What is something that you absolutely can’t live without? Food? Water? Air? How about your cell phone?

I found an article called “Watch Out: cell phones can be addictive.” This was not a surprising article for me to stumble across because in today’s day in age, I don’t doubt the title is true. After reading the article I was feeling as if I as well am addicted to my cell phone, however, some of the facts they described were scary. According to the article just mentioned, “the average college student uses their cell phone for about nine hours a day.” That is actually insane. It even points out the fact that that number is more than what most students spend sleeping. It states that excessive use and withdrawal are signs of addiction which many people find as describing words about their phone use. Although these are not all the traits that describe addiction, as was pointed out by Tracii Ryan, a psychologist at the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, this could be a sign of it.

I really do think many people are addicted to technology and cell phones especially at the college age. As mentioned in the article, people are very aware of drug and alcohol addiction but people often neglect the addiction to behavior. You constantly see it taking away from other activities such as class, homework, social lives and so on. It is the saddest thing I know to see people’s grades suffer because of technology distracting them, when in reality technology is there to make ones life easier.

Another thing I noticed was when I worked at a restaurant at home as a hostess, I would look around the waiting room and everyone is on their cell phone which is one thing, but when they all sit down at a table together, no one puts their phone away. An extreme case I saw was a teenager having headphones plugged into their cell phones during dinner. What is so important to listen to on ones cell phone that will take you away from other breathing, sensitive, caring, human beings. Although I check my phone all the time, freak out if it’s dead or couldn’t imagine life without it, I think teenagers need to every once-in-a-while look around at life that is happening to them without their cell phones. One can miss a lot in the non-technology world if you forget to look around.

I think the research that was done in this article and facts that describe addiction is something that college students should be aware of because some of them fail to realize it is a problem in the first place, in the same way drug users fail to see the problem. The stimulation of the brain, and feel good hormones released through the use of technology is no where near the senses you can stimulate when you put down your phone and start living yourself. Believe it or not, the really cool Facebook status you read will still be there after an hour-long jog, or painting or doing a hobby that you love. Although I think there could be a lot more research done to support this data, I definitely feel that this is a good beginning to it all.