Today, our cell phones provide us with an ever-handy escape route from the actual world around us.  They're also every bit as addictive as street drugs.  These days, many people can’t even make it through a meal with friends without checking their phones.

By way of comparison, even in times when just about everyone was addicted to tobacco, nobody but the most unmannered boor would light up at the table while food was still being consumed.  And bear in mind, nicotine is one of the most physically addictive substances out there.

Even nicotine can’t compete with cell phones.  One research study found that today, the average person checks their phone more than 200 times a day.

Some people stare at their phones in rapt absorption as they plod along the sidewalk or path, even in environments of great beauty or danger. Others can’t resist the urge to check their devices when they’re behind the wheel of a car—generating as much peril for themselves and all of us around them as driving drunk.

For many people, mobile phones have not only facilitated an escape from literal reality, but actually supplanted it.

For younger people, cell phones long ago became the nexus of their social universe.

More recently, these devices have reached the point of obliterating mental maps of our physical surroundings.  Without their phone-based navigation systems, many people today would have no idea how to get anywhere.  And once they get there, they’re unlikely to encounter any interesting places or things to do other than those that have scored highly in online “likes.”  Everything else effectively melts away into non-existence.