Are you addicted to your phone?

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maybe she was doing something really important with the phone at the moment that she doesn’t want to share with everyone so she just expresses her frustration by crying about the phone dying, or it could be that she has some sort of new magical addiction that we must all suffer from as well. hmm.

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Maybe she should get a real life with real concerns… or maybe she should get a battery pack. Sheesh!

Oooh, is ‘not having a smartphone’ the new ‘not having a TV’?

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Can we be sure that it is because her phone died? Maybe her boyfriend broke up with her or her mother died or something similarly serious.

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maybe she was talking with someone, her mother was in the hospital in the U.S going to an operation, oh she is on the phone oh no its out of power - whatever I’m sure there are a million reasons why someone might break down over a phone running out of a power and a few hundred thousand of those could even be real concerns.

Then again maybe she has a ‘real life’ and works 12 hour days and doesn’t get enough sleep at night because she has a kid and so she does not have the most stable outlook on things at the best of times, oh no the phone is out and I didn’t manage to send the message to my manager that I will be late which means I will be fired. Hey probably she should get a battery charger but she didn’t, who knows why people are imperfect or have breakdowns about what from the outside, with imperfect information, look like inconsequential concerns. Not me, that’s for sure - but uh I guess you do?

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I just don’t think, given what little I know about the situation that I would feel comfortable making fun of this lady or assuming that there is some new-fangled phone addiction at work.

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I do like my iPhone but I turn it off pretty often. I’m not going to look at it at a concert or movie or having a conversation with a person, unless its to show them pictures.

If my phone dies when I’m working it’s a big problem because then I’m unable to contact customers and I lose lots of money. If it dies at a bar it’s a minor nuisance because can’t use Touch Tunes. Otherwise I can just plug it in when I get home. No big deal.

i have never had any type of mobile phone or tablet. my house phone is an unlisted number. i prefer to be difficult to reach except by people i choose to be connected to. i also prefer not to carry a tracking device with me that i have to pay a monthly fee to own.

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Isn’t it normal for a Drone to exhibit considerable distress if a subspace transceiver failure or other issue severs its connection with the Collective?

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Yeah, I really doubt this is actually about the phone.

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Maybe, maybe not, but I really wish I could do it. Cutting myself off from what’s clearly become some kind of addiction for me is too difficult to contemplate for long.

It’s also interesting how many people want to say she’s probably upset about something else, instead of addressing the more interesting phenomenon of why this video has gone viral – for many viewers, it does touch a raw nerve about this disturbing phone addiction thing.

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I once sat a across from a clearly dysfunctional woman in the library who bawled and whimpered about some internal horror for at least fifteen minutes. I would definitely not rule out mental illness.

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I’m not sure, I don’t have a TV or a smartphone to see what’s cool or not.

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The explanation of “what exactly happened here” has to fall somewhere in between “phone addiction” and “something else” I think. The strength of an addiction, after all, is always a confluence of the pull-factor of the addicting object, and the emotional/psychological state of the addicted. Hard times and emotional blows strengthen the need for the addicting object, and contribute to relapse and binges. Obviously substances like crack, which are highly physically addicting, can have a stronger pull without circumstance, once the hooks are in, while in other cases the balance weighs in the other direction.

When I’m tired, hungry, depressed or stressed out I certainly dive into my phone’s offered distractions more (boingboing being a principle among them). This often leads to me neglecting problems / people, making the cycle worse and worse, in much the same way as a drug. When the going gets rough, and my wife notices me not pulling my weight and hiding away, her first question is always “how long were you on your phone / reading boingboing…?”

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As to the woman in the video, I agree with those above that there is too little information to go on to know that the phone itself is the cause of her anguish.

In regards to the question of “am I addicted to my phone,” the answer is yes and I do find it disturbing how frequently I need to touch it, the anxiety I feel when I am not certain if it is in my purse as I am leaving for work, and the way I am constantly checking Facebook and email. I’m not really ready to go back to dumbphone but I question what this is doing to me and now that it’s beautiful outside and making a serious effort to just get outside and enjoy a beautiful day.

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I don’t even have a computer and I’ve never even used the internet.
/snark :leopard:

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Damn, one upped!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go split lumber with my bespoke axe so I can make a fire for lunch.

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Are we sure that she wasn’t just speaking in a Dolphin dialect?

You’ve scaled back to little more than eating fire? Hardcore, dude!

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