老九品茶

鈥淢y name is Chris Maguire and I have an addiction.鈥�

They say the hardest part of an addiction is admitting you have a problem and I鈥檓 putting mine out there for all to see.

I鈥檓 not addicted to smoking, alcohol or drugs. I definitely eat too much chocolate but it鈥檚 manageable and I鈥檓 too British to be a sex addict so what is my vice?

The answer is my smartphone. I鈥橫 ADDICTED TO MY SMARTPHONE.

Writing it in capital letters seems to make it more real, like it鈥檚 a proper addiction.

I reached this conclusion while watching Mike Ryan, founder of Fusion Futures, on the stage at Pro-Manchester’s Digital Disruption conference.

鈥淎s we become more connected to technology, we become less connected to people,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ow, that鈥檚 deep,鈥� I thought and promptly tweeted about it in less than 140 characters.

To be honest I was lucky I heard him at all because I was so busy looking at the Twitter hashtag from the event I barely lifted my head from my screen to pay full attention to the speakers. I actually feel quite ashamed admitting this but it鈥檚 true.

So when did my addiction start? The answer is I don鈥檛 know exactly but it鈥檚 taken hold as technology has improved. When my Nokia phone only made calls I had no reason to look at it other than for the odd text message.

Now I check it all the time to look for news alerts; BBC; Daily Mail; WhatsApp messages (I聽 have five accounts); Twitter (I manage six accounts); Facebook; LinkedIn; emails (work and private); take photos and videos; check calendar; listen to podcasts; use sat nav; and a lot more besides.

The thing is, I think my聽smartphone addiction has been misdiagnosed. I鈥檓 a busy guy and I鈥檓 incredibly nosey / curious. I like to know what鈥檚 going on in the world. I鈥檝e been an editor for 11 years so I have to be contactable with my staff and accessible to my readers. It鈥檚 an easy excuse to hide behind.

At times my addiction to my smartphone has been a bit of a running joke. In 2012 I was lucky enough to be in the Olympic Stadium to watch the London Olympics. It was an amazing experience and when the TV cameras panned around the crowd my children spotted me because I was next to my wife and my head was down looking at my smartphone.

One of the best experiences of my life – and I was probably checking how many people had liked my latest tweet!

I know I have 3,789 followers on my (main) Twitter account; 3,484 connections on LinkedIn; and 176 friends on Facebook.聽 That adds up to 7,449 people聽 / acquaintances. I know it adds up to that because I鈥檝e just used the app on my smartphone to work it out.

The view of early morning from ‘s 1 St Peters Sq

鈥� ChrisMaguire (@editor_Maguire)

I鈥檓 very fond of these 7,449 people but I get more love, joy and attention from the three people closest to me and that鈥檚 my wife and two daughters. And yet, and this is the nub of the issue, how much of me do they miss out on because I鈥檓 鈥榯oo busy鈥� on my smartphone?

I was looking at the images of the terror attack at Westminster this week and there were pictures of people taking selfies. How sad is that? How long will it be before someone takes a video of a man drowning because they can鈥檛 see the lifebelt in front of them?

Innocent people are dying every day because motorists are texting someone or replying to a WhatsApp post. I for one was glad when the government doubled the number of penalty points for drivers caught using their phones to six.

So have you got an addition to your smartphone? Answer these eight questions:

Q1: Do you look at your smartphone last thing at night or first thing in the morning?

Q2: Do you look at sporting events or concerts through the camera of your smartphone rather than enjoying the moment?

Q3: Do you check the number of likes and retweets your posts get on Facebook or social media as soon as you finish dinner?

Q4: Do you find yourself looking at your phone when you could be enjoying family time?

Q5: Do you panic when you realise you鈥檝e left your phone at home or in the car?

Q6: Do you have an irrational reaction to the smartphone battery getting below 20 per cent?

Q7: Do you find yourself looking at your phone between meetings or when you鈥檙e walking somewhere?

Q8: Do you ask for the WiFi password at a hotel or restaurant before you鈥檝e said hello to the receptionist?

If you鈥檝e answered yes to more than half of these I would suggest you鈥檝e got a problem but you know that already because you wouldn鈥檛 have read this far if you didn鈥檛 have an issue.

If you鈥檙e still not sure check out the YouTube video below.

Watch the video and ask yourself one final question: Could the person in the video be me?