The Stresses of Smartphones

Nowadays it's quite a challenge to find a person not aware of and not using smartphones. They are worldwide popular! Although this device is supposed to keep you connected with the world at your fingertips, the rumour has it, smartphones might be rather too stressful. A new study from the University of Worcester suggests staying connected is stress-inducing for those that feel they can never sign off.

Study volunteers admit that constant checking, rechecking, and triple checking for new notifications has them experiencing phantom vibrations, believing their phone is chirping for attention even in those rare moments it's not.

Most of the participants originally began using smartphones to keep up with work on the go, which quickly spiraled into 24/7 replies to emails, tweets, and Facebook messages. Have you ever noticed, that sometimes you just can't help twitting and posting even though it's time to go to bed or to start working or to have lunch, etc.? Not to mention countless fascinating and useful apps and various time killers that might keep you «busy» for a while.

Companies are starting to react to the pressures of work-life balance in the face of technology. Volkswagen, for example, shuts off its BlackBerry email server outside of office hours so employees can recharge without a mobile distraction. I shouldn't be surprised if there was some service to block Angry Birds and other time killers for people who simply cannot stop playing (or wasting time, to be precise).