7 Tell-Tale Signs That You're Addicted to Your Phone ...

Unless you’ve forgotten to charge your cell the night before, or are working with a damaged battery, you likely won’t need to charge your phone more than once per day. Of the signs that you’re addicted to your phone, this seems to be the most blatant. If you’re relying upon your cell so much that you find the power drained to the point of dying by midday, you might have a little problem putting down the phone.

If you’re half-listening to the conversations going on around you, with eyes averted from your friends and fingers clicking away on the screen, you’re almost guaranteed to be missing out on something. If someone calls your name, asks you a question or waits for a reply when you’re otherwise distracted by your phone, I can guarantee that "what" is one word in your vocabulary that's stuck on redial. If your friends and family are sick of your cell-obsessed fixation and tired of hearing “what” when you’re clueless of your social surroundings, it might be time to put the phone in your pocket for a while.

Thanks to security surveillance and viewer videos, the public has seen many a comedic demonstration of what can happen to distracted cellphone users walking-and-texting. But all jokes aside, text messaging while walking can mean serious injuries...or worse. If you’re a pedestrian on the street or even walking the aisles of the supermarket, your phone could be the very distraction from the pothole that you trip upon or the car that strikes you in the crosswalk. Please, for your safety, put down the phone and walk on without the distraction.

I don’t know about you, but the bathroom for me is an in-and-out experience. Unless I’m blissfully soaking in the tub with a foamy sea of bubbles and some scented candles, I tend not to spend extended periods in the bathroom. And I certainly don’t spend any quality time in the bathroom with my cell phone. First and foremost, the bathroom is not the most hygienic place to click away on the same item that’ll be pressed against your face at some point in the day. And consider the possibility that every time you take your cell into the bathroom with you, you’re more likely to accidentally drop it into the toilet. Yuck.

There are some apps for information, some for entertainment, some for social media and some whose purpose we’re not even quite sure of exactly. And while some apps are perfect for daily use, such as weather alerts, traffic condition mapping and news updates, some apps are rather pointless. If you have an unnecessary amount of apps and use them incessantly for unproductive reasons, you’re likely feeding an already existing cellphone addiction.

From a lack of reception to a digital glitch, we’ve all been through those momentary delays in cell use. But if you find yourself in a panic or unjustifiably enraged by this minor inconvenience, you might have a problem. Don’t get me wrong. It’s frustrating to pay for reliable service and get shoddy reception, but freaking out won’t fix the problem. And I can assure you that the delayed notifications can likely wait for a while.

If you find yourself compulsively checking for Facebook likes and comments, new Snapchats, a new Pinterest re-pin, a share, a Google +1, a tweet, voicemail, text message or phone call and feel dejected without them, you’re likely relying upon your cell phone in an unhealthy way. While staying in touch with your friends should make you happy, not hearing from them every waking minute in the virtual world shouldn’t shatter your confidence.

Cellphones represent some of the most innovative technology of the time, and can be an expensive tool that demands care and responsibility. But how much is too much when it comes to this handheld technological wonder? Well if your free time and even your not-so-free time is spent with your cell, to the detriment of your real-world social life, your communication skills and your personal safety, there’s no doubt about it. You’re addicted to your phone. Now that you know the telltale signs, ‘fess up. Are you addicted to your phone?