Are you addicted to your phone? - BBC London

we are increasingly glued to our phones just look at this 30 seconds we filmed outside Oxford Circus earlier today all the white flashes are the phones people are on to use your phone a lot do you think you use your phone a lot yeah excuse me do you mind if I speak to about strophe September 3rd five seconds today the Royal Society for public health were on a mission to get people to sign up to their scroll free September the idea not to look as social media sites for a month for most people it's probably not gonna be an addiction but what it is is a compulsive behavior which people do sort of subconsciously without even thinking about it and we want people's lives people's social media use people's phone use to be conscious and deliberate and if you're doing it you're doing it for a reason because it's beneficial rather than just doing it as a default meet Harry Jack and Leah they think they've come to the BBC to talk about social media but actually we're going to do an experiment on them so we've left them in that room we've said we've left a camera on record to film them getting on and now we're just gonna leave them there and see how many times they look at their phone from our observation deck and it's not too long before the phone's come out first Harry after three minutes then a minute later jack but of course it isn't just about social media looking at phones is part of our working life in fact a recent study suggested work emails during the commute should be part of the working day here at the store street expresso bar just by UCL they're trying to help people stay away from those screens especially during term time between 11:00 and 3:00 o'clock the Wi-Fi is turned off to encourage more conversation guys I've got a confession to make we've been recording you as an experiment to see how many times you looked at your phones did you realise you were looking at your phones Harry you got your phone out after three minutes is that a surprise to you it is ears a surprise me actually because I I didn't think I use technology that often I didn't think I was that dependent on it and Leah you didn't reach for at once no because when when I'm with people I always and I always consciously think like I'm with these guys I'm surprised I lost in four minutes time now then for a quick phone check Jim Weber BBC London News