Where is your mobile phone now? I can guarantee it will be within a 1 metre reach.

You may be reading this article on it.

Study after study proves that we are addicted to our phones and the mobile apps that squirt us information in firehose-like quantities – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn – the list keeps growing.

Julie Birchill (who does not own a mobile and never has) said in a recent article: “Everywhere I look I see needy pathetic people staring gormlessly into their mobile phones, people who don’t seem to be able to make any decision, however minor or irrelevant, without constant affirmation from these lame grown-up blankets”.

So – are you addicted to your phone – are you a ‘phoney’?

Below are five questions – if your answer is yes to 3 or more then you probably are!

• Do you have the alert notification sound or vibrate constantly switched on?

• Do you find you are constantly checking your phone for updates?

• Do you ever have your phone switched on in the car (not counting Sat Nav)?

• Have you ever bumped into a tree or lamp post while walking down the road checking your phone (this happens more often that you might think)?

• Do you ever ask people to repeat what they say because you are focused on your phone?

Why are you so addicted to updates, notifications and news?  What difference will not checking apps, news and emails really make?

Many people are discovering ‘Mindfulness’ – which is focusing just on one thing 100% – without any distractions. There is now a term that is beginning to be used which is ‘Digital Mindfulness’.

What would ‘Digital Mindfulness’ mean for you?

If you find that your need to be connected is impacting your life negatively then switch it all off. The email alerts, the push notifications and all the alert sounds on your phone.

The very thought probably makes you feel anxious.

But do it – if you are working you will be able to better focus on the job that you are paid to do.

A blog we wrote back in May 2011 talked about this very same issue. Titled “What are you missing?”  it described a situation where a young woman was so engrossed in her iPhone that she completely missed her child’s wondrous reaction to seeing a high speed train passing through the station.

Recently we have been working with the Information Overload Research Group (IORG) whose mission it is to study the impact of information overload in the workplace – notably but not necessarily confined to email – and have been working with many experts in this area. 

We will continue to study the impact that (what the French call) “information obesity” has on us all and will use our findings to further enhance our own training content.