What starts as something lovely can turn into an obsession or addiction. An addiction is something you cannot avoid doing. Some addictions such as smoking, alcoholism and gambling are well known, but others are not for example; excessively using a cell phones.

Last Sunday at my local church, I was delighted to see so many young people thronging the house of the lord, dressed well, and looking good and happy.

My happiness didn’t last long; I was seated next to a teenage girl who kept checking her cell phone for new messages every 30 seconds and she kept punching away at the buttons in response.

At first I thought she was texting whoever was bothering her to let them know she’s in a holy place, but I was wrong. She was smiling as while she enjoyed the chat; she surely had forgotten where she was or what she had come to do.

Glancing around, I was surprised to see more young people busy texting away on their cell phones, others unashamedly fixed earphones and listen to whatever they were listening to.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping in touch with your friends but it’s also very important to have discipline and respect!

If these girls and boys cannot unplug their phones and be quiet long enough to hear from God, then how will they pay attention to their elders?

Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, half of cell phone users are text-messagers.

"I use my cell-phone strictly for sms’s, I love texting more than voice calls, you see, texting has advantages over talking because it’s cheap and you can keep chatting with your friends even at night without making noise for your roommates,” said 17-year-old Allen Uwamaria.

Teens claim that cell phones give them a new measure of freedom. They consider cell phones as a necessity of life in our world today.

However, do they really need to use them so often? Is this obsession with texting, emailing, ‘Facebooking’ good for them and our society?

Break the addiction
If you’re suffering from cell phone addiction, here are a few suggestions for breaking off:

Look at how many minutes a day you spend on the cell phone, and how many text messages you send. Once you see the actual usage numbers, you will be shocked at how much of your life this little device can gobble up.

Read through your text messages. Are they just a bunch of "yeah, ok, cool” comments, or are you exchanging important information?

Pay attention to who is around you when you are using your cell phone. Are you ignoring friends and family standing right in front of you because you would rather be texting to someone else?

Schedule and limit your cell phone usage. Set aside certain times of the day when you can text messages, or check your facebook account.

Just because technology allows you to communicate 24 hours a day, doesn’t mean you have to be available 24 hours a day and constantly be on your phone.

Pay attention to what family and friends are saying. Do they complain about your constant cell phone use?
Technology is intended to enhance your life, not control it. When a cell phone becomes more important than your personal relationships and dominates your focus and energy, you have a very big problem.

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