51Âþ»­

Being a national expert on how smart phone use affects people’s abilities to concentrate has earned a 51Âþ»­ researcher not just one or two but THREE appearances in a row on the BBC’s The One Show.

Students and staff will be able to catch 51Âþ»­ cyberpsychologist Dr Lee Hadlington on The One Show tonight from 7pm when he takes a coveted spot on the famous sofa, to be interviewed by One Show hosts Matt Baker and Angela Scanlon. 

He will be joined on the sofa by Ab Fab legend Joanna Lumley and comedian Sarah Millican.

The One Show is the BBC’s flagship live magazine programme and regularly pulls in TV audiences of around five million a night.

Lee, a senior lecturer in from the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, has already appeared on the show on Monday and Tuesday this week where he offered expert opinion to One Show reporter Alex Riley, showing how ever increasing smart phone use is affecting our cognitive behaviour.

On Monday, a family from Bolton agreed to download an app which measured how many hours they were using their smart phones while, on Tuesday, Lee was involved in an experiment which featured smart phone users in the centre of Birmingham failing to realise there was a person in a gorilla costume walking around!

You can catch Monday night’s programme and Tuesday night’s programme .

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Lee said: “I have really enjoyed the experience. The One Show is one of the prime TV slots you could ever wish to have your research featured in. Millions watch the programme every day and I’m really happy with the attention 51Âþ»­ research is getting.

Cyberpsychologist Lee Hadlington

“I must have done something right while filming with the crew as they have asked me back to appear live on the green sofa tonight! It is such a great opportunity to explain my findings, showing they are of significant interest to the UK’s population and are making an impact.”

The One Show has devised a project called #TOSPHONEPLAN which is asking viewers to help them create a practical phone plan that helps families cut down on mobile phone use and spends more time talking face to face.

Lee came to prominence in the media two years ago when he was the first person to conduct research which showed heavy users of mobile phones and the Internet are more likely to forget things, make blunders and be less aware of their surroundings.

In the first academic study of its kind, Lee asked 210 people aged 18-65 to rate their behaviour in key areas linked to perception, memory and motor function.
 
He found the more a person spent on the internet or on a mobile phone – even those without internet access - the more likely they were to experience "cognitive failures". 
 
These included missing important appointments, failing to notice signposts on the road, daydreaming while being spoken to and forgetting why they went from one part of the house to another.
 
Previous research into multi-tasking has found people with excessive online use were less able to filter out irrelevant material and focus on the task in hand.  
It was the first time that both time spent on the Internet and phones was measured on our daily lives in this way. The research has been published in the US journal Computers In Human Behaviour.

Lee has also recently written a book entitled ‘Cybercognition; Brain, Behaviour and the Digital World’ which explores aspects of how digital technology is having a wide ranging impact on human cognition.

The cyberpsychologist has been in big demand to talk about smart phone use as the devices become an ever-more integral part of our social and working lives. He has appeared on local, regional and national media and helped Aviva insurance company advise on mobile phone use in cars.

Lee is an expert on the technological phenomenon of FOMO – or “fear of missing out” which he believes is the leading cause of people constantly checking their phones.

He has previously said: “Constantly checking a smartphone can lead to rewards, and this links into internal level reinforcement. This ‘reward’ system, such as receiving messages from friends and family, or somebody sharing new content, makes that person feel good.”