Cell phones keep us socially connected, but new research suggests they actually reduce users social consciousness.

In fact, the study showed that cell phone use was linked to more selfish behavior. Researchers from the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business found that after a short period of cell phone use, people were less likely to partake in prosocial behavior actions that are intended to help another person or society compared with a control group. For example, after using a cell phone, study participants were more likely to turn down volunteer opportunities and were less persistent in completing word problems, even though they knew their answers would provide money for charity. The same drop in prosocial tendencies occurred even when participants were simply asked draw a picture of their cell phones and think about using them. The study involved college men and women in their 20s, but the researchers think the findings would apply to any group. So why would an innocuous thing like making a cell phone call make a person less giving? The researchers think it has to do with feelings of social connectedness. All humans have a fundamental need to connect with others but once that need is met, say by using a cell phone, it naturally reduces our inclination to feel empathy or engage in helping behavior toward others. The cell phone directly evokes feelings of connectivity to others, thereby fulfilling the basic human need to belong, said study author and marketing professor Rosellina Ferraro in a statement. Previous research shores up the theory. In October, researchers at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University looked at the effect of social support on peoples attitudes toward others outside of their social circle. The researchers found that those who had a strong sense of belonging to a social circle were more likely to dehumanize other groups and more likely to treat them unkindly. Healthlands Maia Szalavitz reported at the time: [S]ocial connection is sort of like eating. When you are hungry, you seek out food. When you are lonely, you seek social connection. When the experience of social connection is elevated, we feel socially full and have less desire to seek out other people and see them in a way that treats them as essentially human, [says lead author Adam Waytz]. A similar psychology may affect our everyday interactions. People talk about being overextended, having too many dinner dates, coffee dates, meetings. They feel depleted, says Waytz. We think this plays into our findings. Even though you are extremely socially connected, at some point, it comes at the expense of the ability to consider the full humanity of those around you. Waytz and his colleagues also noted that when people feel they are included in a social circle, it encourages a sense of exclusivity a feeling of us versus them. That increases our tendency

to view those on the outside of the circle as somehow less human and less worthy of receiving our charitable attention. The authors of the current study further tested peoples feelings of social connectedness stemming from use of other social media like Facebook, and found that they tended to feel more connected after using their cell phones than after using Facebook. Given the increasing pervasiveness of cellphones, it does have the potential to have broad social implications, Ferraro said.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/20/is-your-cell-phone-making-you-ajerk/#ixzz1oRKkOxJh

Can Too Much Texting Make Teens Shallow?

Study: Young People Who Text Frequently Focus on Wealth, Image; Less on Moral, Spiritual Goals By Kathleen Doheny WebMD Health News Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Feb. 3, 2012 -- Teens and young adults who text frequently -- such as more than 300 text messages a day -- may be risking more than sore thumbs, according to a new study. "Heavy texters do seem to be a little more materialistic and less concerned about inward growth," says Paul Trapnell, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg in Canada. The frequent texting, he says, is ''weakly correlated with traits, goals, and attitudes that indicate low interest and engagement in reflective thought." Those who texted very frequently were also more concerned about wealth and image than those who did not text as often. He conducted the study with Lisa Sinclair, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg. She presented the findings in San Diego at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

"One can't say it's cause and effect," Trapnell tells WebMD. "There could be a hundred different reasons why these associations exist." "Although the overall size of the finding is small in absolute terms, the finding was very reliable across several years," he tells WebMD. So far, they have looked at five years of data.

Too Much Texting: Study Details

The researchers surveyed more than 2,200 college psychology class students about their texting frequency. They were ages 18 to 22. Data were collected from 2007 through 2011. Cell phone texting has become the preferred communication method between teens and friends, according to a 2010 report by the Pew Research Center. It found that 72% of all teens surveyed use text messaging. That's up from 51% in 2006. For the Canadian study, the students noted how many text messages they sent or received (whichever number was higher) on their highest-use day of the month. They reported only nonwork-related texts. About 30% of the students had a peak rate of more than 200 texts a day. Twelve percent had a peak rate of more than 300 a day. The researchers then gave them a battery of tests. These included:

A standard personality test to measure such traits as extroversion and openness to experiences. A questionnaire that measures tendencies to engage in reflection and self-reflection: The students agreed or disagreed with such statements as, "I often love to look at my life in philosophical ways." A survey that asked students to rate the importance of numerous life goals: Goals included wealth, fame, image, power, achievement, morality, community, family, health, spirituality, and others.

The researchers looked to see if texting frequency had an effect on the test results. They wanted to test the so-called ''shallowing hypothesis," as described in the Nicholas Carr best seller, The Shallows, and by scientists. It suggests that very brief media social interaction such as texting encourages rapid, relatively shallow thought. "Those who texted more than 100 a day were 30% less likely to feel strongly that leading an ethical, principled life was important to them," Trapnell tells WebMD. "This was in comparison to those who texted 50 or less a day." Those who texted frequently also tended to be less reflective than those who texted less often.

The researchers cannot pinpoint a number at which the differences kick in. They found ''a general linear trend." The higher the number of texts, the greater the effect. They looked to see if being from a higher-income home might explain the effects of placing more importance on wealth. It did not, Trapnell says. The study has limitations, he says. For instance, naturally reflective youth may just not be into texting. They are continuing the research. Meanwhile, Trapnell has a suggestion for those with high texting frequency: "It might be a great idea if they spent more quiet time." The study was partially funded by the federal Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Frequent Texting and Shallowness: Perspective

The new research ties in to similar research by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD, assistant professor of psychology, education, and neuroscience at the University of Southern California. She reviewed the new findings but was not involved in the study. In recent years, she says, scientists have focused on the brain's ''default'' mode. That refers to what the brain does when it is quiet and rested. When the brain is in this mode, she and other experts believe, it provides valuable time to reflect on life and situations. They think that downtime is important. Distractions such as frequent texting can hamper it, she says. "If you are habitually pulled into the outside world by distracting media, you may be systematically undermining opportunities to reflect about the moral, social, emotional, and longer-term implications of a situation," she says. It is possible, she says, that those who text frequently are so distracted from this reflection that ''they get in the habit of thinking about things in a shallow way." Her advice to parents of younger children who have not yet begun to text? "For healthy development, I think it is essential that we encourage our kids to have free time in which there are no distractions from TV, media, texting, you name it,'' she says. This downtime allows kids that crucial time to reflect, she says. These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.