Quiz: Can you live without your smartphone?
Like most adolescents these days, 17-year-old Zara Lukeis has had a smartphone since she became a teenager.
The device is so ubiquitous she admits to feeling a bit lost without it.
"It kinda feels like you're missing out. Maybe somebody messaged you about something," she said.
Zara's experiences of FOMO — or fear of missing out — reflect those found in a new study from Deakin University's School of Psychology, published recently in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour.
The study examined problematic smartphone use and whether certain personality traits made some people more susceptible to becoming addicted to the devices.
Lead researcher and Deakin University psychology lecturer Sharon Horwood said the study aimed to quantify something she had heard a lot of people discussing.
"People aren't necessarily naive to their own use of their phone and how it's impacting their lives," Dr Horwood said.
"But I guess it really isn't until you're asked directly to identify how much time you do spend on your phone … that people are really confronted with how much smartphones are affecting the way that they live."
Almost 400 university undergraduate students participated in the research project, which involved completing more than 500 survey questions related to their psychological profiles and their usage of their mobile phones.
"People are talking about their own reliance on their phone and certainly parents are talking about their kids or concerns about their kids having too much access to things online and not being willing to put their phones down," Dr Horwood said.
She said one theory about the results regarding anxiety was the "emerging construct referred to as fear of missing out or FOMO".
"FOMO seems to be the main culprit in understanding the anxiety that's attached to problematic smartphone use," she said.
"That's where people have a genuine and real sense that they're actually missing out on something in their online world if they're not able to check their phone."
The all-pervasive nature of smartphones will also inform Dr Horwood's next proposed study, which aims to examine "if smartphones are having an impact on the way kids are growing up and developing in a social and emotional sense as well".
Do you need help? Take the test:
Note: This is a non-scientific 'problematic smartphone use' checklist, adapted from Dr Horwood's study, and is not part of the research project.
At the end of the test your score will reveal how you rank. Please submit every answer.
Visit the Deakin University BlackScreens research program if you would like to take part in further smartphone studies or would like to learn more about Dr Horwood's research.