Understanding Smartphone Separation Anxiety and What Smartphones Mean to People

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Aug. 14, 2017 - PRLog -- What factors determine nomophobia, otherwise known as smartphone separation anxiety, and what behaviors and descriptors can help identify people with high nomophobia who tend to perceive smartphones as their extended selves? A new study that compares how people with high and low nomophobic tendencies perceive and value their smartphones is published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com/). The article is available free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2017.0113) website.

The article entitled "Understanding Nomophobia: Structural Equation Modeling and Semantic Network Analysis of Smartphone Separation Anxiety (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2017.0113)" was coauthored by  Seunghee Han and Jang Hyun Kim, PhD, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea and Ki Joon Kim, PhD, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon. The researchers developed a model that identified a link between factors such as personal memories and user's greater attachment to their smartphones, leading to nomophobia and a tendency to phone proximity-seeking behavior.

"Nomophobia, fear of missing out (FoMo), and fear of being offline (FoBo)--all anxieties born of our new high-tech lifestyles—may be treated similarly to other more traditional phobias.  Exposure therapy, in this case turning off technology periodically, can teach individuals to reduce anxiety and become comfortable with periods of disconnectedness," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.

About the Journal
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber)is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in printthat explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies.  Complete tables of contents and a sample issue may be viewed on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://www.liebertpub.com/cyber) website.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com/) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Games for Health Journal, Telemedicine and e-Health, andJournal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com/) website.

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