10 signs you might be addicted to your smartphone

If you asked me whether I'm addicted to my smartphone or whether I overuse it, I would say absolutely not. I pride myself on not keeping my devices (I have two of them!) in my bedroom while I sleep, and keeping them out of reach on the kitchen counter when I'm home with my kids. But, every time I walk into the kitchen, I find myself checking my email and Twitter feed.There's almost a gravitational pull toward my BlackBerry and iPhone even when I know the chance that there is anything I need to see at that moment is next to zero. I feel that same pull the minute I wake up and make checking my devices one of the first things I do once I get out of bed.Those behaviors alone probably put me in the "you have a problem" camp, but I'm sorry to say there's now even more evidence.I recently took the "Smartphone Abuse Test," an online quiz administered by the Center for Technology and Internet Addiction, one of the few organizations focused on the issue.'I've got a problem'The quiz asks questions like: "Do you find yourself spending more time on your Smartphone than you realize?" and "Do you feel reluctant to be without your Smartphone, even for a short time?"If you answer "yes" to more than five of the 15 questions, "you might benefit by examining how much time you spend on your Smartphone," according to the quiz.I answered "yes" to 11 questions.I've got a problem, and I'm not alone.Dr. David Greenfield, the director of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction, says around 90% of Americans would fall in the category of overusing, abusing or misusing their devices, according to a recent nationwide telephone survey he did with 1,000 people in conjunction with AT&T."The analogy that I use is right before they go to bed, the last thing they do before they pass out is check their phone and the minute they open their eyes, they check their phone," said Greenfield during an interview. "Doesn't that sound like a smoker? This is what we used to hear with smokers is that the last thing they would do before they go to bed is they'd have their last cigarette."Bakudaily.Az