Over dependence on iPhone, iPad, Android apps may lead to anxiety: Expert

MELBOURNE: Though technology has made our lives convenient and fast, psychologists warn people against developing an over-reliance on mobile and tablet applications.

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists chairman Daniel Varghese suggests smartphone users need to be wary of relying too heavily on their applications.

"It's a general phenomenon that we're relying more and more on technology, and when that technology's not available, we don't use the skills we would have otherwise developed," The Courier Mail quoted him as saying.

"That can certainly cause anxiety in people."

At a time when Google's Android Market is racing to catch up with Apple's ever-expanding App Store, consumers are increasingly incorporating applications into every part of their lives.

The uses range from helping tie their ties to calculating the amount of kilojoules on their plate.

Prof Justin Kenardy from the University of Queensland suggests that it is important for users in keep in mind that they would not always have access to their applications.

"There needs to be an awareness that it's not always going to be there," he said.

Mobile technology expert Associate Professor Sam Bucolo from the Queensland University of Technology further added that applications were likely to start emerging at an even greater rate. 


Source : economictimes

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