D. in a press release about his research. "As cellphone functions increase, addictions to this seemingly indispensable piece of technology become an increasingly realistic possibility. ".
Roberts, a professor of marketing at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, surveyed 164 college undergraduates about their relationships to their phones and explored which cell phone activities seemed to be most associated with cell phone "addiction. " He found that they differed between male and female participants. For instance, for women, Pinterest, Instagram and number of phone calls were good predictors of a possible cell phone addiction, while listening to music was not. Meanwhile, for men, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were stronger addiction predictors, as were phone calls, texts, emails and reading books and the Bible on their phone. More utilitarian applications, like visiting Amazon and news, weather and sports apps seemed to reduce the likelihood of a possible addiction. Roberts hypothesized that the gender differences could mean that women use their phone to foster social relationships, while men are more interested in entertainment and usefulness. But because the participants weren't randomly sampled (they all came from a class at Baylor), it's unclear how generalizable the results are to a larger population of college-aged people. Still, based on the behavior of my fellow classmates, I'm guessing Roberts' findings are a pretty accurate reflection of how attached young people are to their phones. "Cell-phones have become inextricably woven into our daily lives -- an almost invisible driver of modern life,"" Roberts concluded in his study. "It is incumbent upon researchers to identify the all-important ˜tipping point' where cell-phone use crosses the line from a helpful tool to one that enslaves both users and society alike. ".
Of course, it's important to note right now that gambling addiction disorder is the only diagnosable behavioral addiction officially listed in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM.