Smartphone Addiction
Before you read: Some questions to help you to think about the topic.
Do you have a smartphone?
How much do you check Cyworld, or Facebook on it?
Do you feel you need to check your messages all the time?
Smartphone users are more addicted to their devices than they think, a new study suggests.
According to a recently published report in the journal Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, people are most addicted to "checking habits" associated with their phones – such as repetitive checks of the menu screen, news, email and social apps – and this is triggered by outside situations or behaviors that enable the habit.
A typical checking lasts less than 30 seconds and involves opening the screen lock and accessing a single application, the report said.
But these kinds of checking don't happen as randomly as one would think. A small set of events or happenings trigger smartphone users to check their devices such as reading email when commuting or checking news while bored.
The report also said that checking habits may further grow in the future, as informational "rewards" are added to smartphones. For example, when a phone's contact book app is linked with real-time information about a contact's whereabouts, users start regularly checking the application. As more apps offer real-time updates, people will continue to check devices for updates.
"What concerns us here is that if your habitual response to, say, boredom, is that you pick up the phone to find interesting stimuli, you will be systematically distracted from the more important things happening around you," said Antti Oulasvirta, senior research at Helsinki Institute for Information Technology. "Habits are automatically triggered behaviors and compromise the more conscious control that some situations require."
"Studies are already starting to associate smartphone use to dire consequences such as driving accidents and poor work-life balance and unfortunately, as decades of work in psychology shows, habits are not easy to change," he said.
Guessing meaning from context
Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. The answers are below the table.
addicted A 1 Applications on phones and other mobile computing devices.
Ubiquitous B 2 Something that causes something else to begin
social apps C 3 Happening at the same time. Not a past event. No pre-planned.
triggered D 4 To give up something to get something else. A kind of negotiation to get an agreement.
randomly E 5 Can’t stop doing something, to feel a strong need to do something
dire F 6 Causing someone/thing to not look/focus on something many times at regular intervals
real-time G 7 Very bad
stimuli H 8 Related to. To connect
systematically distracted I 9 Something that causes an action to happen (plural of stimulus).
compromise J 10 everywhere
associate K 11 By chance, not by planning
A=5, B=10, C=1, D=2, E=11, F=7, G=3, H=9, I=6, J=4, K=8
Some example sentences using the new words to help you to better understand their meaning.
1. I’m addicted to social apps such as Kakao talk.
2. Ten years ago it was hard to find WiFi, now it is ubiquitous.
3. The problems in Greece have triggered worry all around the world.
4. Gambling relies a lot on random events.
5. Before the Internet we had to write letters, but now we can receive and send e-mails in real time.
6. Advertising relies on stimulating our desires, which causes us to want to buy things.
7. Children are systematically distracted by things happening around them, that is why they can’t sit in one place for too long.
8. In negotiation you have to make some compromises such as price to reach a conclusion.
9. People associate drinking with having a good time and getting closer to friends, that is one reason it is so popular.
10. I spent all my money last weekend and now I can’t pay my rent, it is a dire situation.
Some discussion questions using the new words to help you better understand the word meaning and how to use them correctly. Try to use the words in your answer.
Do you have any addictions? Can you describe one, or one someone you know has?
What kinds of business are ubiquitous in Seoul now? Describe them.
What social apps are popular with you?
In the reading what triggers people to want to check their smartphones all the time.
Do you think weather can be random or is it triggered by other things.
What other dire consequences can happen from being addicted to checking cell phones.
How do you feel about people being able to contact you by email and messaging in real-time?
What things stimulate you? For example, some people are stimulated by coffee.
Have you ever experienced being systematically distracted by something like a smartphone?
Do you agree that university teachers should compromise with students and allow them to use their smartphones to social network in classes?
What other problems can you associate use of smartphones with?
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