Do I suffer from technology addiction?

Facebook

I love that I can find out what my friends are up to and see their kids grow. It’s particularly wonderful for keeping in touch with my friends dotted all over the world.

Met Office Weather

I am a little obsessed by the weather, especially forecast temperature in the summer.

LadyTimer

A great way to record your natural cycle so there aren’t any surprises, and if you are trying to get pregnant it can help you work out the optimum time to try to conceive.

Virgin TV Guide

Not only can I see what’s on the telly for the next 7 days over all of my channels but I can also set my TiVo box to record programmes or set series links from my phone.

Hub Pages

I like to know how my hubs are doing, who has made comments and my earnings for each day.

Love Film

To keep an eye on new releases and add to my DVD rental list from my phone.

eBay & PayPal

I buy and sell on eBay so this app means I can keep an eye on auctions and easily search for new items. The PayPal app means I can keep an eye on my transactions wherever I am.

Run Keeper

Measures my distance, time, average speed, pace and maps my course. A great way to track my training, especially if I am preparing for a distance race.

TV catch up

The name is a little misleading as it’s not an on demand TV app, you can watch whatever is currently being broadcast on the freeview channels even with a 3G signal..

Hipstamatic

Take wonderful retro pictures that are so much more interesting than the basic camera function.

How many times a day do you check Facebook, Twitter, eBay, the weather, Hub statistics, texts, emails and the news channels just on your smart phone?

It’s the first thing I do in a morning, before I’ve even got out of bed and had a cup of tea. My iPhone charges on my bed side table and it’s also my alarm. Firstly I check texts to which I reply straight away; then email (reply later). Facebook & Twitter, any eBay activity and the weather then follow. Next is Stage Jobs to see what’s happening in the theatrical world and then BBC news. The final port of call is the game 'Words with Friends' where I play my turns, then check Facebook again – surely someone has put something new on in the last 10 minutes – and then I get up.

It drives Hubby nuts. He hates to roll over and see me staring at my phone, the light from the screen glowing onto my face. Yet even though he hates it I can’t seem to stop, if I feel him stirring next to me I quickly put my phone down. I have the sound muted and the screen light isn’t enough to wake him up so what is it about using my phone that annoys him, does he feel neglected, does he feel my iPhone taking his place as the first thing I say “hello” to in the morning? After all I’m not choosing to spend time with my phone instead of him, it’s just that I am the earlier riser and choose to check my phone for those first few minutes before getting up or rolling over for a cuddle or getting out of bed. Worst of all I feel guilty when I do it and embarrassed if I get caught. After the phone is checked and a good morning cuddle, the cats get fed, eggs collected, chickens tended too and then I move to the computer in the living room with the big screen with a nice cup of tea.

I do check my phone regularly during the day, even in ad breaks on the telly and in the loo – I can’t seem to put my phone down, there’s always something to check, but I try very hard to not allow my usage to be rude. I wouldn’t sit checking my Facebook whilst at a friend’s house for dinner, although I will post photo’s immediately if I think they are funny or interesting. In the pub it is normal for us all to have our phones on the table next to our drinks ready for that call or text (or a cheeky check of the Thesaurus whilst doing a crossword). According to a recent survey in the US by trechnology firm TeleNav more than half Americans would rather give up chocolate, alcohol and caffeine for a week before parting temporarily with their phone. Staggeringly one third of those questioned would rather give up sex and 21% would rather go shoeless than give up their phone. Well I wouldn’t give up my glass of wine, sex or my shoes so maybe I haven’t got it that bad. Maybe I’m not that addicted to my phone, hooray! But, I do hate to be without it, if I realise that I have left it at home I will turn back for it even if it means I will be late.

So am I addicted to my iPhone or to the internet? I cannot imagine life without the World Wide Web, and after being an iPhone user for two years now I cannot imagine life without that either, so are the two mutually exclusive? Before my iPhone I had a Nokia Navigator and I was thrilled with it. I only used it for calls, texts and Sat Nav and I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I had a blackberry curve for work, the internet capability was rubbish but I had my emails on hand and maybe that is where my addiction began. When you have your work in your pocket 24/7 you then work 24/7. It wasn’t just me, thanks to email time coding I could see my boss and colleagues replying to emails outside office hours and often in the small hours. In the end the Blackberry had to be switched off at home as I never stopped checking it and it allowed work to interfere with my home life. So I have been aware of the pitfalls of smart phones for quite some time, but in terms of work not play and Facebook is definitely not work, although I know some people who would justify it as networking and so therefore work.

Ok so I have emails on my iPhone (and in my opinion it’s so much better than the Blackberry) but I have turned off notification sounds so at least I’m not jumping to check those every five seconds. I think my addiction is limited to first thing in the morning and periods of boredom. I still watch T.V. and read books, socialise and keep fit. I try not to let it rule my life but I do use it an awful lot, even down to my egg timer app. I wonder what I used to do with my spare time/periods of boredom before my iPhone, I can’t remember, maybe just nothing.

To answer my own question I don’t think I am addicted to my smart technology but I do love it. I cannot imagine life without my iPhone and I cannot wait to see where technology takes us in the future. I just hope that I, and every other person in the world, can resist total addiction and not forget that the best and most fulfilling interaction is face to face and not screen to screen.