Even Happier

"I HATE TO BE ALONE, so I call my partner at least 3 times a day: am I addicted?" asks Laura from London. I sense frustration in the tone of her voice, the idea of being an addict just doesn't feel right, and yet she recognises herself in a magazine's description of "mobile phone junkies". Is she addicted to her mobile phone? And what about you?

Wait a minute, does it make sense to talk about mobile phone addiction? In other words, wasn't addiction only about drugs? Well, more than 20 years ago, Orford argued that people are at risk of becoming addicted to objects and activities of which drugs are only a subset. In fact, we can call Addiction any compulsive behavior that produces pleasure and reduces internal discomfort. So how can we use this chunky definition to understand if we are actually addicted to a mobile phone or not? Two little “experiments” can provide an answer…

1- Have you got a smartphone with you whilst you are reading this article? Well, switch it off. Can you do that easily? If you are able to, you are not a good candidate for mobile phone addiction, since addicts finds it difficult to directly control their behaviour.

2- Now picture yourself doing something you really enjoy, for example eating chocolate. Concentrate on your feelings in the moment of maximum pleasure... mmmmh....Have you got comparably pleasant sensations when you use your mobile phone? If not, the likelihood of being an addict is not much, since experiencing a sense of “high” is a distinctive feature of addiction.

So, have you completed the 2 experiments? Sure? No cheating? Good. If both indicates the possibility of an addiction, do have a chat with a therapist about it, otherwise, I have good news for you: you are not a mobile phone addict.

"Phiuuu!" says Laura, "I feel much better now: I am not a mobile phone addict! But why am I calling my partner so very often? He is getting annoyed with me, but If I don't call him I feel bad..." Adult separation anxiety might be what Laura is experiencing, and will be the subject of a future post.