# Professor Adam Alter comments on a new study suggesting a causation between smartphone reliance and depression

1 Faculty News October 4, 2019 ![VICE News logo ](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/vice-logo1.jpg?itok=m8lZ7mZ1)>

Excerpt from [Vice](https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/d3a4bz/can-being-on-your-phone-cause-depression) -- “'Some researchers have described phones as adult pacifiers, because they act like pacifiers do for young kids: They soothe anxiety and other forms of psychological discomfort,' said [Adam Alter](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/adam-alter), Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business and author of Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked."

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