[Nachum]

As I was posting this (ding!)- wait a minute, let me check my Blackberry- I was thinking that this article (ding!) -hold on.... that this article was not... (ding!) -not another email, eh, have to check it.. that this article was not quite (ding, ding, ding!) gotta look at something, be right back....

[dfwgator]

Do people with Smartphones do dumb things?

[Sacajaweau]

What’s a smart phone??

[Hodar]

Is there an app to help with this?

[Responsibility2nd]

They are often hailed as an essential component of modern life. But smartphones are taking over some people's lives, according to a study that has identified repetitive and obsessive use of the devices. Scientists have uncovered what they call 'checking habits', when users frequently look at the menu screen, news, email, contacts, and social applications on the device. A typical checking lasts less than 30 seconds and involves opening the screen lock and accessing a single application. The researchers, from Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, were surprised to find users engaging in checking behaviours throughout the waking hours.

 

Hah! What silly fools. Glad I'm not obsessed like that.

 

(ping)

 

Oops. Gotta go. Check my pings here at FR. Ooops. Gotta go. Another hot topic thread just starting.

[MarDav]

Spent last week on vacation with my sister and her family. The entire week she had her “device” out messing with one app or another. Didn’t matter if we were eating, watching a movie, at poolside. The device never left her hand.

I wonder if she realized our vacation together has come and gone?

[napscoordinator]

I have a I PHONE and at first it is pretty obsessive mostly to figure it out but it loses it flavor after awhile and you just use it normally. The same thing happened when I signed up for Facebook over a year ago. I was on Facebook for hours and hours and now I go on and browse for a minute and come back to Free Republic. Now if they did a study on Free Republic.......oy.

[brownsfan]

I have a cell, no text capability, no internet. It only makes calls. And I only turn it on when I intend to use it. When I’m done, unless I’m expecting a call, or need to be available, I turn it off.

My daughter has a droid. She’s so obsessed with it, yesterday she asked me if a sauna was bad for it. I said, “Hmmmm, high heat and high moisture, what do you think? Duh”. Turns out she fried hers by using it in the sauna. She couldn’t stand to be without it for the 10 minutes she’d be in the sauna!

Aldous Huxley was right.

[mnehring]

Guilty

[RingerSIX]

Scientists have uncovered what they call 'checking habits', when users frequently look at the menu screen, news, email, contacts, and social applications on the device.

Gee, what will those scientists uncover next? I've always wondered about the color of the sky. Maybe they could work on that?

[cripplecreek]

I get by fine with a tracphone and prepaid minutes.

[NormsRevenge]

You mean your 'smart'phone can actually be used to make contact with people? wow.

I recently 'Infuse'd' while wifey iPhone'd.. she is still playing angry birds day and night. I played for 10 days and quit. cold turkey. tweet!

[Yaelle]

Currently freeping in my doc’s waiting room. It’s better than the magazines!

Not into the lying Time mag, boaters monthly, or old people mag telling me Jen is back with John Mayer.

[mikrofon]

Smartphones are taking over people's lives as users 'obsessively' check their devices, scientists

Well, good-looking scientists, maybe....

[HerrBlucher]

The best thing about the smartphone is you always have something interesting to read on the john. Just don’t drop it in afterwards.....then you will really find out how much you love your smartphone.

[Jeff Chandler]

Right now I’m obsessively checking to see if the FedEx truck is approaching to deliver my new Samsung Galaxy 7 Tab.

Time to look out the window ...

[JaguarXKE]

As I sit here on the “throne” replying to this thread. I’m so ashamed!

[aberaussie]

Yikes - I think I see myself in this thread. I love being able to read FR wherever I am...Angry Birds is fun, but I have replaced it with an obsession with “Words with Friends.” I’m Aberaussie on there too, if you want to play.

[KarlInOhio]

Smartphones found to be nearly as addictive as doing silly scientific studies with government money.

[COBOL2Java]

I check my smart phone regularly, but I don’t check my scientists more than once a month or so.

[Allegra]

Yes, it's a phenomenon that seems to be further eroding social mores.

I don't respond to every ding and ring on mine immediately and tend to turn the sound off when visiting with friends or family or out at a social event.

They're convenient, but I won't allow that thing to be a leash. Face-to-face interaction takes precedence over the beeping and dinging gadget that seems to be always trying to interrupt.