London, April 19 (IANS) Young people today are so inseparably hooked to mobile phones that they seem to feel they have lost a limb when they are without them.

 
 Some reported feeling so deprived without their iPhone or Blackberry that it feels like the "phantom limb" syndrome suffered by amputees.
 
 The findings, by the University of Maryland, show the growing reliance that the younger generation has on technology and how it has become central to their lives, according to the International Centre for Media & the Public Agenda.
 
 While phones were the most essential device, other technology such as computers, MP3 players and TV were also considered essential to get people through their day, the Telegraph reports.
 
 Many young people reported mental and physical symptoms of distress and “employed the rhetoric of addiction, dependency and depression” when reporting their experiences of trying to go unplugged for a full day.
 
 “Students talked about how scary it was, how addicted they were,” said Prof Susan Moeller, who led the project.
 
 "The World Unplugged project" asked more than 1,000 students from 10 countries, including the UK, to go without any media for 24 hours and monitored their feelings.
 
 Prof Moeller said that more than 50 percent of students failed to go the full 24 hours and everyone claimed to suffer some kind of withdrawal symptoms.