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Smartphone Addiction: Nine Telltale Signs

By Dennis McCafferty on 2011-11-22


We recently reported on a study that sheds light on the increasing prevalence of smartphone addiction, in which 88% of professionals polled say they’d feel either disoriented, distraught, lonely or physically ill if they went without their device for a working week. You may dismiss your own constant use of a smartphone as simply a convenient way to get through the day, ignoring the telltale signs of a developing problem. One troubling threshold that’s not to be ignored: When the device seems to control the user, as opposed to the user maintaining control over the device. “There are people who are compulsive about other habits, such as eating or shopping,” says Ramani Durvasula, a licensed clinical psychologist and California State University professor who has appeared on the program, Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers. “And this paradigm can be extended to smartphone use.” To provide additional insight for CIO Insight readers, Durvasula and career coach/productivity expert Marsha Egan, CEO of InboxDetox.com, have come up with these nine “red flag” behaviors that indicate possible smartphone addiction:

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Driving Under the Influence


You use a smartphone while behind the wheel -- the equivalent of a DUI, Durvasula cautions.

Time Management


No matter what time limitations you place on using the device, you always spend longer periods on it than intended.

Divine Intervention


Friends, family members routinely call attention to your perpetual “smartphone prayer” position – attending to your device during dinner, lunches, social events, etc.

Withdrawal Symptoms


You crave your smartphone when you can’t have it --during a meeting, for example -- and it distracts your focus from matters at hand.

Keeping Score


You text so much about your kid’s soccer game while it’s happening that you miss significant chunks of the game itself.

Constant Companion


The smartphone goes wherever you go -- to the gym, the bathroom, in bed, etc.

High Anxiety


You feel an immediate sense of panic or helplessness when you temporarily lose your device.

Always On


Checking your smartphone is the last thing you do at night and the first thing you do in the morning.

Personal Failings


You post everything you do to Facebook, Twitter, etc. – to the point where your actual human interaction is minimal.

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