There's help available for phone addiction

EVERYONE IS ADDICTED TO SOMETHING. THAT'S WHAT KEEPS OUR ECONOMY GOING

- Melvin Durai

Millions of people are addicted to their phones. That’s why the Addictions Center in New York City has a weekly support group for them. About 20 people meet every Friday in a large room on the first floor.

The sign on the door just says “PA Support Group,” so the counselor wasn’t surprised on a recent Friday evening when a young woman peeked inside and asked, “Is this the poetry addiction support group?”

“No,” he said. “That’s on the second floor, between shopping and eavesdropping.”

As the woman left, a bearded man named Arjun asked, “Poetry addiction? Is that a thing?”

The counselor nodded. “You'd be surprised how many addictions we help people with. Everyone is addicted to something. That’s what keeps our economy going.”

“That kind of makes me feel better,” said a college student named Julie. “I hate being addicted to my phone. But I just can’t put it down.”

“Me neither,” said a middle-aged man named Malik.

“I look at it more often than I look at my wife, I might as well be married to it.”