[themodelplumber]

I agree, I mean I was born quite a long time earlier but in my career training I was taught to look for tools people can use for restoring energy, comfort, courage, and maintaining contact with long-term values via their interests.

This can also be especially important if you have other sensitivities that can lead to unwanted outcomes, which can be ameliorated more easily with a device nearby.

Also, IMO using "addiction" where "typically need to have this with me for different reasons" would work just fine is pretty inappropriate. The term projects quite a bit of subjective negative & clinical interpretation onto others which is a common ethical mistake, among other things.

[eternityforest]

I think addiction is perfect relevant for the majority of users. It's still a net win to have a phone, but they are addictive.

Any time you would like to stop doing something but are unable to because of a compulsion.... Is that not an addiction?

If you don't know what to do with your hands without a cigarette in them, almost anyone would call that a cigarette addiction.

Most people don't know what to do with their hands or mind without a phone. I sure don't.

[themodelplumber]

> Any time you would like to stop doing something but are unable to

That's the thing. People call it addiction even when nobody ever said anything (see my comment) about that part. You are the one who added the bit about not being able to stop.

So, is it really fair to then project one's own fears or experiences with addiction, or beliefs about addiction, onto such a situation? That's better left to clinical territory, not casual relational discourse.

[eternityforest]

If the person hasn't said anything about being unable to stop, then it might be a bit inaccurate.

But it is very common for people to explicitly say they have trouble stopping. Almost as common or maybe even more common than having trouble eating less sugar.

And it is very common for people to believe they are negatively affected, unable to focus on books or movies, that their relationships are impacted, that their health suffers, that they are stressed by the miserable content they consume, and to be confident that these problems are new or worsened since the phone era.

Maybe addicted isn't the best word for strangers, but "fairly likely to be having some level of addiction symptoms" seems to apply to most phone owners.

[unethical_ban]

There is no going back for me... It is a god like power...

Over using a cellphone vs. not using a cellphone day to day. Yes. That is a problem.