Cell phone use and instant messaging can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse, according to a Baylor University study in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
"Cell phones are a part of our consumer culture," said study
Cell phone use and instant messaging can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse, according to a Baylor University study in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
"Cell phones are a part of our consumer culture," said study author Dr. James Roberts, professor of marketing and the Ben H. Williams Professor of Marketing at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. "They are not just a consumer tool, but are used as a status symbol. They're also eroding our personal relationships."
Roberts' study, co-authored with Dr. Stephen Pirog III, associate professor and chair of the department of marketing at Seton Hall University, found that materialism and impulsiveness drive cell phone addiction. Cell phones are used as part of the conspicuous consumption ritual and also act as a pacifier for the impulsive tendencies of the user, according to Roberts. Impulsiveness, he noted, plays an important role in both behavioral and substance addictions.
This study is the first to investigate the role materialism plays in cell phone addiction. According to Roberts, materialism is an important consumer value that impacts many of the decisions we make as consumers. Additionally, cell phone use and overuse have become so common that it is important to have a better understanding of what drives these types of technological addictions.
Previous studies have shown that young adults send an average of 109.5 text messages a day or approximately 3,200 texts each month. They receive an additional 113 text messages and check their cell 60 times in a typical day, and on average, college students spend approximately seven hours daily interacting with information and communication technology.
"At first glance, one might have the tendency to dismiss such aberrant cell phone use as merely youthful nonsense -- a passing fad. But an emerging body of literature has given increasing credence to cell phone addiction and similar behavioral addictions," Roberts said.
Data for this study came from self-report surveys of 191 business students at two U.S. universities.