There is no question that the world is in love with their cellphones. Without one, most feel detached from the world and vulnerable. It’s not just limited to younger generations. The elderly are equally addicted. It’s a world-wide epidemic.
Sensory overload is an everyday norm in offices, elevators, fitness facilities, movie theatres, subways, while driving, at restaurant tables, and yes, even in our bedrooms. We simply cannot live without our cellphones. It is absolutely everywhere.
From Sci-Fi to Wi-Fi
There was once a time not too long ago when the first thing you asked a waiter was, “Can I see your wine list?”, not, “What is your Wi-Fi password?”.
Being at the tail end of the Baby Boom, I was part of the first generation to use a computer and a basic cellphone (that wasn’t so smart) back when these devices were first introduced to the public in the early 1980’s. I had a front row seat to the birth of this cultural phenomenon.
I grew up watching Star Trek and reading Sci-Fi magazines about very small devices people could use to communicate with without wires. In the meantime, at home we had rotary landline telephones that had a shared line (called a Party Line), not shared between our family but with other families in the neighbourhood.
When pagers came to market, they were revolutionary. Everyone had one in the 1980’s. I bought one of the first brick style cellphones and my first home computer was a ‘286’ that couldn’t run a microwave oven today. I thought back then, “This email thing will never take hold.” How wrong I was.
My peers laughed at me as I always had to have the latest gadget. Now it is my peers and frankly everyone in every generation that are addicted to these little gadgets.
A World-Wide Cultural Norm
How can something so small have such an extensive world-wide impact on how we all live?
Remarkably, there are more mobile devices (by more than double) than human beings in the world. According to online resources in 2025 there are more than 18.2 billion mobile devices in use worldwide (7.3 billion being cellphones), compared to a global population of 8.2 billion as of March, 2025. The numbers by volume of cellphones by nation is not surprising: China is number one, then India, and then the United States, in that order.
Psychologists Are Worried
In the early 2000’s it was widely reported that cellphones would become the biggest world-wide non-drug related addiction in the twenty-first century. Such predictions, then thought of as ridiculous, were absolutely correct as now the epidemic is here. For the record, the definition of addiction now officially includes the obsessive use, and overdependence of cellphones.
Unbelievable as this will sound, there are several syndromes and phobias that are being studied by psychologists and universities around the world regarding cellphone dependence. This is often dubbed as, ‘Nomophobia’, or the fear of being without a mobile device. ‘Ringxiety’ is another disorder directly attributed to cellphones. Experts claim that Nomophobia and Ringxiety share similar characteristics as those suffering from drug dependence and addiction.
According to WikiPedia, “Other clinical characteristics of nomophobia are a considerably decreased number of face-to-face interactions with humans, replaced by a growing preference for communication through technological interfaces, keeping the device in reach when sleeping and never turned off, and looking at the phone screen frequently to avoid missing any message, phone call, or notification (also called ringxiety).”
Analysts and researchers have reviewed and studied a phenomenon called Customer Cellphone Distraction or CSD. According to a report by the International Journal of Information Management in April 2024.
“The concept of CSD occurs when an internet connected cellphone competes for a customer’s attention during a consumption goal-oriented task or behavior. Our findings suggest that CSD is a complex phenomenon influenced by both environmental stimuli, such as audio and visual notifications, and internal psychological states, such as boredom and anxiety, which are interdependent factors that contribute to CSD. To deal with this issue, customers need to take responsibility for their consumption behavior, while businesses, society and policy makers can assist customers through better education and design of mobile device experiences.”
When cellphone ringtones sound people react immediately dropping everything regardless of how important it is. Those who have taken introductory psychology classes would have read about Russian neurologist and physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov pioneered something referred to as, ‘Classical Conditioning’. Pavlov observed through experimentation that dogs immediately reacted by salivating when hearing certain sounds having been preconditioned to be associated with food. When watching people immediately reacting to cellphone ringtones, does the maxim ‘Pavlov’s dog’ come to mind, or ring any bells (pun is intentional)?
According to Wheelwright, “Adults in the U.S. check their mobile device an average of 344 times per day, with 71% succumbing to this habit within ten minutes of waking up and until they go to bed. Studies have shown that although cellphone use has become indispensable in helping people in modern day life, frequent usage can also be addictive, life altering, and clearly unhealthy.”
The loss of a cellphone can send some people into a frenzied panic attack similar to an addict looking for their next fix. People with a cellphone addiction often experience anxiety, agitation, and disorientation. Cognitive behavior therapy, exposure therapy, systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, and hypnotherapy are often used to help treat such phobias. Medications are often prescribed to help in severe cases.
Is There No End in Sight?
People simply cannot avoid the distraction of cellphones to a point of obsession. There appears to be no end in sight as the sustained growth of this addiction increases. What should be a tool to help people in our lives has for many become an extension of reality. Sadly, for many, the world revolves solely around their cellphones.
Very few have the discipline, self-control, and determination to avoid the overwhelming need to constantly check their cellphone, take selfies, and talk/text with their friends. Even more challenging, organizations often avoid tackling the prevention of personal cellphone use while working in fear of employee loss despite the high risks involved.
Throughout the world, frustrated clients watch impatiently while distracted employees neglect and avoid their work texting and/or talking to friends/family on their cellphones. Such personal use of cellphone clearly takes away from employee duties and responsibilities. Many will say, “What’s the big deal? Everyone’s doing it.” The radiating effect of allowing employees to use personal cellphones while working enables organizational cellphone addiction and creates a workplace culture of high risk in certain job roles.
Reported as one of the top workplace productivity killers, cellphones are not so useful or smart after all, at least not when it comes to business. This is especially important when employees are distracted from performing high risk tasks such as driving, operating machinery, or performing security related functions. It is widely reported that the leading cause of traffic accidents is cellphone use while driving. Traffic deaths and industrial accidents are preventable incidents directly attributed to cellphone use.
Nothing is more frustrating for customers than having employees use their cellphones with the speakers on having personal conversations completely oblivious to the fact that they may be ignoring their duties, bothering others, or risking their safety and that of other people. This is not just limited to the office workplaces, but seems to be everywhere such as inside restaurants, public transportation, libraries, and yes, even in public bathrooms.
All Is Not Lost
As I travel around the world on business, I find it very frustrating to acclimatize to cultural norms where cellphones speakers are used everywhere, in all environments, and regardless of who is nearby.
Thankfully predominant and entrenched cultural norms in North America, using personal cellphone speakers in public settings is still widely shunned upon, at least for now that is.
Restauranteurs and retail store owners taking a strong position against anyone using personal cellphones with speakers sends a clear message supporting those wishing and hoping to quietly enjoy their surroundings uninterrupted.
Having a clear understanding on what is and what is not allowed at a workplace offers clarity and direction for all employees. Setting clear expectations and having a coherent policy on prohibitions for those wishing to use cellphones for personal use while working can have tremendous benefits limiting risk to workers and organizations alike. Having such a strong policy can assist to eliminate WSIB claims, and civil actions caused by employee distraction. It also can improve client service tremendously.
Situational Awareness is not a new theme but is becoming very popular in business training circles across all industries. Situational Awareness does not just mean being alert and paying attention. Employee distraction is a big part of the efforts organizations are taking to avoid injury, risk, and to improve client service. Prohibitions on the use of personal cellphones while engaged in higher risk tasks should be a key ingredient in Situational Awareness training.
It is very refreshing for most observing responsible parents trying to limit the cellphone usage of their children especially when in public holding their children accountable for respectful cellphone behaviours. It is also very interesting to note that in many schools around the world, teachers are requiring all students to park their cellphones at the school room door in a box before entering classrooms. This ratifies the fact, and is a clear signal, that most people simply cannot help themselves by ignoring the addictive distractions of these devices.
Cellphones in Condominiums
Riskboss routinely analyzes and looks for cell phone abuse levels, practices, and prohibitions when conducting comprehensive risk assessments in condominiums. Let’s break this down into two categories.
Firstly, residents in all condominium environments are, by way of the Condominium Act, building Rules and local city By-laws, entitled to have the quiet enjoyment in their units and common areas such as hallways, the lobby, fitness facilities, swimming pools, and balconies. Condominium Boards are compelled by law to ensure that this quiet enjoyment is not interrupted.
With the increase in cellphone use, for example people using speakers rather than ear buds or headphones, quiet enjoyment of common areas is routinely impacted. Residents and for example, real estate agents taking photographs and videos in fitness facilities and swimming pools routinely make residents feel very uncomfortable sparking complaints to security and property management.
Condominium corporations would do well to impose building Rules prohibiting anyone taking pictures and videos in these facilities. Further, building Rules are recommended to eliminate all noise emanating from cellphone speakers in common areas. For greater clarity, a building Rule that ear buds or headphones must be mandatory. Signage in common areas can help enforce these standards. On site security can help enforce these standards once enacted.
Secondly, all service providers in condominium settings are equally vulnerable to cellphone obsession distracting workers from their duties. Accordingly, a prohibition on cellphone use by condominium service workers is highly recommended. This includes anyone working at the site such as cleaners, movers, delivery companies, in suite contractors for renovations, and dog walkers.
Being alert and not distracted is of prime importance in ensuring safety in all industries. This is a critical success factor for all security professionals everywhere. Situational Awareness mandates and compels employees in critical security and risk mitigation roles never to be distracted.
Our sister company Samsonshield, for example has from the onset of operations in 2009 prohibited personal cellphones to be in the possession of security guards while working. Companies engaged in servicing condominium corporations in such highrisk roles must eliminate any form of distraction including allowing personal cellphones to be carried while on duty. A hard stance yes, but a position that is completely reasonable, prudent, and necessary given the circumstances.
Organizations with similar obligations and risks would do well to also make the move to personal cellphone free environments. Changing the culture of an organization moving employees away from personal cellphone dependence can be very difficult to achieve but not impossible. The risk in not moving to a personal cellphone free environment can come at a very high cost especially in industries where health and safety and customer service may be affected.
Giving employees a break from the sensory overload of obsessive personal cellphone usage while at work may be hard but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Introducing employees to a better mental health work-life balance may at first glance seem to be tough love, but it will have tremendous benefits for them personally and the impact will certainly reduce risk and dramatically improve customer service.
Getting a break from the overuse of cellphones in condominium communities will set the tone on the type of community you want to be, one of respect for neighbours. By setting clear direction in condominiums, Boards can actually help make cellphones useful and smart again.