Watch out cell phones can be addictive too much dependence on yo

1. Watch Out: Cell Phones Can Be Addictive
Too much dependence on your smartphone isn’t smart
By Kathiann Kowalski 2014
Dr. James Roberts is marketing professor and the author of a
study about cell phone addiction that appeared in the August
2014 Journal of Behavioral Addictions. Here, Kathiann
Kowalski of Science News for Students covers the results of his
study.
The average college student uses a smartphone for about nine
hours each day.
That’s longer than many of those students spend sleeping. In
fact, such extended cell phone use shows that the technology
could become an addiction, according to a new study. An
addiction is a type of uncontrolled and unhealthy habit.
It’s well known that people can become addicted to drugs, such
as alcohol, narcotics and the nicotine in cigarettes. What’s not
so well known: “People can be addicted to behaviors,” says
James Roberts. He’s a marketing professor at Baylor University
in Waco, Texas. Roberts also was the lead author of the new
study. It appears in the August Journal of Behavioral
Addictions.
Some cell phone users show the same symptoms that a drug
addict might have, Roberts explains. Certain people use
smartphones to lift their moods. And it may take more and more
time on those phones to provide the same level of enjoyment.
For such people, losing a phone or having its battery die could
cause anxiety or panic. That’s withdrawal, says Roberts.
Too much phone use can interfere with normal activities or
cause conflicts with family and other people, he adds. Yet
despite these social costs, people may not cut back on their
heavy phone use. Indeed, he says, people might be unable to
stop on their own.
The new study asked college students how much time they spent

2. on different phone activities. It also asked them how much they
agreed or disagreed with statements suggesting possible
addiction. “I spend more time than I should on my cell phone,”
said one such statement. “I get agitated when my cell phone is
not in sight,” said another. (Agitated means nervous or
troubled.) The more calls someone made, the more likely they
were to show signs of addiction.
The data also differed a bit for men and women.
Among men, for instance, signs of a possible addiction showed
a positive link, or correlation, with time spent on a Bible app
and apps for reading books. As use of either app increased, so
did the risk of addiction. Men’s use of social media apps, such
as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, also correlated with risk of
addiction.
Women were more likely to show signs of addiction if they
often used Pinterest, Instagram, Amazon or apps that let them
use their phones like an iPod. Apps for the Bible, Twitter,
Pandora and Spotify showed an inverse correlation. That is,
heavy use of those apps was linked to a lower risk of phone
addiction.
A correlation does not prove that one factor causes another. But
those links can provide helpful clues. Roberts says the study’s
results point to the types of rewards each gender might seek
from cell phone use. For instance, “men use technology — cell
phones in particular — more for entertainment and
information,” Roberts notes.
“Women use the phone more for maintaining and nurturing
social relationships,” he says. Those types of activities often
take more time. And, on average, women did use phones longer
each day than men did.
But simply because people used their phones a lot does not
mean they were addicted.
Tracii Ryan is a psychologist at RMIT University in Melbourne,
Australia. She’s also the lead author of a report on Facebook
addiction in the same issue of the Journal of Behavioral
Addictions. “Withdrawal and excessive use are certainly two

3. legitimate symptoms of addiction,” she notes. But, she adds,
“They are not the only two that would be required for a
diagnosis.”
Roberts agrees. However, he points out, there isn’t a good scale
yet for measuring all of the factors behind cell phone addiction.
Ryan makes a similar point about studies on Facebook
addiction. “Researchers have not always measured Facebook
addiction using all of the accepted symptoms of addiction,” she
says. “More consistent research is needed.”
Yet Ryan’s report offers insight into the main reasons why
people use Facebook. Some want to interact with friends. Some
want to pass time. Some want entertainment. And some people
seek companionship.
“Any one of these motivations might cause a lift in mood, which
then leads to Facebook addiction,” Ryan says. Someone might
turn to Facebook to relieve loneliness, for example. But that
person might use the site so much that it causes problems.
“The important point to take away from both studies is that
technology use can become addictive for some people,” says
Ryan.
As researchers keep asking questions, ask yourself some, too:
How much time do you spend with your phone or other
technologies? What activities do you use them for —and why?
Do you use the technology when you should be paying attention
in class or to other things? And how easily can you go a day —
or even a week — without a phone or logging onto a social
media or networking site?
“Watch Out: Cell Phones Can Be Addictive” from
societyforscience.org, © 2014, Society for Science. Reprinted
with permission, all rights reserved.This article is intended only
for single-classroom use by teachers. For rights to republish
Science News for Students articles in assessments, course
packs, or textbooks, visit:
https://www.societyforscience.org/permission-republish.

4. The Global EI Test Results
(Version 1.0)
Test Date
Mon Feb 22 16:51:27 2021
The following numerical scores are calculated from your
answers to the EI
test. If you have answered honestly and accurately, your scores,
out of 10 for each quadrant, will
reflect your capability level within each of the EI quadrants.
(You might want to print out this result; if you do not, you will
have to retake the test if
you want these scores later since they are not saved anywhere.)
To gain a picture of what each of the EI quadrants covers, read
the short descriptions below.
You have answered all the questions -- terrific!
Self-AwarenessSelf-ManagementSocial-AwarenessRelationship
Management7798
For more information about interpreting your scores,
click here.
For more information about Emotional Intelligence and how to
use it for your
personal growth, please contact,
Malcolm Lazenby
Please remember that this Sampler is NOT scientifically
validated. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the results of
this EI
analysis.

5. EI Quadrant Descriptors
Self-Awareness.
Description. The core of Emotional Intelligence is self-
awareness. Self-awareness is comprised of three competenci es;
emotional self-awareness, where you are able to read and
understand your emotions as well as recognise their impact on
work performance and relationships; accurate self-assessment,
where you are able to give a realistic evaluation of your
strengths and limitations; and self-confidence, where you have a
positive and strong sense of one’s self-worth. The starting point
and key in these areas is the ability to be critically self-
reflective.
Self-Management
Description. Self-management is comprised of five
competencies; Self-control, which is keeping disruptive
emotions and impulses under control; transparency, which is
maintaining standards of honesty and integrity, managing
yourself and responsibilities; and adaptability, which is the
flexibility in adapting to changing situations and overcoming
obstacles; achievement orientation, which is the guiding drive
to meet an internal standard of excellence; and initiative, which
is the readiness to seize opportunities and act.
Social Awareness
Description. Social Awareness is comprised of three
competencies; empathy, which is understanding others and
taking an active interest in their concerns; organisational
awareness, which is the ability to read the currents of
organisational life, build decision networks and navigate
politics; and service orientation, which is recognising and
meeting customers needs.The adaptable, success-oriented type.
Relationship Management

6. Description. The Social cluster of Relationship
Management is comprised of seven competencies; visionary
leadership, which is inspiring and guiding groups and
individuals; developing others, which is the propensity to
strengthen and support the abilities of others through feedback
and guidance; influence, which is the ability to exercise a w ide
range of persuasive strategies with integrity, and also includes
listening and sending clear, convincing and well-tuned
messages; change catalyst, which is the proficiency in initiating
new ideas and leading people in a new direction; conflict
management, which is resolving disagreements and
collaboratively developing resolutions; building bonds, which is
building and maintaining relationships with others; and
teamwork and collaboration, which is the promotion of
cooperation and building of teams.
Global Leadership Foundation , 2004.
The Distracted Teenage Brain Scientists discover that teens are
easily distracted by behaviors that were once — but are no
longer — rewarding
By Alison Pearce Stevens 2014
When most people think of distraction, they think of loud music
or television, but in 2014 psychologist Zachary Roper
conducted a study that offered a different definition of
distraction. The results show why young adults may seem
impulsive and easily distracted.
Teens have a reputation for making some not-sosmart decisions.
Researchers have blamed those poor decisions on the
immaturity of a teen’s prefrontal cortex. That is the part of the
brain involved in making plans and decisions. But scientists
now find the answer may be simpler: the allure1 of rewards.
Rewards, even small ones, entice teens more than they do
adults.
And, perhaps surprisingly, teens tend to continue doing things
they once found rewarding, even after the actual payoff is long

7. gone. Both findings come from a new study by researchers at
the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Psychologist Zachary Roper and his team worked with two
groups of volunteers: 13- to 16-year olds and 20- to 35-year-old
adults. Each volunteer had to play a game of sorts. During a
training phase, a computer displayed six circles, each a different
color. The players had to find the red or green circle. These
targets had either a horizontal or vertical line inside. The
remaining circles had lines at other angles. When the participant
found the correct target, they had to press one of two keys on a
keyboard. One key would report they had found the vertical
line. The other reported finding a horizontal line.
When a volunteer hit the right key, the screen flashed the
amount of the reward they had earned. For some volunteers,
green circles provided a large (10-cent) reward and red circles
provided a small (2-cent) reward. For other volunteers, the
amounts were reversed, with red circles worth more. All other
colors had no reward.
By the end of this training, volunteers had learned the value of
each color. But they weren’t aware that they had, notes Iowa’s
Jatin Vaidya. When the scientists asked the players about the
value of red versus green circles, both teens and adults had no
awareness that a circle’s color had any effect on how much they
had earned during any given trial.
After this training ended, it was time to begin testing in earnest.
The scientists informed the volunteers they had a new target.
Each had to report the orientation of the line inside a blue
diamond. Again, groups of six symbols appeared on a computer
screen. Only one was a diamond. The other five were still
circles. In some trials, one of those circles was red or green. In
other trials, there were no red or green circles.
The recruits were told to answer as quickly as possible. And for
this phase of the experiment, no additional money would be
earned.
The researchers now measured how long it took people to find
the diamond and record their answers.

8. When no red or green circles were among the onscreen options,
both adults and teens responded quickly. But when a red or
green circle showed up, both groups initially took a bit longer.
Adults, though, quickly stopped paying attention to the colored
circles. Their response times sped up.
Teens reacted differently. They took longer to respond
whenever a red or green circle showed up. Their response times
never sped up. Their attention still was drawn to the previously
valued circles — even though the shapes no longer brought any
reward. Clearly, the red and green circles were distracting teens
from their objective.
Roper’s team reported the findings September 10 in
Psychological Science.
“The study demonstrates that the attention of adolescents4 is
especially drawn to rewarding information,” says Brian
Anderson. A psychologist at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Md., he was not involved with the study. These data
may help explain why teens engage in risky behavior, he says.
Some behaviors, such as texting or using social media, trigger
the brain’s reward system. Once the teenage brain has linked a
behavior to that reward, it continues to seek the reward again
and again. That’s why teens are likely to opt for the reward of
social media when they should be studying. Or why they
respond to texts while driving.
How can someone overcome their brain’s attempts to distract?
Vaidya suggests physically removing distractions whenever
possible. Shut down the phone when driving or disconnect from
Wi-Fi while doing homework. When distractions are not readily
available, it will be easier to focus attention on the things that
matter most. Like arriving home safely.
The Distracted Teenage Brain” by Alison Pearce Stevens from
societyforscience.org. Copyright © 2014 by Society for Science.
Reprinted with permission, all rights reserved. This article is
intended only for single-classroom use by teachers. For rights to
republish Science News for Students articles in assessments,

9. course packs, or textbooks, visit:
https://www.societyforscience.org/permission-republish.