There used to be a lot of jokes about the CrackBerry problem, the fact that BlackBerry users became addicted to their mobile phones. It appears that this is a problem for users of other smartphones, too, though. A recent survey indicates that iPhone users have a likelihood of becoming dependent upon their devices. In fact, three out of four of them admit to sleeping with their phones in their beds.
The survey took a look at the activities of 200 students who owned iPhones. The majority of these students were relatively new to iPhone use, having had their iPhone for less than one full year. Despite the fact that they hadn’t had their phones for very long, many admitted that they were at least moderately addicted to the device. Ten percent said that they were totally addicted and another 34% ranked their addiction as a level four out of five. Users who didn’t admit to being addicted frequently said that they could see becoming addicted as a problem that could happen to them in the future.
So what is it that makes the iPhone so addictive? Part of the cause is the fact that it’s so easy to replace other devices with the iPhone. Nearly 90% of the users surveyed used their iPhone to replace their alarms and almost that many used it to replace their watches. Access to the Internet also makes this phone addictive; in fact, 15% of users said that the device itself was giving them an addiction to media. Perhaps most importantly is the fact that many iPhone users consider the phone to be an extension of themselves, a part of their social lives and therefore more special than other consumer electronics. Regardless of what they used their iPhones for, close to half of them felt like losing it would be a tragedy.
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