On any given day, I’m “plugged in” to some kind of technology for the majority of the hours I’m awake. From surfing the internet when I’m supposed to be sending out faxes at work (oops!), to watching re-runs of A Shot At Love while simultaneously listening to my workout playlist on my blinged-out iPod, to chatting up my BFF’s on the celly as I write papers for my summer English classes on my brand new Macbook – I’m an absolute technology junkie.

According to research published in the journal Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, I could quite possibly actually be addicted to all that technology. The research stated that the internet in particular can actually “promote addictive behaviors”. Another paper published in 2007 in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology proposed that internet addiction is on par with other severe addictions such as gambling and sex and kleptomania.

Although “internet addiction” isn’t an official diagnosis just yet, several researchers warn that people who can’t sit through an entire movie without checking their text messages might be at risk. Other symptoms of technology addiction eerily resemble the symptoms of other serious addictions, such as neglecting other responsibilities, craving the addiction, hiding how much you use the addictive object and a tendency to become irritable when the object is not available (like, when you call your cable company a gazillion times when you can’t sign on AIM!)

Want to learn more about technology addicton? Check out the article at LIveScience here.