BAYLOR, TX (KFYR)– Looking at your phone for nine hours a day may sound absurd, but according to a new study by researchers at Baylor University, that’s how long many college students spend on their devices.
Many may call this an addiction, but that isn’t actually true.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a book widely used among psychologists like Sanford Health psychologist Dr. Marie Schaaf Gallagher, it doesn’t list cell phone addiction as an actual addiction.
“There are the substance addictions like alcohol and drugs and they’re what they call behavioral addictions. Gambling is the only behavioral addiction in the diagnostic manual right now,” Schaaf Gallagher explains.
Schaaf Gallagher says there isn’t really a term to describe someone who looks at their cell phone constantly.
“Where we have to repeatedly check because we get a mood change or some positive reinforcement, and it doesn’t happen every time, so the more we check we hope for that reward,” says Schaaf Gallagher.
However, Schaaf Gallagher says there will be more research done on this topic and it could become a non-substance related disorder in the future.What others are clicking on:
