Addicted to your smart phone?
Use of smart phones has concerned scientists and physicians for some time. Excessive use has been linked to a number of unwanted conditions. Depression, anxiety disorder, increased risk of ocular diseases, dysfunction of the fingers. Add to that general dysfunction in daily life. Some scientists have even proposed to tax social media use like we tax tobacco smoking. But what’s your addiction level? Test yourself on the Smartphone Addiction Scale.
| Items | Strongly disagree | Disagree | Weakly disagree | Weakly agree | Agree | Strongly agree | |
| 1 | Missing planned work due to smartphone use | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 2 | Having a hard time concentrating in class, while doing assignments, or while working due to smartphone use | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | Feeling pain in the wrists or at the back of the neck while using a smartphone | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | Won’t be able to stand not having a smartphone | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | Feeling impatient and fretful when I am not holding my smartphone | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 6 | Having my smartphone in my mind even when I am not using it | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | I will never give up using my smartphone even when my daily life is already greatly affected by it. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 8 | Constantly checking my smartphone so as not to miss conversations between other people on Twitter or Facebook | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 9 | Using my smartphone longer than I had intended | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 10 | The people around me tell me that I use my smartphone too much. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Your score should preferably be below 30. I do of course apologize for posting this on social media. As an alternative to taking the test I suggest asking your spouse.