Smart-phone users accelerate their "checking habits"

Consumer Reports News: August 03, 2011 03:53 PM

Smart-phone users are getting compulsive: We're checking e-mail, text messages, and apps an average of 34 times a day, according to a study published in research journal "Personal and Ubiquitous Computing."

The study's authors observed what they call their subjects' "checking habits." Typically, checks are quick (involving just one application and lasting less than 30 seconds) and frequent—generally within 10 minutes of one another.

The researchers warned of possible results of this kind of behavior, such as chronic detachment from one's surroundings, work-life imbalances, and traffic accidents. No mention was made of the danger of angering friends and family by ignoring them while you check your Twitter feed.

(Full disclosure: I checked my phone twice while writing this post. Maybe it's time to untether for a while.)

Study: People Are Turning into Smartphone Addicts [International Business Times]

—Carol Mangis