This first of two articles I review Sharon Begley’s book Can’t Just Stop: An Investigation into Compulsions. Begley says that our need to check our cell phone every five minutes is not an addiction, but a compulsion. Begley is a science writer and has written on obsessive compulsive disorder. This current book shows that rather than an addiction, which comes with a high, we constantly turn to our cell phones to keep from feeling anxious.
I’ve written on our relationship to technology on several occasions for MercatorNet. It is a topic that reveals much about human nature. For example, since last October I have acquired a couple of new writing projects, including a new client. I have finished a short creative non-fiction piece and finished drafting a fiction piece. I have also socialized more in real life. What changed? My Facebook password. My husband knows it, but I don’t. It’s a small thing that has had big results.