Peter Fanelli

Years ago in the very early days of computers a work colleague of mine got into the habit of bring his Commodore 64 into work when we worked weekends, That wasn't a problem as we had set shifts and by early afternoon the work was usually done so it was a way to kill the remaining hours.
Talking to him about it it became apparent that he was getting so addicted to it that it was seriously affecting his married life at home with his wife complaining that he spent too much time on it and they never talked anymore or did anything together anymore.

Anyone else seeing the same thing happen with smartphones?

ORAC

No, but I have a mate who spends most of his evenings and weekends on his X-Box playing multi-user games....

Slasher

Nah. With me its simpley porn sites - not the electronical tools used in obtaining them.

sitigeltfel

If such things do occur, I would suspect that the marriage already has grave problems and the computer/smartphone is just an excuse to escape the reality of the situation.

tony draper

What I remember of the Commodore 64 most of the time away from 'er indoors would be spent waiting for the programs to load.

rgbrock1

I don't see such a problem with so-called smart phones. Not yet anyway.

What I do see a problem with is the amount of time some spend with things like:

Playstation, Xbox, Wii, etc.

And I don't mean just kids. I know grown adults who spend at least 2-3, or more, hours per day on these gaming consoles. Married ones at that. But, as has been already mentioned, it's obvious there's something wrong in the marriage to begin with.

11Fan

A couple of weeks after my wife bought me a new laptop, she mentioned that we didn't talk as much anymore.

I told her to IM me.

rgbrock1

You told her to IM you, 11Fan?

You know, that can backfire on you the next time you get a little frisky!!!!

11Fan

You miss the "new laptop" thing there ......

Flyt3est

I used to work beside a guy (Software programmer and committed "gamer") and at a party at his house one (rare) night, his slightly tipsy wife yelled "Hey Dave! If I have QWERTY tattooed across my tits do you think you'd play with them a little more?"

Go figure..

Standard Noise

To answer the original question, the same could be said of older technology like the television.

tailstrikecharles

I dunno... ask Tiger Woods?

SpringHeeledJack

I'd say that anything that kills a marriage is just a proxy for the real problems that exist. There are certain individuals with addictive personalities who hook into gadgets or whatever and become obsessed by their charms, but i'd wager that they are in the minority.

I worry about the younger generations who are so hooked into the electronic life that they seem incapable of concentrating on anything that isn't virtual and are losing the ability to communicate with others. God only knows what kinds of dysfunctional relationships will be spawned from these seeds.



SHJ