At Cal State Dominguez Hills, the low November sun had faded to dusk when professor Toddy Eames called for a break in the middle of a nearly three-hour screenwriting class. “Fifteen minutes!” she announced as her students stood, stretched or ambled to the door. “You can take out your phones,” she added, but most students were already scrolling through the texts, emails, Snapchats and other postings that had piled up during an hour of mandated tech abstinence. Since fall 2016, the communications department at California State University at Dominguez Hills has banned smartphones, laptops and other personal technology in every classroom — with grade deductions for violations — except for ... Read More
Communications
The Downside of Cellphone Addiction
Most people can't leave home without their cellphone. We're addicted to them and we know it. So, what's the downside? I’m as guilty as the next person, I can’t be without my cell phone for more than a few minutes. In fact, I have two cell phones. It doesn’t bother me, but research is now showing too much phone use can lead to potentially serious psychological disorders such as extreme stress, anxiety, depression and more. We observed an interesting experiment in our story on cell phone addiction that demonstrates the potential for problem. We’ll also have some tips to find out if you are really addicted to your phone, and then what you can do about it to try to break the ... Read More
Faculty Highlights: July 2017
Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section. College of Arts and Humanities Assistant Professor of Art Devon Tsuno’s painting “Watershed 3,” part of the “80/50 Quiet Storm” exhibit in the Denk Gallery in Los Angeles through Aug. 19, was named “Pick of the Week” by Artillery Magazine and positively reviewed by art critic Ezrha Jean Black. Tsuno has also joined artists Hung Viet Nguyen and Erin Harmon to create “Verdant Loop,” which presents landscape as an “invented not-nature where ... Read More
Excessive cellphone use may cause anxiety, experts warn
Spending too much time on your phone may be causing you to feel stress and anxiety, experts are warning. "The more people use their phone," Dr. Nancy Cheever, who spearheaded research on the relationship between cellphone use and anxiety at California State University, Dominguez Hills, told ABC News, "the more anxious they are about using their phone." Cheever's research suggests that phone-induced anxiety operates on a positive feedback loop, saying that phones keep us in a persistent state of anxiety and the only relief from this anxiety is to look at our phones. She warns that there is little known about the long-term effects that phone-induced anxiety can have on your overall ... Read More
Student Researcher Dhanushka Kumarasinghe Takes 1st Place, Twice
For Dhanushka Kumarasinghe, winning 1st place at the 31st Annual CSU Student Research Competition at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) in late April 2017 was “surreal,” in part because he almost didn’t present at California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) 12th Annual Student Research Day in February, where he needed to win to compete at SLO. Two days before Kumarasinghe was to give his talk, “Come Catch Pokémon at the Celadon City Department Store!: Player Perceptions Toward Businesses Within Pokémon Go Hotspots,” at the university’s research day, his father had a stroke and he rushed him to the hospital. “There was a lot on my mind. I thought, ‘I have no time for this. There ... Read More
