If you find yourself constantly fiddling with your phone and checking for updates, you may be trying to alter your mood, a new study claims.
People who can’t put down their mobile phones are more prone to moodiness and temperamental behaviour, according to researchers.
They have found a link between phone addiction and emotional instability, as well as a reduced ability to focus on the task at hand.
Scientists from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, said that individuals who relentlessly check their phone may be trying to improve how they feel emotionally.
‘A person who is moody and temperamental may be more likely to be addicted to their cell phone than more stable individuals,’ they wrote in the journal Personality and Individual Differences
‘Much like a variety of substance addictions, cell phone addiction may be an attempt at mood repair.
‘Incessant checking of emails, sending texts, tweeting, and surfing the web may act as pacifiers for the unstable individual distracting him or herself from the worries of the day and providing solace, albeit temporarily, from such concerns.
Another study by the same university, which was published last year, found that 60 per cent of students felt agitated if they couldn’t access their phone.
On average, the students spent 95 minutes a day texting, 49 minutes emailing and 39 minutes checking Facebook on their phone.
Some were spending ten hours a day on them, the study revealed.
