Can Excessive Cellphone Use Become an Addiction? Latest Mental
Health News TUESDAY, Dec. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Can an obsession
with your cellphone rise to the level of an addiction? Two
researchers who headed a recent study think so. "Of course,
cellphones have their merits," said study co-author James
Roberts, a professor of marketing at Baylor University in Waco,
Texas. "There's clearly a utilitarian value. But we're talking
about something that is portable and available 24 hours a day.
And like anything, if we go overboard it can become a problem."
Factors such as materialism and impulsiveness might play a big
role in tipping cellphone use into an addiction, Roberts said.
"That's particularly true when we use them excessively in
public," he added. "Because when we do so we're signaling that
we've got this shiny object, this status symbol, our iPhone or
Android or Blackberry, and that we've got important people to
talk to or text, who are maybe even more important than the
people right in front of us. And