Cell Phones Are the Latest Addiction

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Cell Phones Are the Latest Addiction The United States is in the midst of an epidemic of (Excuse me, I have to take this call.) Sorry about that. Let's get back to the story. Americans from all walks of life are jonesing for the latest (Hold on just one sec. I've been trying to get this guy on the line all day. I'll be right back.) There we go. OK, let's try this again. America's love affair with cellular phones — 212 million carried them as of April 2006 — may have blossomed into a full-fledged addiction, with the devices interfering with personal relationships, classroom lectures, businesses and, yes, journalists' deadlines. Some have even called cell phones "the new cigarettes," seeing as how people fiddle with them in elevators, whip them out as soon as they leave the office, take "cell phone breaks" on the job and chat away while walking, driving, etc. And when your phone isn't ringing, your brain sometimes tricks you into thinking that it is — a phenomenon that has been dubbed "phantom ringing." "I'm never without my cell phone," Courtney Tompkins, spokeswoman for the medical school at Des Moines University and owner of a small business, wrote in an e-mail. "When we go to bed, we have one cell phone on each side of the bed. I use it as an alarm throughout the day; I text- and picture-message constantly. I can send a text message while driving or talking on another phone. I hear phantom ringing often. I've been teased at the gym for keeping my phone in hand while walking and next to me while I work out. Yes, I'm a cell phone junkie!" Karen Gail Lewis, a therapist in Cincinnati, says she has even seen clients break out their phones in the middle of a counseling session. "I have even had couples in my office for couples therapy where one takes the call," she said. In 2003, information-science professor Sergio Chaparro wanted to test out just how deeply cell phones had insinuated themselves into the lives of his students at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He gave them a seemingly simple homework assignment: to turn off their cell phones for 72 hours. Of 220 students with cell phones, only three could bring themselves to complete the assignment. "They were afraid. They were truly afraid," said Chaparro, now a professor at the Simmons Graduate School for Library and Information Science, in Boston. "What I found was basically a high level of dependence on cell phones.

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