Why Feeling Shackled To Your Phone May Actually Be A Good Thing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Americans spend an average of 4.7 hours on their smart devices each day and factoring in sleep, that's about one-third of our waking hours. So, in terms of usage, Jade Schweitzer is an anomaly.
"It's kind of weird to me that we are all connected all the time through these tiny boxes in our pockets," she said.
"On my commute to work everyone is on their phone all the time and it makes me a little uncomfortable," Schweitzer added, "It's like, if you aren't on your phone then people think you're weird."
iPhones over eye contact has now become status quo.
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"They walk, they text and they bump into you. I saw a woman fall off the curb," said one woman. "Everyone is trying to help her up and she's trying to grab her phone!"
"Being instantly connected in this world is really important. Opportunities and projects and deadlines are always coming," said Mark Shorr who says his smart phone adds to his productivity at work.
"I just got to check it. I got to see what's going on. I got to make sure no one is texting me," said Nilajah Gill.
Que connection anxiety.
"It's a device. We don't want to become a prisoner of it," said Frank Farley, a professor at Temple University and an expert in media psychology.
He says that the word "addiction" is difficult to apply to smart devices due to such widespread chronic use. Farley feels that the compulsion should be taken seriously when it begins to put strain on two areas: sleep and relationships.
"A negative of social media is the sheer amount of time spent at it. Are we in danger of losing the human touch? The physical connection?" he said.
To combat this, some users have experimented with phone-free days.
"I really had to find something else to take up my time," said Gill.
On an individual level constant smart phone use may also be rewiring our brains.
A study from the UK-based Kaspersky Labs, coined the term "Digital Amnesia" where they found smart phone users more willing to forget information that they can easily find again on their smart devices.
Farley finds a positive potential in this.
"Really what the social media phenomenon is doing is liberating us for creativity and liberating us for innovation," he said.
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Think of it like dumping information onto a hard drive, and freeing up space in our heads.
"I think that we are right now at a renaissance of creativity in this country," he added.
When it comes to suggested smart phone usage, little data is available for adults. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, total screen time for children between 2 to 5 years of age should be no more than one hour a day.
