Is Your iPhone Your New Security Blankie?
July 27th, 2011 | by Mobile Data Group |You gave it a pet name. It knows more about you than your mother does. Sometimes you even sleep with it. In fact, you’re so attached to it that being separated for only a few minutes could send you into a panic.
While smartphone users worry about mobile hacking and other security threats that are making news these days, psychologists and others are concerned about another equally troubling issue: the growing obsession among people who would much rather interact with their smartphones than with other human beings.
Merlo, a clinical psychologist, said she’s observed a number of behaviours among smartphone users that she labels “problematic”. Among them, Merlo says some patients pretend to talk on the phone or fiddle with apps to avoid eye contact or other interactions at a bar or a party. Others are so genuinely engrossed in their phones that they ignore the people around them completely.