The word addiction though seems pretty strong. To some addiction implies something negative – a weakness, a dependency, something that is completely out of our control. Can we really label what is essentially a bad habit, an addiction? Like a caffeine or a nicotine addiction… It’s not quite the same is it? Recent research does in fact suggest that our love affair with smartphones is having a deeply negative effect on everyday life.
Back in 2015, The Huffington Post reported on research by Baylor University which linked phone addiction to depression. The study concluded that “people who check their phones constantly could be trying to improve a negative mood”. Does that mean these people are relying on their phones to provide them with an injection of happiness that cannot be achieved through real-life interactions, such as a conversation with a friend? The research continues by saying that phone dependency has been linked to loneliness, shyness and lack of sleep. All of which makes perfect sense but is nonetheless worrying.
I’d be the first to admit that I’m guilty of being a little too attached to my smartphone. My latest vice being Instagram. I say latest loosely, it’s been my thing for well over a year now and whilst I do post photos on a weekly basis, my weakness lies with the scrolling. Like popping bubble wrap, the comfort of the scroll is incredibly moreish and I’m just not sure why.
If I’m totally honest with myself, it’s probably that ‘in-the-moment’ need to make sure I don’t miss out London’s latest reasonably priced restaurant opening or Pink’s most recent political rant. With social media now pretty much running in real-time how can we not get ‘hooked’?!
In September 2016 BBC News reported on a survey carried out by Deloitte that concluded that “people in the UK have never been more addicted to their smartphones”  a statement backed up by the following stats:

• One in three UK adults has argued with their partner about using their mobile phone too much.
• One in three UK adults – and half of 18-24 year olds – said they checked their phones in the middle of the night, with instant messaging and social media the most popular activities.
• One in 10 smartphone owners admitted reaching for their phone as soon as they woke up – with a third grabbing the device within five minutes of waking.

I could tick all of the above. Guilty as charged. What’s particularly scary about these stats is that they’re relevant on a personal level to so many of us.
If this does bother you what is there that can be done?
Exercise some willpower? Set yourself little targets like reading on the train to work for at least 15 minutes a day (that’s 15 minutes you won’t be on your phone) or banning devices from meal times.
As with most things though, there’s always the option of a compromise. You may or may not be surprised to learn that there are plenty of apps available that encourage you to put down your phone – oh the irony! In a recent listicle on The 10 Thing there are ten different apps showcased that help you either stay away from your device or at least reduce the time spent on it. The following statement confirms why these platforms are indeed popular and often necessary; “A study conducted by dscout in 2016 found that the average smartphone user taps, swipes, touches or clicks their device 2,617 times a day.”  The apps listed on the article range from friendship-making (Chatzoome) and meditative (Headspace) platforms through to stricter and more blatant options such as Flipd.
With all this is mind I think we can agree that whilst your smartphones are pretty incredible for many things in modern day life (seriously, where would we be without Google Maps?!) when used as a comfort blanket it can in fact prove to be a hindrance. As a report from SimpleMost on The 6 Health Benefits of Being Social states; “when it comes to socializing, face-to-face interactions have more of an impact than emails or phone calls when it comes to mental wellbeing.” The article continues to say that face-to-face interactions can stave off feelings of depression and ultimately improve your mood.
So, yes, we could be addicted to a lot worse, but the benefits of human interaction and emotional connection will always outweigh those generated through a smartphone.

By Doug Hunter

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are here to stay and will become ever more prominent in as time ticks on.
Pokemon Go!’s recent boom in popularity and almost as quick decline may be a hazy memory in people’s minds, but it has left the world a different place. Even our previously non tech savvy friends and family know about AR now. Virtual reality was previously a thing discussed in sci-fi films but is now a topic of casual conversation. Someone who didn’t know that AR and VR existed at the turn of 2016 could now give an elevator pitch on how each is different.
VR allows us to enter a completely different world and leave the current one behind. This is ideal for some when there is so much inequality, suffering, confusion and hate in the ‘real world’ right now.
With VR, people can escape to anywhere. We’re already seeing some amazing possibilities with increasingly powerful headsets coming to market. Developers are fighting for the limelight with more and more beautiful games and experiences that take people far beyond the confines of our universe. These are places where science doesn’t follow the same rules: Whatever the mind imagines people can make it in a VR experience.

​From Eagle Flight

…the possibilities are endless.
The other day, while sitting at my desk in the heart of Shoreditch, I took a private tour of Pyongyang through Google Cardboard. I felt like I was visiting North Korea. Despite being a five minute walk from Old Street station I was spinning around on my swivel chair taking in sights from a very different nation on the other side of the world!
Micro holidays on my lunch break, how cool is that?
I have recently been thinking a lot about what VR can offer industries further than gaming, and am only scratching the surface with this… The more I think about any industry, the more VR has the potential to be a game changer.


Communications
This type of experience needn’t be limited to entertainment, the business implications are impressive too. Remember when you first went on Skype and people could talk from across the globe with video connections? Meetings had so much potential, soon we will be able to connect and share projects in 3D without leaving the office. We will be able to virtually transport ourselves to points in space around the world and interact with people on a far more intimate level.


Property
I have been speaking a lot to the team from Rentr – a property management platform for the private residential letting market. The team is constantly developing its platform, yes they work in property but at heart, they are pure technologists – constantly looking to make lives easier and cheaper for both private landlords and their tenants.
Adam Blaxter discussed his views on VR saying that, “Here at Rentr we are deeply invested in property technology, and VR is a buzzword in the PropTech industry today. Between all enterprise domains, the property vertical is the most natural home for VR – there is a natural use-case for virtual experiences of living spaces and future developments – so the speed of development of VR has us all very excited. Our primary developers at Technology Blueprint have already put together PoCs (Proofs of Concept) for us on VR viewings of properties, but the dedicated efforts of teams like at Google Tango are changing the game with hardware that is opening up the space for 3D environmental modelling in real time for VR applications for example. You only need to search for companies like Matterport and PropertyScape to see that work is underway across the board. Through the course of 2017 I expect to see more consumer-grade experiences emerging for mobile-enabled devices, but more importantly still more premium experiences for the top end of the market.”


Automotive Design
Car designers will soon be walking around a car designed in London, modeled in Thailand and projected through VR in front of the eyes of people in Germany, The US, Japan and anywhere else simultaneously. All so that executives can ponder on whether they should make it in Sunderland. This is all before the artists with the clay models build a millimeter perfect model, saving a lot of time and money.
I have worked in automotive clay modeling in the past and don’t believe the process will be lost any time soon, but more and more design agencies are going to be able to get their ideas to the people that matter quickly, before final clay builds are ordered.


Medicine
Surgeons in India might be able to call on the advice and expertise of a specialist in Cuba when performing a procedure that they haven’t been through before – demonstrated in high definition in a country many miles away. In fact YouTube tutorials are about to change forever!


Music
I then asked my friends at at Promogogo, whose service streamlines ticket sales, what they thought of VR too, their reply was: “Imagine if VR recording tech existed back in the day and we could relive iconic moments like Queen’s 1985 Wembley performance – or the Nirvana’s 1992 Reading one? We think it’s very cool and will help drive interest for live events where people from around the world will be able to watch not only what is on stage but get a feeling for being in the audience.”


Nightlife
In November 2015 I went to a Virtual Reality exploration into the future of nightlife which, in reality, was a marketing ploy brought to us by Absolut Vodka. Stunt or not though, the event was great and the VR room was something to behold. After playing VR games in early development and seeing some seriously interesting uses for VR in engineering, this was the first time that I really lost myself in a new world.

This got me to thinking. Everyone talks about the obvious uses of VR, the ones most likely to mean headset sales go mass market but it is possible that the very things we might set out to avoid through VR, by disappearing into these alternate universes, will benefit the most from it?


Can we make the world a better place for those that need it most through VR experiences?
This might sound dark, but if 5 years from now we aren’t getting live reporting from war zones, natural disaster sites, refugee camps, and so on, in VR, then I will be hugely disappointed.
Hear me out… I don’t want to see the terror as if I am playing Call of Duty, far from it.
Think about what might happen if people could immerse themselves into the war zones of today, they will hopefully come out thinking “there has to be a better way!” On the ground experience of terror could finally bring about a new shift in mentality, towards greater humanity, people may push for better policies and less fighting if they have ‘been there’.
Humanitarian work can benefit on many levels. Imagine people from a wealthy, western nation being able to walk around a refugee camp in VR, tell me the average donation from someone that sees the problems first hand, as if they were there, won’t be larger than those that saw a TV ad or a statistic in the paper?
First we had the internet, then we had internet 2.0. The next major step was the mobile revolution with more people reading the news nowadays on a mobile device than on a computer. This goes to show that constant connectivity is changing everything about the world we live in. Imagine if VR becomes the next wave of change finally bringing a level of global, personal connectivity that was thought impossible a matter of years ago. We already have too much news input, with less objective analysis or perspective.
Overload and compassion fatigue are already with us due, in part, to over reporting. Will the first news and charity outreach campaigns using VR be the ones that are remembered for years to come for changing this?
I believe that this VRevolution is coming. I just hope that we will use it overwhelmingly for good, not just for piloting drones and entertaining the wealthy.