Psychologists wary of smartphone obsession

While smartphone users worry about mobile hacking and other security threats that are making news these days, psychologists and others are concerned about another equally troubling issue: the growing obsession among people who would much rather interact with their smartphones than with other human beings. “Watching people who get their first smartphone, there’s a very quick progression from having a basic phone you don’t talk about to people who love their iPhone, name their phone and buy their phones outfits,” says Lisa Merlo, director of psychotherapy training at the University of Florida. The increasing dependence comes as more Americans ditch their iPods, cameras, maps and address books in favor of the myriad capabilities of a smartphone. While smartphones have made life easier for some, psychologists say the love of them is becoming more like an addiction, creating consequences that range from minor (teenagers who communicate in three-letter acronyms like LOL and BRB) to major (car accidents caused by people who text while driving). Merlo, a clinical psychologist, says she’s observed a number of behaviors among smartphone users that she labels “problematic.” For example, Merlo says, some patients pretend to talk on the phone or fiddle with apps to avoid eye contact or engage in other interactions at a bar or a party. Others are so genuinely engrossed in their phones that they ignore the people around them completely. More than a third of U.S. adults, or 35%, now own a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center, and two-thirds of them sleep with their phones right next to their beds.