Okay, folks, it's time to set that iPhone down for a while. It's affecting your mind.

Lookout (http://www.mylookout.com), makers of an app to protect your smartphone, has released the "Mobile Mindset Study," which analyzes and explores data-based trends in the emotions and behavior driven by smartphones. As people rely more on their smartphones, they are increasingly checking their phones in bed, in the bathroom, at the dinner table, and while driving. Lookout found the frequency that people check their smartphones is increasing:

° 58% of smartphone owners said they don’t go an hour without checking their phone.

° 54% of smartphone owners said they check their phones while lying in bed: before they go to sleep, after they wake up.

° Nearly 4 out of 10 people (39%) check their phones while using the bathroom.

The smartphone attachment is also enabling a whole new genre of mobile etiquette:

° 30% check their phones during a meal.

° 24% check their phones while driving.

° Nearly 1 in 10 (9%) check their phones during religious services at a house of worship.

The findings are further evidence of a social phenomenon called nomophobia: the extreme fear of being without a mobile phone. Lookout’s survey found that 94% of people are concerned about losing their phone. When asked to select which feeling they best identified with when they lost their phone, 73% reported feeling "panicked" and 14% reported feeling "desperate."

I really like my iPhone and use it constantly. It's certainly the world's coolest phone, but it is, ultimately, just a gadget. It's meant to improve your life, not control it.

-- Dennis Sellers