Technology addiction is a type of nonchemical addiction, and hence a behavioral phenomenon. Although
behavioral addiction lacks the necessity of physical consumption of substances, it exhibits similar symptoms,
consequences and even treatment as substance addiction (Grant et al. 2010). By contrast, it has been argued that
technology addiction is not an addiction as such, but rather pathological use (Armstrong et al. 2000; Davis 2001;
Griffiths 2000). Definitions of technology addiction include active and passive forms of “nonchemical
(behavioral) addictions that involve human-machine interaction” (Griffiths 2000, p. 211). Technology addiction
was also defined as “a psychological state of maladaptive dependency on the use of a technology to such a degree
that … typical behavioral addiction symptoms arise” (Turel et al. 2011, p. 1044). These symptoms, such as
increased salience, withdrawal or tolerance, are often accompanied by biased reasoning and distorted perceptions
and beliefs (Turel et al. 2011), which are largely unexplored for smartphone addiction in IS studies.