Once the survey data had been collected, the researchers screened the data for iPhone users (N = 117). The researchers e‐mailed those participants who indicated that they were iPhone users with information indicating that they qualified to participate in a second study for additional extra credit and a chance to win a Best Buy $50 gift card. iPhone users were specifically recruited due to the ease with which the researchers could disable the silence mode on the participants' iPhones. The purposes for disabling the silence mode are explained in the next section of this paper. Of those recruited (N = 117), 41 agreed to participate in the experiment. Participants were then scheduled to participate in a 20‐minute experiment conducted in a media psychology lab. Participants were scheduled to participate one at a time in 30‐minute time slots.

Participants were informed that the purpose of the survey was to understand “media usage among a sample of college students.” However, to mask the true purpose of the survey, which was to screen for iPhone users and to collect a premeasure of iPhone extension, the researchers included several distractor questions in the survey. Distractor questions consisted of items measuring Facebook usage, Twitter usage, Instagram usage, television viewing, and frequency of newspaper reading. Responses from these questionnaires were not included in data analyses.

This study was a multistaged experiment. The survey phase of this study was designed to screen for iPhone users for the experimental portion of the study. Had the researchers explicitly recruited iPhone users, participants would have attended their experiment session expecting that they were participating in a cell‐phone‐related study, threatening the manipulation of the experiment. Therefore, the researchers recruited students (N = 208) from three journalism courses at a large university in the Midwestern United States to complete an online questionnaire designed on qualtrics.com . Out of the 208 who were recruited, 136 completed the online questionnaire.

Experiment procedure

The purpose of the experiment was to examine the degree to which perceived level of self, cognition, emotion, and physiology are affected when a participant is separated from their iPhone while it is ringing. However, participants were told that the experiment was to understand “how well students could complete word search puzzles and for the researchers to test a new blood pressure cuff.” Thus, the participants had no prior knowledge that they were participating in a cell‐phone related study or that the researchers would be calling their iPhones during the experiment.

Upon arrival to the lab, participants provided their consent to participate in the study. Participants (N = 41) were randomly assigned to one of two experimental orders. Order one (O1) consisted of participants completing a word‐search puzzle with their iPhone followed by a second word‐search puzzle without their iPhone. Order two (O2) consisted of participants completing a word‐search puzzle without their iPhone followed by a second word‐search puzzle with their iPhone in their possession. After randomly being assigned to one of the two orders, each participant was seated in a cubicle in front of an individual PC computer in a computer lab room. Participants were instructed not to get up from their computer for any reason unless notified by the researchers.

Once participants were comfortable, the researchers measured their blood pressure and heart rate levels using the iHealth Lab wireless blood pressure monitor cuff, model BP5. The BP5 sends blood pressure and heart rate in beats per minutes (BPM) readings via Bluetooth to the researchers' iPad for data collection. The researchers collected three blood pressure and heart rate readings as baseline measurements. Participants then completed demographic questions programmed in MediaLab (Jarvis, 2006) on the desktop computer. Participants were not asked to do anything with their iPhone at this point in the experiment. Next, the researchers provided the participants a pencil‐and‐paper copy of the word‐search puzzle and instructed the participants to find as many words as possible in 5 minutes to increase their chances of winning a $50 BestBuy gift card. At minute 4 of the word search, the researchers wirelessly collected blood pressure and heart rate levels. After 5 minutes elapsed, the researchers collected the word search puzzles and asked participants to complete the unpleasantness and pleasantness items from the Self‐Assessment Mannequin (SAM) (Bradley & Lang, P., 1984) and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Y‐6) (Marteau & Bekker, 1992) programmed in MediaLab (Jarvis, 2006). After completing both questionnaires, the researchers then provided participants a second word search puzzle.

At this point in the experiment, the researchers informed the participants that their iPhone was creating “signal interference” with the blood pressure cuff's Bluetooth signal and that their iPhone needed to be placed farther away from them in the room. Upon collecting participants' iPhones, the researchers discretely disabled silence mode by flipping the on/off switch located on the perimeter of the iPhone and then placed the iPhone in a nearby cubicle (4 feet away) located in the same room, which allowed participants the ability to see and hear their iPhone. Participants were then given a second word‐search puzzle and again were instructed to try to find as many words as possible in 5 minutes to increase their chances of winning the gift card.

At minute 3 during the second word search puzzle, the researchers called the participants' iPhones. The silent mode had been disabled in order to ensure the iPhone rang out loud. Participants had provided their cell phone number on the consent form. This scenario was structured in hopes of simulating the inability to answer one's ringing iPhone during a cognitive task. The researchers allowed six rings before ending the call, which lasted roughly 20 seconds. At minute 4 of the word search (in order to avoid recording an orienting response (OR) to the onset of ringing), the researchers wirelessly collected blood pressure and heart rate levels. Each measurement lasted roughly 45 s. After 5 minutes elapsed, the researchers collected the word search puzzles and asked participants to complete the Objects Incorporated Into the “Extended Self” Scale (Sivadas & Machleit, 1994), the unpleasantness and pleasantness items from the Self‐Assessment Mannequin (SAM) (Bradley & Lang, P., 1994), and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Y‐6) (Marteau & Bekker, 1992) in MediaLab (Jarvis, 2006).

The procedure for order two was the same as order one except order two consisted of participants completing the first word‐search puzzle without their iPhone while it was ringing followed by a second word‐search puzzle with their iPhone in their possession. In addition, the researchers informed participants that their iPhones were causing “Bluetooth” interference with the baseline measures and therefore needed to be placed further away in the room. After completing the first word search puzzle without their iPhones in their possession, the researchers informed participants that their iPhones were no longer creating Bluetooth interference and could therefore have it closer to them as long as they enabled silence mode to avoid any further distractions during the experiment (i.e., phone rings). Participants then enabled silence mode and placed their iPhones on the computer desk in front of them before beginning the next word search puzzle. During the second word search (i.e., possession) all participants focused on the word search puzzle without stopping to view or interact with their iPhone. Participants' iPhones were on silent mode for the majority of the experiment. Thus, the iPhones did not ring for either phone calls or text messages except when the researcher called during cell phone separation.

During the debriefing, the researchers informed participants of the true purpose of the experiment. Participants were told that the online questionnaire they had completed earlier in the week was to screen for iPhone users for the experiment. In addition, the researchers informed participants that this study used deception by omission by withholding any information about the study measuring cell phone separation anxiety. Before being dismissed, the researchers informed the participants that they had called their iPhone during one of the two word search puzzles using an auto‐generated number from GoogleVoice.com. Participants were then informed that they had the option of having their data withheld from data analysis. None of the participants chose this option. Participants were then thanked and dismissed. This study was approved by the university Institutional Review Board (IRB).