Some people have tried locking their mobiles away in order to fight against their smartphone addiction(上瘾), while others have used some tricks such as making their screens black and white. But the cure to smartphone addiction may lie in an app that rewards users for leaving their phone alone.
The new app, called Hold, can detect(检测)when users have used their smartphones and gives them points dependent on how long they avoid the temptation(引诱)of looking at Facebook, for example. Upon downloading it for free, users receive 10 points for every 20 minutes spent without touching their phone between 7: 00 and 23: 00 every day of the week, with a user email address needed to receive the rewards. To get half price Vue cinema tickets, users need 60 points. For two free coffees from Cafe Nero, users need 300 points, and a glass of juice for 90 points, For £5 Amazon vouchers(代金券)users need to have collected 1, 000 points.
Hold was created by Maths Mathisen, Florian Winder and Vinoth Vinaya-three Norwegians. They noticed that young people's dependence on their smartphones was getting out of hand while studying at Copenhagen Business School. Rather than punish their users, the three found that the best way to get them to put their phones down was to use tricks that got them interested in the first place.
Lots of studies in recent years point to the worrying rise of smartphone addiction and the effects of smartphones on education. Researchers from the London School of Economics found that students who did mot use their phones at school found their grades improved by 6.5 percent.
Cafe Nero, Amazon and Planet Organic will also offer discounts on the Hold marketplace. Students will also be offered the choice to use points to buy school books which are then donated to some schools.
