On average, people check their smartphones every 12 minutes.
Long gone are the days when being glued to your phone was a prerequisite for just high-powered business people and global celebrities.
It now seems like everyone is in a constant state of omnipresence online as smartphones are rarely out of the hands of the user.
And we're not just talking about adults.
So bad has the habitual 'checking' of smartphones become in Irish society, that
a primary school in Kerry had to go as far as banning the use of devices both within and outside of school hours as a result of issues that had arisen from the pupils' use of social media and messaging groups.
However, all fads come to an end and it appears that the people are growing tired of the smartness of smartphones – as so-called 'dumb phones' are making a triumphant comeback.
According to
Sky News, sales for phones that simply make and receive calls – known in the industry as feature phones – rose by 5% last year.
To provide context, global sales of smartphones rose by just 2%.
A recent
online study carried out by psychologists from two British universities surveyed 640 smartphone users aged 13-69 to look at a possible link between smartphone use and certain personality traits.
The team found that those who were less emotionally stable and resilient were "more likely have a higher level of smartphone use, possibly as a form of therapy."
“This is because people may be experiencing problems in their lives such as stress, anxiety, depression, family problems, so in that state they are emotionally unstable, meaning they may seek respite in very excessive smartphone use," said Dr Zaheer Hussain, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby.
"This is worrying.”
“Problematic smartphone use is more complex than previously thought and our research has highlighted the interplay of various psychological factors in the study of smartphone use," Hussain concluded.
Who knows, perhaps we'll be walking around with Nokia 3310s in our hands in the near future.
Sounds a lot less stressful.
