With the latest technology Iowa State students can hold the universe in the palm of their hand. However, Zlatan Krizan, assistant professor of psychology, argues that excessive smartphone use does more than harm than good to the average college student.

“There can always be too much of a good thing,” Krizan said. “We may avoid some of the extremes of boredom and that’s a good thing, but we also eliminate important opportunities where we spend time alone with ourselves, our thoughts.”

CNN Tech reported a surveyed that 42 percent of all phone users are using their phones for entertainment purposes, not including texting or emailing, when they’re bored. Krizan thinks excessive smartphone use has created a disconnection between people.

“You’re really never where you are, and you’re always somewhere else [when you’re on a phone],” Krizan said. “The quality of social interactions is going down. The quality of any ideas or engagement that you have in any kind of a meeting is going to go down.”

Jeni Disalvo, English lecturer, disagrees that smartphones kill creativity, but agrees that college students use smartphones too much.

“Students who use technology because they’re distracted by their phones… they feel like they need to answer messages during lecture,” Disalvo said. “I know that many young people now can multi-task but I still think that that abrupt change in thought process eliminates the opportunity to internalize some of the lecture material.”

Disalvo admits that pulling herself away from her phone for a day would be almost impossible.

“I’m so heavily dependent on [technology] for both my job and my personal life,” Disalvo said. “I check [my phone] probably every half hour at least.”

Even though she is no longer a college student, Disalvo said she still depends on her smartphone for a large amount of social interactions.

“With over 300 students, someone always needs me for something, and then with 4 kids you can add them into the mix,” Disalvo said. “I miss being able to hide from people I don’t want to talk to because I don’t really have an excuse anymore.”

Kyle Tester, senior in horticulture, said that although he could go a day without his phone, anything more than that would be too much.

“I think [phone technology] at one time makes it a lot easier to do research, but at another time it sort of spoils us,” Tester said. “We don’t really have to think about the information: it’s just there.”

Hillary Marquard, sophomore and pre-advertising major, admits she is also hooked on her smartphone.

“Literally anytime I’m not doing anything, I pick up my phone and go on Facebook or Twitter, check my messages and check my email,” Marquard said. “If I forget my phone, I feel lost. If I get an email I usually reply right away or a text, I usually don’t wait more than 20 minutes. If I do, it makes me kind of anxious.”

Krizan argues that although students are connected to others via smartphone, they’re not as fully connected as they could be.

“In a sense sort of all the experiences start to be sort of shallow and half way,” Krizan said. “You don’t get a lot of the experience that you’re in if you’re not fully committed to it with your brain and your body.”