Smartphones, the cigarettes of the next century?

[Commentary] Smartphones are addictive, according to a study from the British telecom regulator Ofcom, which, like many other studies on the topic, emphasizes that people do things like using handsets in bathrooms in lieu of talking to their children and points out how they are changing social behavior. The press release on the research, issued Thursday, uses the word addiction in a variety of forms five times, including when it says 37 percent of adults and 60 percent of teens admit they are “highly addicted” to the devices. But why wouldn't they be? Thanks to apps such as Twitter, texting or even email we are assured that someone is out there on the other end, listening and caring about us. And if the repercussions of such easy and electronically limited socializing mean that we have less time for reflection, or less time for dull or difficult conversations with those who are standing right in front of us, then it’s worth asking what that means for people, society and business.