By Steve Gillespie / managing editor

A carload of four young people went by me on Eighth Street in downtown Meridian one early evening recently. They looked like they were high school aged kids. One was driving, one was in the front passenger seat, two were seated in the back seat of the car and all four of them were talking on their cell phones.

I guess I’m an old fuddy duddy. Whenever I have a chance to get away from phones, I take it.

Research published earlier this year from the University of Florida tells us there really appears to be such a thing as cell phone addiction, as well as addiction to other technologies.

Lisa Merlo, an assistant professor of psychiatry in the university’s College of Medicine was quoted in the report saying: “It’s not so much talking on the phone that’s typically the problem although that can have consequences too. (It’s) this need to be connected, to know what’s going on and be available to other people. That’s one of the hallmarks of cell phone addiction.”

She went on to say that unlike addictions to alcohol, other drugs or gambling, it can be be harder to pinpoint the problem cell phone user.

But, she said, if someone can’t get through dinner without sending text messages or typing on a personal digital assistant during a meeting, it could be serious.

I’ve seen it in my own house — a young person eating, while chatting online, while talking on a cell phone AND the regular land line phone all at the same time. The advantage is that kids today have more dexterity in their toes than people of my generation. You can’t do all that without using your feet a little.

We talked all the time, too, people my age did, and we were on the phone too much, and kids before us did it, too, but we got run off the phone eventually because someone else had to use it or didn’t want it tied up.

When I was 9 years old in 1972 we had one, ugly tan phone that hung on the kitchen wall. It had a rotary dial and a party line. I used to listen to other people’s conversations all the time. I really wasn’t so interested in the conversations strangers were having, but, there were some young girls who used to call each other and play the newest records they’d bought over the phone. That’s what I eavesdropped on. Our radio, a big boxy thing that sat on the kitchen counter, that was the same color as that ugly phone, was always tuned to country. These girls were listening to stuff like Stax Records and Motown releases. It was a little variety.

I can’t remember having withdrawal symptoms after hanging up, though. That UF study also said how people react to being separated from the cell phones or digital assistants was another clue of being a full-blown addict.

The article said frequent users often become anxious without their phones or PDAs and they find it hard to enjoy whatever it is they’re suppose to be doing without their gadgets.

Many times cell phone addicts can be seen compulsively checking their voice mails and text messages and it’s worse when those people are already suffering from some degree of anxiety or depression.

It’s a world-wide problem if that makes you feel any better.

A Japanese study found that children with cell phones don’t get to know other kids who aren’t techno-geeks like them. In Hungary a study showed that three-fourths of their children had cell phones. One-quarter of Italian adolescents own more than one phone and claim to be somewhat addicted to them. And, 36 percent of British college students say they couldn’t get by without cell phones, whatever that means.

Seven percent of those British students admitted that their mobile phone use had caused them to lose a relationship or a job according to David Sheffield, a psychologist at Staffordshire University in England. So that really does sound like a problem as serious as alcohol or some other substance abuse, doesn’t it?

It’s not just kids that are showing signs of gadget addiction, Lord knows! But it’s the youngest cell phone users who don’t know what they are missing being one-on-one, face-to-face with a friend in a quiet place. They miss other things, too. I’ve seen them at concerts, movies, festival-type gatherings, restaurants — heads down, furiously texting, missing everything there is to be seen or heard around them.

For those who think they have a problem or who have children you think are obsessed with their cell phones, Merlo suggests downgrading to a basic phone with fewer features and setting limits about where and when to use the phone.

“Cell phones are a great technology,” Merlo said in the UF article published in January. “They’re useful in a lot of situations. (But) one of the most important things is making sure you have some cell phone free time in your day. It’s OK to turn it off. Focus on family, homework, knowing that cell phone message will still be there.”

If you know someone who can’t do that, it may be time for an intervention with family and friends. Just be sure you have everyone’s phone numbers to set up the conference call.