Smartphones are addictive. If you have one, you might already realize that. I’ve had one for a few years now, but it wasn’t until I got an iPhone with easy Internet access and 200,000+ available apps that I truly became an addict. Almost any time I have a free moment, I reach for my phone to check personal and work email, Facebook, various news sites, the weather, my financial accounts, or sports scores. I check it before I run. I check it after I run. I check it at the grocery store. I check it first thing when I wake up and last thing before I go to sleep. I even check it on the pot. (don’t lie – you do it, too!)

When Jenny and I leave US mobile coverage for a cruise and I shut off my phone for a few days, I go through withdrawal. Ask Jenny how many times I reached fruitlessly to my hip on our last cruise in October. I felt cut off from the world, and it took a few days to adjust. At first my iPhone was just a fun toy. Now it’s an obsession.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m not the only one. Jenny does it. Most of my friends with smartphones do it. Our obsession leads to a curious phenomenon when we get together with other people:

Instead of talking with each other, we bury our heads in our phones.

Have you noticed that? It doesn’t seem to be a problem with our parents’ generation. Perhaps it’s because they simply aren’t obsessed with their smartphones, even though many of them have jumped on the smartphone bandwagon for various reasons. Perhaps it’s because they still believe that spending time with friends and family should involve actual interaction rather than simply sharing the same air in the same room.

Are we hiding? Feeling shy? Maybe. As a shy person, I can understand that. People tend to leave you alone when you’re playing on your phone, interpreting it as a GO AWAY sign. Interaction can be stressful, and your smartphone is a paper bag to pull over your head. In some cases, maybe we just don’t like the people nearby. Or maybe we’ve had a hard day and just need to be alone in a crowd of people.

But in many cases, at least for me, it can be the addiction. I want to engage with the people around me, but I’m drawn to the phone like an alcoholic to a fifth of Jack or a smoker to a pack of cigarettes. I read articles on my phone sometimes when I’m watching the boys. I’ve played on my phone during dinner with my family. I’ve been to family gatherings with people I hardly ever see, and some of us simply sit there and text or read their Twitter and Facebook feeds. I’ve looked around during our home group meeting and seen almost every person silently fiddling with their phones.

Why do we bother being together if we’re not going to actually be together?

Obviously my little blog post can’t change the world, but I can pledge to you that I will try to change myself. When I’m with my friends or family, unless I’m tending to some urgent business or looking up something worthwhile to share with you, I will do my best to keep my phone stowed.