Digital dependence

When my beloved smartphone recently was stolen and I found myself relegated to the ranks of a run of-the-mill handset user, a strange feeling came over me. I was anxious: how will I get around without my GPRS? Irritable: this is so frustrating! What if I get an urgent email? Without Facebook and Twitter access at my fingertips, I found myself feeling isolated and depressed. When the tremors started I thought perhaps I was coming down with bird flu and consulted Wikipedia. I then realised the following:

An addict is defined as anyone who has become dependent or habituated to something compulsively or obsessively. Hmm. Check. Withdrawal symptoms include depression, anxiety and irritability. Hmm. Check, check, check.

Hi. My name is Leila, and I am a smartphone addict.

I was ‘clean’ for 19 days before my replacement smartphone arrived, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I immediately installed all the applications that would allow me to get my digital fix.

This made me ponder the impact of this pervasive technology as part of people’s everyday lives. A smartphone is the kind of stalwart companion that would have made Tintin’s dog look flaky, and our incessant smartphone usage has turned us into an ‘always on’ society, where no hour of the day is considered sacred and free from instantaneous connectivity. The more connected these tools allow us to be, the more addicted and dependent we become, helpless against the Pavlovian power of the little red flashing light. There is now even well recognised terminology that describes the addictive nature of smartphones (read: ‘Crackberry’).

Today there is only one place remaining where today’s smartphone user still gets a brief, if enforced, moment of respite: the tube. On the tube, businessmen put down their BlackBerrys and the near obsessive urge that we all feel to answer our emails, no matter the time of day or night, is effectively halted. Not for long, however, as wireless internet is due to be installed across the underground in advance of the 2012 Olympics. I greeted this news with a mix of jubilation and trepidation. On the one hand I will be able to get my Facebook fix even 100 feet underground. On the other, a new level of smartphone addiction will sweep London. With no foreseeable escape, perhaps I should start saving for rehab.