New Game 'Impossible Rush' Keeping Everyone Hooked To Their Phone/ File photo/ Reuters/David Gray
Australian teenager obsessed with gaming and Apple products designed the new game.Reuters/David Gray Reuters/David Gray

Seperation from their iPhone can lead to severe psychological and physiological effects on iPhone users, new research has found.

The new study, led by the University of Missouri, suggests that iPhone users should keep their phones with them while taking tests, attending meetings or doing tasks that require their concentration because separation from their iPhone might distract them to the point of impairing their cognitive abilities.

The researchers who did this study, doctoral candidates at the Missouri University School of Journalism, the University of Oklahoma and Indiana University-Bloomington, found that when subjects were solving simple word puzzles, they were unable to answer their ringing phones, their heart rates and blood pressure increased, with feelings of general uneasiness. Their performance on the word puzzles was poorer compared to people who could reach their phones.

iPhone users were asked to sit in a cubicle at a media lab and were told that the experiment was being conducted to test the reliability of a new wireless blood pressure cuff. They completed the first puzzle with their iPhones within reach and the second with their iPhones out of reach. Meanwhile, the researchers monitored their heart rate and blood pressure. After the test, the participants reported on how unpleasant or uneasy they felt during the test. The subjects were told that their iPhones were causing Bluetooth interference and were told to keep their phones farther away while completing the remainder of the experiment. While they were working on the word puzzles, the researchers called the participants on their phones.

The study, called "The Extended iSelf: The Impact of iPhone Separation on Cognition, Emotion, and Physiology," was published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Although it did not include mobile devices of other brands, there seems to be no reason why people who use, say an Android device, would react very differently.

To contact the writer, email: sonali.raj@gmail.com