Smartphone Notifications Cause ADHD like Symptoms?

[DroidModderX]

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Can a tree that falls when no one is around make a sound? Can a phone booth phone ring without being answered? Can a smartphone notify without you checking it? My wife just about loses it every time my phone receives a notification. She is always worried that I may have just been notified that the end of the world has arrived. The fact that I can be so indifferent about a text or email notification just doesn't seem to sit well with her. I can literally hear a notification go off before I go to bed and be just fine with checking it the next day when I wake up.

On the other hand every notification on my wife's phone must be viewed the instant it arrives. What if a family member is in harm, what if a bill need immediate attention, what if the school has called about the kid. All of these anxieties are felt every time a notification comes in.

It seems that this need to check every notification every time is actually pretty common. A new study from The University of British Columbia finds that smartphone notifications cause ADHD like symptoms in adults. The study focused on 221 young people over the course of two weeks. During the first week they were placed in an experimental distraction setting and their phone was placed on vibrate and was within reach at all times. The next week the phone was set to silent and removed. When participants had their phones removed they became more focused and productive. They could check their phones when they chose to, but normally did so less often. The participants with vibrating phones during the first week demonstrated signs of ADHD. More info on this interesting study can be found in the link below

via VICE

Can any of you relate to the anxious feeling of needing to check notifications?

 

[johnomaz]

This is me and my wife also. I couldn't care less about what my phone is trying to tell me. My wife however will be in bed, nearing sleep and hear a 'bing' and wake back up to read it....and since shes then awake will go back on Facebook to see if she somehow missed something earth shattering and stay up for another 20 minutes. Me....anyone who knows me knows that if they really need me to actually call me. Not something that just bings.

 

[cr6]

LOL! Great article DMX!
I take your stance on notifications. The way I see it is, if it was THAT important, whoever was trying to contact me would have called. And since the ringtone for my phone is the sound of an actual phone ringing, everything else can and usually does wait. Unless of course I'm in the middle of a conversation with someone via text or pm, I rarely/if ever check my notifications when they go off. I do however have a specific text notication sound for immediate family members, but with everything else I'll get to it when I get to it. I'll admit I love my tech, but I refuse to be shackled by it....And like @johnomaz pointed out, my friends & family know this about me.
On a related note, I hate it when people just "drop by" the house unannounced. I won't answer the door unless whoever is coming to see me has called in advance. It's just common courtesy.

S5 tap'n

 

[Vepaot]

Neither of my parents ever check their notification drawer. Every time I get asked to "fix" something, the first thing I notice is a line of icons running along the top of their phones. It drives me crazy.

 

[jackiescivic]

This is me and my wife also. I couldn't care less about what my phone is trying to tell me. My wife however will be in bed, nearing sleep and hear a 'bing' and wake back up to read it....and since shes then awake will go back on Facebook to see if she somehow missed something earth shattering and stay up for another 20 minutes. Me....anyone who knows me knows that if they really need me to actually call me. Not something that just bings.

I am exactly like your wife. It never fails that I wake up in the middle of the night and check my phone. Then, because I'm awake, I'll check Facebook. Next thing you know, an hour has passed.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[liftedplane]

I have my phone go silent aside from a select group of people who can call or text me after 10pm... and throughout the day I check my notifications if and WHEN I have time, most of what's going on isn't that important, and if it is the person can call.

 

[cr6]

Same here. "Blocking Mode" automatically activates from 10pm thru 7am, where no calls or notifications sound during this time. I have three people set up on my whitelist in case of emergency, they can reach me anytime. Plus it keeps me from from having to remember to physically silent my device each night and turn on the ringer each morning.

S5 tap'n

 

[dezymond]

It's pretty sad how much of our lives revolve around our phones now. And honestly I wouldn't be surprised if a few new legitimate disorders pop up because of smartphones.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Having my watch Urbane on during the day helps me to check my phone less. Most things, I can simply swipe away. Love the ability to delete advertising emails that I have no intention of reading without taking my phone out.

When not wearing the watch, I do like to keep my notifications clear, but that's only when I'm not doing something. If I'm sitting around watching tv, I'll check a notification right away. If I'm working in the yard or on a drive or something, they can wait.

I set my default notification sound to silent so any app that uses that doesn't make any sound. I have no vibrate or sound for emails and tapatalk and some games (though I should just shut those off in the games, because I always just dismiss them). The watch does vibrate with every notification, regardless of the phone settings, but I don't mind that.

At bedtime, however, the only things I worry about are calls and texts. Those are permitted for anyone in my contacts list and I turn DND on manually when I lay down to bed since it's a different time every night. I tried having it set for an automatic time, but found myself tweaking it every night. My wife texts me more than anyone and she's not doing that while I'm in bed. Other than that, I don't get a ton of texts, so I figure it could be moderately important if someone I know is texting me suddenly when I'm in bed. As for phone calls, I'm pretty much on-call 24/7 at work, so that has to ring and I figure anyone with anything REALLY important to tell me would call as well.

 

[Mustang02]

Nope. Phones goes into sleepy mode at 10pm until 6am.

 

[johnomaz]

It's pretty sad how much of our lives revolve around our phones now. And honestly I wouldn't be surprised if a few new legitimate disorders pop up because of smartphones.

I'm proud to say that I'm not tied to my phone. Honestly, I'm considering moving to a flip phone these days. I don't use my phone nearly as much as I used to and only have an LG G4 because of the deal I got when I switched to Sprint.

 

[Mustang02]

I'm proud to say that I'm not tied to my phone. Honestly, I'm considering moving to a flip phone these days. I don't use my phone nearly as much as I used to and only have an LG G4 because of the deal I got when I switched to Sprint.

I'm feeling the same. I could be happy with a dumb phone.

 

[liftedplane]

the dark notification screen that my moto does is useful... I just wave my hand over my phone and can tell if it's something important or not... if it's a text I'll check it... some other things too.. more often than not I just leave it sitting there

 

[Sajo]

I love the Moto App / Marshmallow DoNot Disturb feature, it's great for automating the quiet time and allowing only Priority contacts to ring through. I do not check my phone at all during the night. All those emails and other messages can wait until morning.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[xtor]

Neither of my parents ever check their notification drawer. Every time I get asked to "fix" something, the first thing I notice is a line of icons running along the top of their phones. It drives me crazy.

My wife is the same way, i hate having any notifications showing on top of my screen.

DV65