Smartphone addiction cure?

Smartphone addiction. Yes, it’s real. Psychologists have even come up with a name for it: nomophobia. It is the fear of being without one’s phone.

In 2013, Psychology Today said it affected 40 percent of the population. A year later, that figure grew to 66 percent and included a deeper dive:

Sixty-five percent, or about 2 in 3 people, sleep with or next to their smartphones. (Among college students, it’s even higher).

Thirty-four percent admitted to answering their cellphone during intimacy with their partner. (What happened to being present?)

More than half never switch off their phone. (That’s an addiction.)

The first point’s probably not indicative of much. Many people use their phones as alarms clocks.

The others points are problematic, but there could be an app for that. (Of course.) Austrian designer Klemens Schillinger has created something called Substitute Phone designed to wean people from their smartphone addictions.

According to The Verge, the facsimile phones are “made of black polyoxymethylene plastic with stone beads embedded in the surface, which allows a user to replicate familiar actions, such as scrolling, pinching or swiping.” Mmmm. The devices are not yet for sale. But their creation does raise the question of whether a such a device could peel people away from their smartphones in a way similar to how e-cigarettes and vaping devices have allowed people to quit smoking.

Our jury’s out. Is it the sensory satisfaction of holding the phone that’s at the root of the addiction? Or is it the yearning to see if one has a notification some sort? As technology advances, it seems people are less wedded to particular devices than craving to know if personalized information awaits them.

Maybe Schillinger knows something we don’t. Once his faux devices go on sale, the market will provide the answer.