It becomes an addiction.
A case in point is opioid addiction, which affects 65,000 people annually in the US and is the leading cause of death in people under 50.
The smart device that once acted as a useful tool slowly became an addiction.
Giving your child a smartphone is like "giving them a gram of cocaine", a top addiction therapist has warned.
If you thought your seasonal drink addiction was putting a dent in your wallet, though, you'll cringe to see the prices at other locations around the world.
When passionate love is described like this, it in some ways sounds like an addiction.
"By the age of 25, this addiction is cemented in the brain and it becomes very difficult—almost impossible—to quit," State Rep.
This addiction nearly ruined me mood wise, I was miserable to be around when I was even able to force myself to go to class or go out and socialize.
This addiction nearly ruined me mood wise, I was miserable to be around when I was even able to force myself to go to class or go out and socialize.
Twenty-eight scientific studies and papers on food addiction have been published this year, according to a National Library of Medicine database.
Giving your child a smartphone is like "giving them a gram of cocaine", a top addiction therapist has warned.
Attempting to avoid sweets entirely can create a psychological addiction to these same foods in the long-term, she said.
Twenty-eight scientific studies and papers on food addiction have been published this year, according to a National Library of Medicine database.
That's the suggestion being made by Dr Jacob Teitelbaum in his book, Beat Sugar Addiction Now!
David Greenfield, a University of Connecticut psychiatry professor and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction developed a simple quiz, the Smartphone Compulsion Test, to help determine if a person's phone use is problematic.
Love is known to cause symptoms similar to those seen with addiction, and has even been linked to addiction-like activity in the brain.
Scientists have zapped an electrical current to people's brains to erase distressing memories, part of an ambitious quest to better treat ailments such as mental trauma, psychiatric disorders and drug addiction.
This addiction is defined as spending more than seven hours a day using the phone and experiencing symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia and depression when cut off from the device.
Every day I see variations at both the beginning and end of life: a young man abandoned by friends as he struggles with opioid addiction; an older woman getting by on tea and toast, no longer able to clean her cluttered apartment.
Severe drug addiction caused him physical and mental pain, even threatening his life at times.
