University of Buffalo recently conducted a research in which it was determined that the students of this generation would rather starve then be deprived of their valuable mobile phones. According to the research conducted by the researchers at the University of Buffalo, 76 students aged between 18-22 chose to have smartphones over food. These students were deprived of food for 3 hours, while they were deprived of the smartphones for 2 hours. These students were then asked carry out computer-basedtasks to either gain time to use their mobile phones or to eat 100 calories worth of their favorite food.
Well lets just say the researchers were as surprised as you would be, it was hence determined that that all of the students who were a part of this research chose to have more time usage on their phones and hence ignored the chance to eat their favorite snack. The head researcher and the author of the paper, Ms. Sara O Donnell who is also currently a psychology oriented Doctoral student at the university, stated that “We were very surprised by the results. We knew that students would be motivated to gain access to their phones, but we were surprised that despite modest food deprivation, smartphone reinforcement far exceeded food reinforcement across both methodologies.” which by the looks of it is not the step in the right direction.
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Fun fact: After the IPad was released, Steve Jobs did not lets his children use the iPad. In an article released by the New York Times after being asked a question “Your kids must love the IPad? He stated “ They haven’t used it” further on explaining that he along with other had seen the dangers of technology, and he did not want to see that happen to any of his kids. This coming from a guy who practically revolutionized technology as we know it. Now after seeing this research we can see as to why Steve Jobs took this decision.
Moreover coming back to the results of the research we can see that this is a very surprising result as we can see the affect technology is having on the people or moreover the young generation of our time. Such a study shows that students are now opting towards entertainment rather than basic survival which can be quite devastating. We have already seen young kids basically ignoring their childhood, by not carrying out activities such as outdoor sport, playing with friends, interaction with people and rather sitting back at home and using their technological devices. Now we know that the duration of the task was only 3 hours and had it been 7 hours the results may have been different but it still doesn’t change the fact that the study is pointing to the surprising importance being given to smartphones.
