Researchers have discovered more proof we are becoming hopelessly addicted to our cellphones.
A study fresh out of the University of Missouri found that iPhone owners suffer anxiety, increased blood pressure and other physiological effects when unable to use their phones, CBS St. Louis reported.
Participants were asked to perform two word-search puzzles. But instead of saying the study was cellphone related, researchers duped them into thinking it was to test a new, wireless blood pressure wristband.
For the first puzzle, researchers let the subjects keep their iPhones. For the second, participants were told they needed to be separated from their mobiles because they created "Bluetooth interference" with the blood pressure cuff, the station reported.
Scientists recorded participants' blood pressure and heart rates and found a "significant increase in anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure levels," when they could not access their Apple device while completing the word search.
"Our findings suggest that iPhone separation can negatively impact performance on mental tasks," Russell Clayton, a doctoral candidate at the university's School of Journalism who led the study, said according to the station. "Additionally, the results from our study suggest that iPhones are capable of becoming an extension of ourselves such that when separated, we experience a lessening of 'self' and a negative physiological state."
If the study isn't enough to curb your cellphone addiction, keep in mind other studies show mobile devices are the number one cause of "tech neck," characterized by premature neck wrinkles brought on by repeatedly looking down at the screen of a cellphone or tablet.
It's mostly prevalent in people ages 18-39 who have at least three mobile devices, the International Business Times noted.
"The problem of wrinkles and sagging of the jowls and neck used to begin in late middle age but, in the last 10 years, because of 'tech neck', it has become a problem for a generation of younger women," Dr. Christopher Rowland Payne, consultant dermatologist at The London Clinic, said according to IBT.
But if you find yourself suffering from tech neck you're in luck. Yves Saint Laurent, which commissioned the study, just launched a revolutionary anti-tech neck cream that firms the skin and improves elasticity.
