Mobiles and Smoking - What's Different?

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=674072006' target='_blank'>http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=674072006</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Mobile-phone users who spend most of their waking hours glued to a handset may have to call a therapist after a university study found they were as addictive as smoking and junk food. The heaviest mobile users even display the typical signs of "cold turkey" drug withdrawal - anxiety, restlessness and even panic - when parted from their phones."</i><br /><br />Okay, so there's obviously a huge difference between mobiles and smoking, though researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia think that as far as dependency is concerned, they're one and the same. What do you think? ;)

[JohnJohn]

As long as there isn't an extra tax on my unlimited data plan to help cover the uninsured "blackberry thumb" claims, I'll be ok.

[Eriq Cook]

Bottom line: anyone who gets "addicted" to something experiences the same withdrawal symptoms! :wink:

[Jon Westfall]

&lt;RANT> :bad-words: This evening I was just reading a past edition of Readers Digest and saw a similar piece about society being too connected. I have a problem with this sort of argument (and the higher-than-thou tone many of these articles take) on a few levels, but primarily the following:

1. Some of us really need to be connected 24/7. For example - I'm the third tier tech for a small web hosting business. There are no other third tiers and thus, if a server dies at 4 AM, I get woken up (And get paid a premium for being always on-call). While not many have the experience of being on-call for over 2 years as I have (thankfully I'm only woken up once a month or so), there are still enough geeks out there that have servers to watch over, enough doctors with patients, and enough lawyers waiting to sue people (just kidding) that aren't tied to their devices by direct choice, but by their professions. Should these people be looked down upon as "dependent" or "addicted" to their devices simply because they allow others to enjoy life whenever it is desired? :argue:

2. Did it ever occur to these writers that some people actually enjoy checking email? They actually enjoy getting information broadcast to them 24/7? They actually enjoy learning and absorbing information? My Pocket PC allows me to learn about anything, (almost) anywhere, anytime I wish via my data plan. It allows me to know about things before others and act on them to bring about a more positive experience (i.e. spending 2 minutes writing "Don't reboot that server!!" vs. spending 2 hours re-starting a task)? In short, mobile devices do not force users to use them - users want to use them, and so long as the want doesn't interfere with the rest of their lives, why should anyone care?

Personally I believe the tone many people have taken regarding this issue is one of frustration. They feel teathered to a device that gives them tasks to perform, tasks they would be perfectly happy not knowing about until the start of business hours the next day. But for those of us who don't work 9 to 5 (i.e. doctors, geeks, academics), having information faster isn't frustrating - it's rewarding. And the obvious solution to all the journalists out there writing on this out of their own frustration is to turn their devices off, which none of them seem to report ever doing. So should I be judged as addicted by some poor writer who doesn't have the gumption to just turn off their blackberry?

Of course not - I should be judged as addicted by my peers (here) :grouphug:, and invariably the judgment is....YES, I'm addicted. And happy :)
&lt;/RANT>

[SteveHoward999]

I think most of the real addicts are not there out of corporate slavery - but rather out of their own need to communicate and be connected. If you spend 8 hours a day on your cell phone, calling family and friends constantly, and another 8 hours sending text messages and email, that is addiction. If your work calls you at 4 am, that's your work.

Sure you can be addicted to your work, but that's not the same as being addicted to being connected.

So next time you find yourself checking and sending 10 text messages while you are at the movies, consider how addicted you may be :-)

[ctmagnus]

Personally, Pocket PC = :pimp: = :drinking: = :alfdance:

And besides, I feel rather lost (While I'm listening to the official Lost podcast :pimp:) without my device. The sheer amount of info I can have with me at all times is astounding compared with what I was capable of handling ten years ago. Which brings up an eerie recollection of a recurring dream I've been having lately, where I'm in high school looking at the old paper planner I used then, thinking "OMG! How am I ever going to remember this all? And why can't I just enter it once and be able to see it in the day view pages, week view pages, month view pages, and task pages?" This is all very eerie and circumstantial. :worried:

[TheMouseMan]

[/serious]
...just wait a few months, and MouseMan Pharmaceuticals Inc will develop the 'Low Radiation Patch' to help you quit the addiction. :wink:

- TheMouseMan

EDIT: Latest progress report from our R&amp;D people states it will also be available as chewing gum and nasal spray.

[Sven Johannsen]

You don't look kool with your hands in your pockets leaning against a wall with a PPC hanging out of your mouth?

PPCs are harder to light?

:wink:

[ctmagnus]

Pew... the stench of burnt PCB and several other plastic materials... :pukeface:

[Damion Chaplin]

If anything, being connected is worse than smoking.
Speaking as a smoker, at least once or twice a month I decide I need to stop smoking.
However, I have never once decided I need to give up my connectivity.

I don't drive, but if I did, either habit would be equally likely to kill me (just one faster than the other).

[Jacob]

I've read that the addiction to cigarrettes is much more psychological than it is physical - in that respect the addictions would be the same.

I used to smoke and quit cold turkey. When I finished a meal after that I would get the biggest craving for a smoke.

When I have left my cell phone at home I have never felt the same kind of craving that I did after quitting smoking.

I guess it could be similar to some, but I am skeptical of the strength of the addiction.