Page 10 - Screen Addiction: A Teen Epidemic

being something you enjoy to something
that’s controlling you,” says Douglas A. “You let it go from being
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Gentile, a professor of psychology at something you enjoy to
Iowa State University. something that’s controlling
you.”
5
Unfortunately, checking a device
provides only temporary relief from — Douglas A. Gentile, professor of
psychology at Iowa State University
the anxiety, and over time the behavior
makes the anxiety worse. Social media
users instinctively know that as soon as
users instinctively know that as soon as
they leave the website, someone could post
new content. As a result, FOMO returns almost as soon as us-
ers leave the site. And because they have just checked their ac-
counts, the awareness of what might be going on in social media
remains at the top of their minds, fueling the urge to check their
devices again. The never-ending cycle adds up to an astonishing
level of involvement with screens. According to a study conduct-
ed by dscout, a technology research fi rm, cell phone users tap,

Fear of missing out drives some
people to check their phones
constantly and often makes
it dif cult to focus on other
things, such as schoolwork.