NovoVerse Undergraduate eJournal

Volume 1٠Issue 1 June 2018٠

Copyright © 2018, NovoVerse National University of Ireland Galway. Copying or distributing in print or

electronic forms without written permission of NovoVerse is prohibited.

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Smartphones: An Invisible Addiction?

Authors:

Cian Crimmins – c.crimmins1@nuigalway.ie

Jonathan Maguire – j.maguire8@nuigalway.ie

Conor Cosgrove – c.cosgrove4@nuigalway.ie

Brian Guilfoyle – b.guilfoyle1@nuigalway.ie

Niall Sheehy – n.sheehy4@nuigalway.ie

Supervisor:

Dr Eoin Whelan eoin.whelan@nuigalway.ie

Business Information Systems, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, National

University of Ireland, Galway

Abstract

The constant evolution of technology sees everyday advancements in smartphone capabilities. Now

impacting almost every aspect of our lives, they offer conveniences and efficiencies that are

impossible to overlook. From advised decision making to endless communication opportunities, we

explore the catalysts that form the foundations for smartphone addiction. In a world where we are so

dependent on these devices we often joke about having an addiction to them, however, our research

suggests that people are still oblivious to a problem that profoundly affects people of all ages around

the world. With high levels of anxiety and depression being detected in children as young as 13, it’s

time for solutions to be put in place. Our case study dives into the minds of students and young adults

and presents an insight into their attitude towards smartphone use. These case studies include a

survey, use of an app to track daily mobile phone usage and a digital detox day where participants

would give up mobile phone usage for one day. Our research identifies that there is a hidden

addiction with smartphones that people do not recognise or are willing to admit. Our case studies

identify these issues and help show that smartphones are having a negative effect on people’s lives.

With Apple now being urged to modify their OS platform to curtail excessive phone use, the prospect

of tackling smartphone addiction through software itself is a hot topic amongst developers. In light of

this, we provide an insight into one such platform and the potential power it possesses to counteract

the problem of smartphone addiction

Keywords: addiction, smartphones, mental health, digital detox

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Introduction

Over the past 10-15 years, smartphones have expanded from a small niche market in which

a small network of companies partook, into the modern civilisation we recognise where these

devices are now readily available to everyone with a range of functions. Advances in both

hardware and software through the years have left very few tasks unattainable through a

smartphone. They are now even being used to supplant human thinking (Barr, 2015).

These days, most people have a phone by their side. In 2011 only 35% of Americans owned

a smartphone. This is up to 77% now in 2018 (Pew Research Center: Internet, 2018).

Greater broadband speeds (Fastmetrics, 2017), social media and the addictive design of

smartphones (Vox, 2018) combined have meant we don’t and in fact won’t put them down

(De-Sola Gutiérrez, 2016).

Smartphone addiction is referred to as the excessive use of smartphones that interferes with

the daily lives of the users (Griffiths, 2000). Reliable research on smartphones and their side

effects are not that old, dating back less than ten years since the release of the iPhone in

2007 and the Android market in 2008. Before this, smartphones were not very prevalent in

the market with only 122.32 million units of smartphones sold in 2007 versus 1536.54 million

units sold in 2017. (Statista, 2018). For this reason, there isn’t enough to back up and

recognise smartphone addiction as a behavioural addiction. A behavioural addiction is one

which a person compels to participate in an activity that gives off a non-drug related reward

(Olsen, 2011).

Currently, there is a dearth of information on the topic of smartphone addiction; what it is and

the effects of it. Addictions relating to drink and drugs are widely common knowledge and

even when the addiction isn’t self-recognised it has implications on your life. On the other

hand, smartphone addiction has become the norm in this modern-day society

(Chotpitayasunondh, 2016). We are prone to spending an abnormally large period on our

phones when in others company and this isn’t seen as a problem.

In order for smartphone addiction to be recognised both professionally and personally, we

are going to have to take a step back from our phones and recognise the damage it is

causing. When we look at the future of smartphones, it’s certain that they are only going to

get more advanced and consequently more addictive (Islam, 2014). Before this happens, we

need to get on top of the problem and put in place precautions to reduce usage habits in the

future, allowing us to recognise ourselves when we have the addiction too.

Thus, the objective of this research is to:

Explore smartphone addiction, concentrating largely on whether it is an “invisible” addiction.

This paper first presents a literature review on factors relating to humans such as mental and

physical health effects, documenting how smartphones can have an impact on these. The

next step explains the methodology behind carrying out our primary research. Next, the

study presents our findings and discusses the meaning behind them, highlighting possible

solutions. Finally, we conclude with our overall thoughts on the issue of smartphone

addiction.

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Literature Review

Our research into smartphone addiction has shown that there are many ways in which a

person can be affected by excessive use of their smartphone. In order to conduct our

research, we viewed research articles and journals that pertain to smartphone research over

the last 10 years to find valuable information that would assist us in our conducting our own

primary research into the topic. Each of these journals were reviewed by one of our

researchers and were found to be both relevant and valuable to our overall discussion of the

topic of smartphone addiction.

Smartphones are even designed in such a way that will leave you addicted without even

realising. App developers aim to manipulate psychological vulnerabilities to draw attention to

your smart device and increase the time you spend on it (Harris, 2016). Our smartphones

are designed to mimic slot machines, a bigger money generator than both baseball and

theme parks combined within the United States (Harris, 2016). Gamification has been rising

in popularity in the past number of years and is being utilised in the mobile app world. It

works by using similar techniques that game designers use, to make a game more

enjoyable, competitive and addictive in platforms that may not naturally be so.

Studies also suggest that smartphone addiction can affect mental health. Mental health

includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being and it affects how we think, feel

and act (MentalHealth.gov, 2017). Anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, lack of focus and

zero peace of mind are some effects of a smartphone addiction. Nowadays we live in a ‘like

culture’ and young adults strive off people’s affirmation (Guastello, 2017). People are now

comparing themselves to others on social media and judge others’ lives based on their

images online. A study was carried about by the psychologist Doctor Jon Elhai and his

colleagues to investigate the relationship between problematic smartphone use and

symptoms of anxiety and depression (Hunley, 2017). The participants who used their

smartphones the most were the ones most likely to experience these mental disorders. One

of the reasons for this is that people find it rewarding to check their apps and notifications

and they become addicted to this positive feeling of receiving updates. There has been

research conducted on an area called ‘Technostress’. This relates to technology and

smartphones starting to interfere with people’s health and happiness. Based on studies, over

35% of respondents to this study suffer from technostress (Fox, 2014). Lack of sleep or bad

sleeping patterns is another factor that can lead to mental illness. Our bodies stop producing

the sleep-inducing hormone called melatonin when we are surrounded by blue light.

Smartphones have a blue-tinted aura which is constantly telling us to stay awake. Lack of

sleep can cause lack of performance at work or at school and can also lead to certain

illnesses and obesity (Pearson, 2017).

Overuse of smartphones can also have negative implications for a person’s physical health

such as neck, shoulder and back pain (Arora, 2017). Studies prove that your head weighs

more when it is tilted forward (Ammerman, 2017).

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Smartphones are not only causing day-to-day neck and back pain but can also cause far

more sinister and long-term damage. Occipital Neuralgia is a condition in which the nerves

that run from the top of the spinal cord through the scalp are inflamed or injured (BBC,

2015). Symptoms that arise from this are migraines or pain in the back of your head at the

base of your skull. The problem derives from craning our heads forward over screens and

causes intense pressure on the nerves in our neck (BBC, 2015). Smartphone addiction can

also have a huge negative impact on weight management. A study published in the

International Journal of Behavioural of Nutrition and physical activity looked at 300 college

students. They looked at their levels of physical activity and their level of smartphone use.

The results that were found suggested that students who spent more time on their phone

had a lower level of fitness (Lepp, 2013). Being addicted to your smartphone can be almost

life threatening when it comes to using it while driving. According to the Road Safety

Authority (RSA), you are four times more likely to crash if you are using your phone. Driver

distractions are responsible for 20-30% of all road collisions (RSA, 2018).

Smartphones also play a huge role in the fitness industry today. Fitness apps help us to

count our steps, measure our calories, track our distance walked/ran, show us training

videos plus a lot more. However, texting during exercise can impact balance and stability by

45% while talking on the phone can impact balance by up to 19% (Rebold, 2016). Another

repercussion of smartphones in the fitness industry is the follow-up content posted on social

media. When smartphones, fitness and social media all come together, the effects on self-

esteem can be massive. “On the list of places you’re likely to see people exercising, social

media is perhaps second only to the gym” (Ducharme, 2018). There is a strong correlation

between lower self-esteem relating to physical fitness and appearance and the number of

fitness posts you have seen on social media (Burke, 2018).

Another negative ramification of smartphone addiction is the effect it will have on the ability

to study. Having read the Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance

Discussion Paper, we could directly see a correlation between the results of secondary level

students and the implementation of a ban on smartphones (Beland, 2015). Their results

show an improvement of 6.41% standard deviation by students following a ban on phone

usage. The results showed that there was an improvement of 14.23% of a standard

Figure 1 Pressure placed on neck when staring at a phone (Sankary, 2017)

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deviation for students who were considered to be in the lowest quartile of achievement prior

to the test. This shows that the students which are the most affected when it comes to

concentration levels and overall achievement are often the ones who suffer the most from

this almost unavoidable ringing in their pockets. It goes without saying that an individual’s

test scores reflect the student themselves as well as their engagement, but with the level of

distractions available to us in society today, we must be able to block out what is not

necessary and focus on what we feel is crucial to our development.

Methodology

Having conducted an extensive amount of desk research into smartphone addiction we

decided to conduct our own field research to enable us to have primary data which was

representative of the existing climate and culture of smartphones. Firstly, we compiled a list

of questions that we got from previous studies, to include in a survey to gather some

information on people’s attitudes towards smartphone

addiction and their usage habits. When we were satisfied

that we had sufficient questions established we created

the survey on Google Forms. We decided to use this

platform as it enabled us to track all responses and give

us valuable and visual insights into our results. A key

reason for creating the online survey was that it was much

more efficient than conducting face-to-face interviews and

given that it provided anonymity, people might be more

inclined to tell the truth.

Secondly, we wanted to obtain some data that would

show how often people were using their phones daily,

along with the most commonly used apps. We utilized

two apps called Moment and Quality Time that ran on

both iPhones and Android respectfully that offered

these functionalities. Figures 2 and 3 shows

screenshots from “Moment” while figures 4 and 5

display “Quality Time” We asked students,

professionals and friends if they were willing to

download either app. We requested that the subjects

spend one week using their smartphone as normal with

the app tracking their individual usage levels. After the

week was complete, we asked the subjects to share

Smart Phone Impact Authors

Physiological problems BBC, 2015; Lepp, 2013;

Psychological vulnerability Harris,2016

Mental health Guastello,2017

Stress Fox,2014

Physical health Arura, 2017

Road fatalities RSA, 2018

Lower test results Beland, 2015

Figure 2 - Screenshot from “Moment” App

Figure 3- Screenshot from "Moment” App

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their results with us so that we could analyse them. We also held a focus group with a

selection of these participants to get more detailed information as to how the respondents

felt about the study. Many of them were very surprised with their overall phone usage

throughout the day and some were even reluctant to checking the app as they felt that they

were definitely addicted to their phones. None of the participants realised the number of

hours a week they spent on their phone. They were all happy that they noticed their problem,

and all said they are going to try and improve.

Figure 4- "Quality Time" Screenshot

We were determined to obtain feedback in relation to people’s experience spending a full

day away from their smartphone. Over 10 people took part in the Focus group and we found

it beneficial to hear the opinions of the participants. We designed a Digital Detox experiment

where we asked a number of students, friends, and working professionals if they would take

part in the Digital Detox day whereby they could not use their phone for 24 hours. Phones

were then forbidden from once a participant went to sleep until 24 hours had passed. In total,

we had 16 willing volunteers who were happy to partake in our study over a 2-week period.

We compiled our results using several different techniques such as questionnaires, face-to-

face meetings, personal experience journals and a focus group session. Some of the merits

of conducting a digital detox can be an increase in cognitive ability (Beland, 2015), an

increase in face-to-face communication and an increase in productivity levels.

We wanted to conduct a large scale survey as we believed it would help us to explore the

extent of the smartphone addiction problem in society today We felt it would capture a range

of attitudes towards the problem by exposing the survey to a wider location and

demographic of people. The moment experiment was conducted to get a more in-depth

knowledge of the problem in hand, while the Digital Detox was designed to portray a day in

the life away from smartphones.

Figure 5- "Quality Time" Screenshot

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Table 1 Case Study Data

Findings / Results

Survey

In relation to our survey, we received 460 responses in total. There were 10 questions to

answer which asked age plus occupation first, then asking for details on their daily

smartphone habits and the extent of their existence on social media. The majority of

participants (80%) were between the ages of 18-23. The respondents were also mainly

students (62%).

After compiling and analysing the data we

noticed the results to be quite interesting.

As seen in figure 6 we found that a

substantial section of the surveyed

(41.3%) admitted to picking up their

phones every few minutes as. Only 6.1%

of people said they don’t use their phone

aside from when they need it.

When it came to social media most

people use between 3-5 platforms such

as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,

Twitter and YouTube. Research carried

out on social media platforms (Insights, 2018) show that this result is consistent with 5 social

media sites having a far higher daily user number than the rest. No one admitted to not

having a social media account. Most participants said they spend over 3 hours a day on

social media accounts alone. When it came to be comparing themselves to others

online/using social media, 58.8% said they are inclined to, depending on the situation.

As noted in the Digital Detox below the main issue came with getting up in the morning. 60%

of people under the age of 35 use their phone as their primary alarm clock (YouGov, 2018)

so it was no surprise that over 95% of people sleep with their phone in arm’s reach.

Figure 4 How often do you check your phone?

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Nearly 80% of people have

felt a sense of anger or

aggression when they can’t

get to their smartphone.

When compared to the

Digital Detox this was

evident as people get

anxious when they can’t

contact friends which leads

to these anger and

aggression emotions.

22.8% said they have never

had these feelings when they are away from their smartphone. This doesn’t correlate with

our other experiments. We believe these people are so close to their phone they physically

will never leave it, or they haven’t realised the sense of anger they have got in these times

are because of no contact with their smartphone.

When we asked people to what extent do they agree with some statements the results we

received were quite surprising. 16% of people said they have never felt anxious when they

did not have their phone. Also, 25% of people said they have never been accused of being

on their phone too much when in a group.

Moment

The app Moment was a fantastic indicator for us to

visually analyse the amount of time people are spending

on their smartphone. We asked a group of 20 individuals

to download the app for one week. The participants were

mainly college students and a couple of working

professionals. At the end of the week, we compared the

results.

The first part we analysed was the average screen time.

The results ranged from 3hrs to over 6hrs per day. The

average from the 20 participants was 4 hours and 5

minutes per day. This means that the average time a person spends on their phone every

week, based on our study is 28 hours and 35 minutes. This can be seen in figure 8.

The second aspect we analysed was the most used apps

based on hours spent on each app that week. The results

varied between the participants but after we broke all the

hours down per person, we managed to work out the top 10

used apps on a smartphone-Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube,

Instagram, Messenger, Spotify, Netflix, Sky Sports,

WhatsApp, Chrome and Twitter. This can be seen in figure

9.

A feature on the Moment app shows the user how many

times they pick up their phone every day. The average

pickups per day were 102.

Figure 5 Do you ever compare yourself to others on Social Media

Figure 6 Sample screen time per day

Figure 7 Sample app usage

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Finally, we organised a focus group for the participants that were above the average screen

time of 4hrs and 5mins. We asked the same questions to each of the participants to find out

their personal reflection on the results of their Moment for the week. Our focus group session

outlined how oblivious participants were to how much time they spent on their phone.

Digital Detox

The Digital Detox experiment presented many surprising and compelling results. For the

experiment we allowed volunteers to choose the day they went without their phone as many

expressed uneasiness towards the idea at first. Waking up in the morning appeared to be

one of the biggest challenges for participants, with many of them admitting to setting an

alarm on their phone out of habit, and for fear they would not wake. One student also

reported how they slept for longer than usual, but it did not impact their day. Another

mentioned how they used an old alarm clock that had lay idle in the house, while others

informed us that they had borrowed a watch for the day.

Many participants took the necessary preparations to contact their everyday contacts. Most

participants reported that they let their parents know they would be without their phone with

many giving the number of a housemate or friend in case of emergency. Another participant

ensured that her children knew she would not be reachable on her phone for this period. For

the most part, the students that participated in this study reported how they had previously

arranged a time for lunch with friends, as well as team meetings. One student also reported

that his friends were late to lunch and he felt anxious, something that would have been

avoided had he had his phone – “I would have known this had I been able to read the group

chat”. Two housemates also mentioned how they were going to participate on the same day

as they felt it would make it easier and admitted they were excited to do so. Having spoken

with a number of participants, a final observation we made was that one participant actually

wrote down the phone number of their boss at work in the off chance they needed it and

brought it with them for the day, while another student wrote down a program that they follow

at the gym which they usually track using an app.

Participants noticed that they had a lot more time on their hands which they used to positive

effect. For one participant, time spent on a bus where they would normally browse through

their phone was spent reading which is something they wouldn’t normally do. They also read

before going to bed which also helped them fall asleep quicker. Improvements to study and

attention levels in class were a common theme amongst participants. Without the distraction

of their phone, they found it easier to concentrate on their studies. Another positive

alternative that arose was time spent exercising. Participants found they needed to go to the

gym, while other passed time by going for a walk. One participant stated their enjoyment of

meeting their friends and not having to worry about their phone. Many participants switched

to their laptop to log attendance at lectures and arrange group meeting for projects. Others

were of the opposite opinion and appeared to have a much more stressful day and feared

seclusion.

There was a variety of mixed emotions during and after the experiment. Many respondents

felt anxious without their phone and felt compelled to immediately check it for notifications.

One participant sent us a detailed description of the number of notifications that flooded their

phone when it turned on which showed a total of 58 unread messages over various

accounts. The majority of participants felt a sense of missing out and often reached for their

phone, admitting that if they had not left it at home, they would not have been able to

continue with the experiment. In one case a participant nearly missed out on an important

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meeting due to not being able to see the invitation. Another participant noted that they could

not sleep before the experiment started which left them slightly apprehensive going into the

detox day. We also had participants who felt better about themselves after conducting the

experiment. An additional respondent said they found it “quite liberating”. We learned that

one participant did not check their notifications straight away once they finished the

experiment due to the fear of being overwhelmed but instead, waited until later in the

evening where they had more time on their hands.

The overwhelming response in relation to people’s habits was that they became more aware

of their own addiction and also, people around them constantly being on their phone. Being

without their phone put into perspective how long they spend using their phone daily. Some

participants acknowledged that before the experiment, they would not have classed

themselves as being addicted, but now realise that they spend a worrying amount of time on

their phone. Participants stated that they were going to make more of an effort from now on,

to spend less time on their phone. One participant said that they were able to use their new

found spare time to do other activities. We found it interesting that one participant spoke

about how it was “just the world we live in” and they accepted that their phone was just a

part of their life regardless of the negative connotations it may lead to. Participants also

noted the connectivity habits of people around them. Some participants reported getting

ignored by people who were glued to their phone, while some found it especially irritating

and rude when they were in restaurants and could not hold a conversation without

interruptions from their colleague’s phone, something they had never noticed until they were

without a phone themselves.

Discussion

After looking at the survey conducted we found that 70% of people pick up their phones

every 15 minutes or less. When this is compared with the findings from our Digital Detox it

was clear that most people pick up their phone every few minutes out of habit or just to keep

in contact with peers so as not to miss meetings or arrangements such as lunch. Our

moment experiment confirmed that these results were correct as the average amount of

pickups in a day was 102. 30% of people responded that they checked their phones less

regular than every 15 minutes. We believe this number was too high because when people

were presented with the average number of pickups in a day, they were shocked with those

numbers and said they did not think they check their phone this often, with some saying they

would have picked that they check their phone every 30 minutes in the survey before seeing

these results. 73% of the surveyed participants stated that feeling anxious when without their

phone was not a problem they had often. Participants of our Digital Detox, however, talked

of feeling lost without their phone and reaching for their pockets constantly. As smartphone

addiction is not a recognised addiction and therefore unknown to most, we found that people

were hesitant to admit that they felt the emotion of anxiety when unable to reach their phone.

In relation to people admitting to being on their phone too much when in a group, we found

the results to be too high. Results from our Digital Detox suggest this seems to be such a

high number as people don’t start realising the extent of their addiction until they are forced

to be without their phone. Participant’s largely agreed that they have found themselves

losing track of time when on their phone and also that it is the first thing they pick up in the

morning before doing anything else.

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The findings that stood out to us from the moment experiment:

- Participants on average were using their smartphone for over one day every week. If

you look at these figures on a yearly basis, people are spending over 60 days a year

solely on their smartphone.

- Participants picked up their phone on average every 14/15 minutes. This backs up

our survey results also as over 69% of the replies stated that they check their phones

every 15 minutes or less.

- From the focus group, participants were frightened and shocked by their moment

results. They never realised how many hours a day they were using their

smartphones. This has led to them being more aware and they hope to now cut down

in the future.

- Some participants felt angry about their own results and are now more focused on

spending their days participating in more productive activities, while others

immediately volunteered to partake in the Digital Detox experiment.

The challenge of obtaining participants for the Digital Detox experiment was an insight in

itself. People were extremely reluctant to partake in the experiment as they felt they could

not go without their phone. Of those who volunteered, each one of them chose to partake on

a weekday, with many of them admitting that they could not be without their phone at the

weekend. Most participants chose to participate on a day that was relatively busy so that

they could see what a normal day would be like without their phones. We also found that

several participants could not resist the urge to check their social media accounts with many

resorting to checking them on their laptops as they felt they were missing out on important

updates in group chats etc. Some participants realised how prevalent smartphone addiction

was by observing those around them who were consistently on the phone while in their

company. Similarly, of our 460 survey responses, 65% reported how they have found

themselves using their phone somewhere they shouldn’t, with 7% responding with “always”.

On top of this, participants reported high levels of anxiety as they were constantly reaching

for their phone and wanting to check it, even though it was not on them. This made them

conscious of their own habits and somewhat changed their viewpoint on the issue of

smartphone addiction. This is highly linked to the problem of nomophobia, a relatively

unknown term that describes the fear of being without cellular contact. The fact that people

only became aware of these habits when they were deprived of their own smartphone,

reinforces our view that people are very much unaware of smartphone addiction.

The demand to diminish the problem of Smartphone

addiction is growing more rapidly now than ever. To give

an insight into one such solution we have examined the

Xerofone platform. Xerofone is a mobile application that

can be utilized by parents, teachers and employers. Its

software enables restriction technology whereby

administrators can block the use of downloaded apps, a

phones camera or web browsers at various times

throughout the day. Once an app is installed on a student’s Figure 8 Sample Xerofone Restriction Schedule

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or an employee’s phone it can be accessed through a control panel. Tailored access blocks

can be then set to determine when a user can access certain apps, and when they cannot.

For example, employees would have full access to their phones at break times but not

during work hours. On top of handling productivity levels at both work and school, when

implemented correctly, could help to improve interpersonal skills and diminish some of the

worrying mental health issues associated with smartphone addiction today.

This also offers an opportunity for parents to restrict the amount of time their kids spend on

their phones. It’s a step in the right direction for tackling many problems our research has

identified such as loss of sleep, anxiety and depression as well as concentration levels at

school and at home. With no access to their phone, teenagers might be encouraged to

engage in alternative activities that may be more beneficial for their health, for example

exercising.

Our research mirrors that of previous research which we allude to in our literature review

showing that smartphones are becoming increasingly addictive and can affect our overall

mental and physical health. Our research indicates that the amount of time people spend on

their phone a day is much more than the perceived time the subjects believed to be true.

This was one of the main new findings which we believe displays the extent of society’s

attitude towards smartphone addiction. Our research also shows how anxious one can

become when they have not got their smartphones on them, another attitude which

participants did not believe they would find themselves undertaking. Our findings from our

general survey, when contrasted with our case studies shows that smartphone addiction is

not only a problem but should also seen as an invisible addiction due to the negative attitude

people have towards their addiction prior to investigating their smartphone habits.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that there is an underlying problem in society today that people are

completely unaware of. The invisible addiction has left people deluded to the fact that the

overuse of their smartphones is affecting them in ways that people are not even aware of.

The physical and mental health of today’s society is being eroded away in the background of

people’s lives, leaving behind a false sense of serenity. From our research, it’s clear to see

that people do not feel they have a problem until it is pointed out to them by means of our

experiments. We have proven that people who went a day without their phone (Digital

Detox) only realised that they are addicted to their phone once they finished the experiment.

It is fair to say people do not like the word ‘addiction’ as it may reflect a more serious

problem, however, it is clear to see that there is a serious problem with smartphone

addiction and our survey responses reflect this as people admit that something needs to be

done before the situation gets out of control. The concept of an invisible addiction is reflected

in the way that it takes people some convincing before they admit that there is an issue with

the over-use of smartphones. Unless we address this issue, which is dangerously polluting

our society, this invisible addiction may not be so invisible for long.

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Authors Biographies

The authors are final year Business Information systems student at NUI, Galway. Their

interests of study are cloud computing, the growing value of IT in business, enterprise

systems, networks and project management. Throughout their four-year degree they have

produced a number of different projects that delve into various areas of the information

system domain such as database and website design. They hope to pursue careers in the IS

industry and become experts in creating value for organisations through the implementation

of IT/IS.