We call them Smartphones but our habitual device syndrome (HDS) has less to do with the phone than a compulsive need to know. The time, the news, the weather, video counts, where-is-she-now and on and on. A poll done for Rogers reveals that with HDS (we made that up) it isn’t the phone that occupies Canadians, its the capacity to review information of all sorts in a glance — a sneaked glance if necessary. We apparently check phones as frequently as once an hour and most of us keep them with us 24 hours a day. Kids don’t phone they text, of course. We take our personal news tickers to the washroom, check them in church and glance at them in company, much as we used to check our watches. Just to know. The Harris Decima poll says you keep your phone within reach for 90 to 100 per cent of the day. Three in four respondents between 16 and 44 said they do it all the time or often. Smartphone owners were also asked how often they usually find themselves trying to sneak a peek at the screen in various situations. Just over half of the respondents said they’d check their phone at least once while on a date, while one in four said they’d find a way to see the screen at least once an hour.
