and text-message dependency among Japanese
high school students. Computers in Human Behavior 24 (5),
2311–2324.
Igarashi, T., Takai, J., Yoshida, T., 2005. Gender differences in social
network development via mobile phone text messages: a longitu-
dinal study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 22,
691–713.
Kamibeppu, K., Sugiura, H., 2005. Impact of the mobile phone on
junior high-school students’ friends hips in the Tokyo metropolitan
area. Cyberpsychology and Behavior 8 (2), 121–130.
Madell, D., Muncer, S., 2004. Back from the beach but hanging on the
telephone? English adolescents’ attitudes and experiences of
mobile phones and the internet. Cyberpsychology and Behavior 7
(3), 359–367.
Rakow, L.F., Navarro, V., 1993. Remote mothering and the parallel
shift: women meet the cellular telephone. Critical Studies in Mass
Communication 10, 144–157.
Reid, D.J., Reid, J.M., 2007. Text or talk? Social anxiety, loneliness, and
divergent preferences for cell phone use. Cyberpsychology and
Behavior 10 (3), 424–435.
Sa
´nchez-Martı
´nez, M., Otero, A., 2009. Factors associated with cell
phone use in adolescents in the community of Madrid. Cyberp-
sychology and Behavior 12 (2), 131–137.
Srivastava, L., 2005. Mobile phones and the evolution of social
behaviour. Behaviour and Information Technology 24, 111–129.
Takao, M., Takahashi, S., Kitamura, M., 2009. Addictive personality
and problematic mobile phone use. Cyberpsychology and
Behavior 12 (5), 501–507.
Walsh, S.P., White, K.M., Young, R.M., 2008. Over-connected? A quali-
tative exploration of the relationship between Australian youth and
their mobile phone. Journal of Adolescence 31 (1), 77–92.
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