Psychologists concerned about smartphone use

YOU gave it a pet name. It knows more about you than your mother does. Sometimes you even sleep with it. In fact, you’re so attached to it that being separated for only a few minutes could send you into a panic.

While smartphone users worry about mobile hacking and other security threats that are making news these days, psychologists and others are concerned about another equally troubling issue: the growing obsession among people who would much rather interact with their smartphones than with other human beings.

“Watching people who get their first smartphone, there’s a very quick progression from having a basic phone you don’t talk about to people who love their iPhone, name their phone and buy their phones outfits,” said Lisa Merlo, director of psychotherapy training at the University of Florida.