Smartphones are small handheld devices that allow you to text, call, email, surf the web, set reminders, check your calendar, and download many other applications that make life a lot easier. These inventions come with many upsides, but constantly using the phone itself has many downsides.

Nearly two thirds of adults in America now own a smartphone. They are considered more useful than a phone without all of their added features and are more purchased more often than flip-phones.

“I definitely feel the need to check my phone a lot,” said senior Katie Merrywell. “I can go days without it and I don’t miss it because it’s nice to take a break, but when I have it on me it feels like a habit to check my apps, text people, and take pictures.”

Smartphone addiction is a very real, and common phenomenon for smartphone users of all ages.

“It has been found that female college students spend an average of ten hours a day on their cellphones,” posted Jayne Leonard on the Natural Living Ideas website.  “Another survey found that three out of five US smartphone users can’t go more than 60 minutes without checking their phones.”

There are many psychological and physical long term effects of constantly engaging with a smartphone.

Back pain can be caused by excessive hunching over to look at a phone, weight gain has become a trend because exercising is less common, and disruptive sleep can occur because of the need or want to wake up in the middle of the night and check a phone.

Psychological effects common in a long term smartphone user or addict are, anxiety and depression, stress, damaged attention span, and other social effects.

Constantly using a smartphone causes people to depend or rely on the information and conversations being had on the phones. One can become anxious, depressed, or stressed, if they always feel the need to be communicating with others or interacting with applications and websites.

Social behavior can change dramatically. While a goal of smartphones is to make people feel more connected, they can become to be more isolated and closed off from the real world. Studies show smartphones can cause selfishness and lower relationship quality.

“Smartphone effects are not only limited to relationships and oral exchanges,” said JY Liew in The Effect of Smart Phones on Social Interaction. “It also influences heavy on individual levels of personal development.”

Smartphones do a lot of good, but there is bad that comes with that. The long term effects may or may not outweigh the cost for most users, but they are all very real results that should be recognized.