If you are woman reading this article and you spend hours on your Smartphone, you should change the way you use your device after reading the article.
A new study by a team of researchers from Ajou University in South Korea has revealed that women are more addicted to Smartphones than men. The worrying part of the study is that the addiction is having a serious negative effect on the mental health of these women who are addicted to their devices.
The study has been accepted in the May-June issue of Public Health Reports of the United States Public Health Service. The United States Public Health Service is looking further into the study.
The Korea Times reports that the study was based on a 2013 survey of 1,236 students from six schools in the city of Suwon, in the country’s most populous province of Gyeonggi. It is said the study was the first to reveal that women are addicted to Smartphones, more so than men.
According to the study, 22.9% of women spend six hours a day on only their Smartphones. Also, women routinely checked on their Smartphones for four hours or higher per day, compared to men who are way below the 52% average with 29.4%.
Women again registered a 22.9% usage for users who engaged with their Smartphones six hours a day, compared to men who were only listed at 10.8%.
It was revealed in the study that most women use their devices mostly on two social media networks, Facebook and Instagram. Women are said to have patronized the services of these two social media platforms even more than using their Smartphone for voice calls. This confirmed a previous study that suggested that more women than men are on Facebook.
On the other hand, men are said to use their Smartphones during their free time. However, 37.2% of women constantly check their Smartphones, even when they are talking to other people or are busy doing something. Some use their Smartphones while driving a car, or doing something that needs full concentration of the mind.
The disturbing part of the study revealed that about 20.1% of women who participated in the study said they feel extremely insecure when they cannot use their Smartphones. But only 8.9% of men admitted to feeling insecure like the women, when they are unable to use their devices.
Therefore, based on the results, the researchers concluded that many women’s addiction to their Smartphones has gone beyond simple hobbies to a stage that has started affecting their mental health. The desire for women to network and communicate is far stronger than that of men. The study theorized that this factor has made women spending many hours on social media networks with their Smartphones, chatting and networking with people.
According to the lead author of the study, Professor Chang Jiang Jae-yeon, the findings of the study indicate that there is a need to advise female users of Smartphones to reduce the number of hours they spend on their devices.
Professor Jae-yeon was quoted as saying: “We expect adolescents are likely to show similar results. Female users are advised to consciously put their phones out of their reach from time to time. Women’s desires for networking and communication are far stronger than men’s, which drive them to become more dependent on social network service (SNS) via their Smartphones.”
Professor Jae-yeon also said the findings suggest that women’s dependency on Smartphones is 10% higher than men. He finally advised that both sexes need to be careful with their Smartphones to avoid wasting precious time on social media, which they could have spent on productive ventures.
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