The average person checks their mobile phone an eye-popping 200 times a DAY, according to a web expert.
Cyber psychologist Dr Mary Aiken compared our addiction to glancing at our mobile phones as similar to the addiction of a gambling addict.
Talking on Ryan Tubridy’s Show on RTE Radio One yesterday she added how every day the average person checks their phone 200 times.
“The average person checks their cell phone 200 times a day.
“It’s important to try and control that behaviour in terms of how we interact with technology.”
Dr Mary Aiken, author of a new book called The Cyber Effect, told how constant mobile phone distractions are not good for family morale.
“My concern is how much distraction it causes within in a family context.
“If you’re constantly checking your technologies, then that’s time you’re not making eye contact with a child.
“And also if brothers and sisters are constantly distracted by their technology then they are not making eye contact, bonding, talking.”
But she added: “Certainly, social media platforms can be used to tackle social isolation, particularly in adults.”
“We need to figure out how we adapt properly to our use of technology.”
According to the IPSOS MRBI Social Networking Quarterly survey, Facebook continues to be the most popular social media platform.
Twitter also registered an increase in users here, rising by 3 per cent to 31 per cent but the percentage of people Tweeting or scrolling their feeds daily fell by four per cent.
LinkedIn was the biggest gainer, registering a 5 per cent rise in Irish users since the last survey in September.
WhatsApp saw the largest gains, with the percentage of people with an account here jumping from 37 per cent to 48 per cent.
