Addictions and hard-to-break habits have been around forever. When I was a kid, for instance, one of the country’s big addiction problems involved that leafy, smoky, monkey-on-your-back called tobacco. My dad—who was at that time a two-pack-a-day smoker—decided one morning that it was time to kick his nasty nicotine need. And I watched with interest as he put down his lighter and willedhimself to stop puffing on those little killer cigs over the next month. (His hacking and rasping morning cough probably gave him a bit of added impetus.)
Cigarettes are still around today, of course, but some feel they have been surpassed by an even greater addiction. It’s a habit-forming construct that doesn’t hold a whiff of nicotine or a smidgen of narcotic. If your Sherlockian mind leapt to video games, I’ll give you partial credit: It’s your cell phone.
That’s right, a study from Baylor University says that smartphone addiction is a very real and very prevalent thing. And the researchers found that women are just a hair more susceptible to the lure of the small screen than men. No, it’s not because men have that steel will that my dad displayed. It’s simply because they don’t participate in as much of the Instagram-posting, Facebook-checking and constant texting that women are a bit more drawn to.
How do you know if you’re teetering on the brink of Smartphone addiction? Well, you have to evaluate just how uncomfortable you are when putting any distance between you and that constantly purring thingamajig in your left hand. I recently read a blog from a guy who said he found himself watching TV with a dead iPhone resting on his tummy rather than taking it over to the charger across the room. Why? Well, he realized that being separating from that smooth, cool block of happiness—even by just a few feet—left him anxious and edgy.
His symptoms aren’t all that unique. Even when in situations that should rightfully demand our full attention, some people have the hardest time turning off or setting aside their phones. You might even have a family member who shows up at the dinner table with it in their hand, or slips their phone under their pillow at night, while sporting a symptom or two.
Things are getting so bad that a group of witty folks have even come up with something called the noPhone as a form of help. The noPhone, which is looking for funding via a Kickstarter campaign, is essentially a completely functionless rectangle of plastic and metal that feels exactly like a phone but does absolutely nothing. Nothing, that is, accept give people a pacifier-like sense of comfort when they’re phoneless in places where they need to make eye contact or, well, doing other things that shouldn’t involve a phone. Hey, you could even use your noPhone to keep you from hyperventilating while your real phone charges over on the kitchen counter.
Oh, and there’s an added benefit to this helpful little non-gadget: the noPhone is completely “toilet resistant.”
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