Real Age: Are You a Cell Addict ?

I must confess I am not a Parent, Husband or Lover
of Chat, SMS, Texting, IM-ing, Twittering, Beeping

and such things. I use my Cell Phone with the most Basic of
payment options, try to use my Cell only when away from home,
where my good old-fashioned landline works great, even in a
Hurricane-prone area such as mine.

The 2009 season for Hurricanes just began in June. Here in the
Texas Gulf Coast region we expect two major ones to hit and disrupt
our lives and communications once again. Cell phone towers may not
respond as well as expected and the heavy usage of Cell phones at
such times means those phones need juicing up by connecting to car
chargers and alternative power sources . I noticed many frustrated
persons at such times get all stressed-out and restless about making
and receiving calls, and while that was totally understandable from a
family safety standpoint, I couldn't help but wonder how the previous
survivors of Hurricanes in the pre-cell days must have focused on
helping those in the vicinity, instead of spending time trying to work
out Cellphone aggravation like some do nowadays. Which leads
me to this....

I've always considered myself the silent type, not a Cell addict.
So I gladly took the latest test that came along with my email
subscription to


yes....Real Age. Below, my answers highlighted in Red :

The Newest Addiction: Are You Already Hooked?
No.
Think you’d die if you had to give up your cell phone?
No.

Answer these three questions:

1. Are you preoccupied with your cell?
No.
2. Do you use it despite soaring bills?
No.
3. Do you get irritable when you have to cut down on calls?
No.

If YOU said yes, you -- along with countless other people --
may be addicted to your mobile.

In Britain, where cell phones outnumber people, researchers
asked volunteers these and other questions and found that
17% had an unhealthy dependence on their cells.
(And we thought Diet Dr. Pepper was bad!) More than a third
said they were preoccupied with their phones and used them to
lift their moods or avoid facing problems. A whopping 65% said
they continued to use their mobile phones despite mounting bills.
Don’t text your friend this tip yet!

In another study, the same researchers managed to pry the
phones away from a group of frantic addicts. And do you know
what happened? Not complete collapse, meltdowns, and isolation.
Instead, the digitally deprived group actually felt less stressed,
and their blood pressure stopped spiking as high when they
talked about their phones.

Turn yours off and you might find that, gee, you have a pretty
interesting life. Or that you can concentrate better. Or that not
being constantly “on call” is relaxing. Even if you just spent a
fortune on the latest and greatest iPhone, there’s an off button
for a reason. Your body will thank you for using it. And really, that
call can wait.

See how old your Real Age is, click here