10 Signs Your Smart Phone Is Haunting Your Life

Technology 

Smart Phone Culture

Why are we compulsively always checking our phones?

David Greenfield, PhD, psychologist and author of Virtual Addiction: Help for Netheads, Cyber Freaks, and Those Who Love Them states, "computer technologies can be addictive, he says, because they're "psychoactive." That is, they alter mood and often trigger enjoyable feelings." Email, in particular, gives us satisfaction due to what psychologists call "variable ratio reinforcement." That is, we never know when we'll get a satisfying email, so we keep checking, over and over again. "It's like slot machines," Greenfield says. "We're seeking that pleasurable hit." Source: WebMd

The following list is meant to be humorous, yet thought provoking.  Maybe it is time to set limits and establish balance when using smart phones.

10 Signs Your Smart Phone Is Haunting Your Life

1. You consider returning into a burning building to retrieve your phone.
2. You sleep with your phone.
3. You enjoy the company of your phone over human relationships.
4. You have a wardrobe of cases/covers for your phone and you play dress up often.
5. You begin to pace and shake after being without your phone for less than an hour.
6. You would reconsider a vacation if you didn't have access to your phone.
7. Notifications make your heart race.
8. You use work as a excuse to always be on your phone.
9. You take your phone to the restroom (last time I checked smart phones don't have bladders).
10. Your are defensive when anyone brings your relationship into question.

Cellphone addiction can be extremely harmful to relationships and the overall way a person functions in life.  If you find that you can't curb cellphone usage on your own, seek help with a psychotherapist who has experience in treating addictions.