Whether smartphones really "hook" users into dependency remains unclear.
But "we already know that the Internet and certain forms of computer use are addictive," says David Greenfield, PhD, a West Hartford, Conn., psychologist and author of Virtual Addiction: Help for Netheads, Cyber Freaks, and Those Who Love Them.
"And while we're not seeing actual smartphone addictions now," Greenfield says, "the potential is certainly there.