We’re glued to our addictive devices, and they’re having an impact on our ability to concentrate, health experts say.

Social researcher and author David Gillespie says nomophobia — a psychological condition when people have a fear of being detached from mobile phone — occurs because many apps on phones and computers are engineered to keep us hooked.

“The software on them is engineered to addict us just as powerfully as if we were having drugs injected into us,” he told Elise Elliott, filling in for Dee Dee.

“What people are addicted to is just a few simple apps – mostly social media and dating apps that run on phones, and in some cases gaming apps as well.”

Mr Gillespie says the apps are designed cause dopamine releases in the brain.

“Rather than a hit every now and then when you’re meeting people and you do things they like, and they tell you so, you get it a thousand times a day,” he said.

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Clinical psychologist, Dr Simon Kinsella, says failing to concentrate for long periods of time leads to a decline in the ability to do so.

“If all you’re doing is concentrating in short bursts on 30 second TikToks, and you’re not doing anything that involves longer term concentration, then you will find it harder and harder to concentrate,” he told Tom Elliott, filling in on Neil Mitchell’s Mornings program.

“For most of us who have professional careers, who have busy lives, we are getting constant contact from all sorts of sources, and if you sit at your desk and you’re working on your computer you’ve often got pop-ups interrupting you and emails reminding you to get back to people, and it really is impacting the way people work and how well they can concentrate.”

Press PLAY below to hear more about how technology is impacting our ability to concentrate