Stanford University has released the results of a survey of 200 students who own iPhones and found 10 percent characterized themselves as fully addicted to the device, or five on a scale of one to five, while 34 percent rated themselves as fours and only six percent said they were ones.

According to LiveScience, anthropology professor Tanya Luhrmann, who oversaw the survey, commented: "One of the most striking things we saw in the interviews was just how identified people were with their iPhone. It was not so much with the object itself, but it had so much personal information that it became a kind of extension of the mind and a means to have a social life. It just kind of captured part of their identity."

In support of that idea, the survey found 75 percent of respondents admitted to falling asleep with their iPhone in bed, while 69 percent were more likely to forget their wallet than their iPhone. Forty-one percent characterized the possible loss of their iPhone as “a tragedy.”

In addition, more than 70 percent of them said their iPhone made them more organized, and 54 percent found the device makes them more productive.

"I don't think it is really unhealthy,” Ms. Luhrmann said of the addictiveness of the handset. “I think they really like their iPhone.”