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How can another person’s cellphone addiction harm you?

On Behalf of | Feb 12, 2018 | blog

Having a cellphone has brought a considerable amount of convenience to numerous people’s lives. You may have a cellphone — or multiple phones if your place of employment also provided one — and you may use it often for a variety of tasks. If you need any type of information at a moment’s notice, you can likely bring up an app on your phone and find the answer in just a few taps of the screen.

Though these devices have many beneficial uses, they can also act as major distractions. You may notice people sitting at dinner with friends or family, and instead of engaging with the people in front of them, they stare at their screens for most of the outing. While this specific action may not bother or harm many individuals, this type of distraction can easily cause problems, especially if a person has a cellphone addiction.

Cellphone addiction

You may not have realized that smartphones and other similar electronic devices can cause addictions. However, they can do just that, and if a person has this problem, he or she could see many negative effects on his or her life. While you may not consider yourself a cellphone addict, you could still suffer from someone else’s addiction.

Signs of addiction

Many signs could point to a person having this type of addiction. The PEW Research Center provided a statistic indicating that 67 percent of individuals who own smartphones tend to check those devices even if their phones did not indicate a call or message had been received, such as by vibrating, ringing or other alert tones. This action may act as an indicator of addiction. Other signs of addiction include:

  • Attempts and failures at using the phone less
  • Continual preoccupation due to using a smartphone
  • Constant use that results in not realizing how much time as passed
  • Allowing phone use to distract to a point that problems arise in relationships or at work
  • Displays of anger, irritability or restlessness when phone or network does not work correctly

Other actions could also point to a cellphone addiction, and if a person displays at least four of these symptoms, this type of addiction likely affects him or her.

Addiction leads to accidents

As mentioned, this type of addiction could lead to relationship and work problems, but it could also lead to more serious issues. If a smartphone addicted person is behind the wheel of a vehicle, this distraction could easily lead to a serious car accident. If you suffered serious injuries in such an incident due to another driver’s phone-related distractions, you may have reason to pursue a personal injury claim for compensation of damages.

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