Being separated from your phone can make you sick and increase blood pressure – research finds

One of the first major studies to look into mobile phone addiction has interestingly found that being away from your handsets can impair your cognitive functions, increase your blood pressure and even make you feel physically unwell.

The researchers who studied a number of iPhone users in the test found that people perform poorly on mental tasks when their phones are not nearby. It further found that separation can result in increased heart rates and blood pressure levels as well as feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness.

Russell Clayton, who is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri School of Journalism (USA) and the lead author of the study, said: “Our findings suggest that iPhone separation can negatively impact performance on mental tasks. Additionally, the results from our study suggest that iPhones
are capable of becoming an extension of our selves such that when separated, we experience a lessening of ‘self’ and a negative physiological state”.