Get this, two preteens in Spain (ages 12 and 13) are getting treated for their cell phone addiction. Their parents decided to take them to the hospital when they were unable to function without their phones. How crazy! I didn't even get a cell phone until I was driving and even now that I do have one I keep it on all the time, but I could go without it, even though one time I left it at home when I went to work and I just felt scared because what if I had gotten a flat tire or something and couldn't get help..

Hospitals are for emergencies... a cell phone obsession is not an emergency lol.  It's not that hard to take a cell phone away from your kid, right?  There wre a few times when I was obsessed with the house phone before I had a cell phone.  My parents would have to snatch the phone away from me at 3-4 in the morning.  Or me and my friends would prank call everyone in the school and make my parents so mad. 

Did you know that there really isn't even a cell phone addiction yet according to experts? Today in Forbes mag had an article on this subject and although it might not have a name in the medical world, I think someday soon there will be like alcohol, gambling and drugs.

How can someone be that addicted to their cell phone?  I can turn my phone off once in a while just to get some peace, but I'm not going to sit there and fret over who's calling and who's not.  I'm not really sure I get the whole cell phone addiction, are they actually addicted to their phone, like the Internet and all of the features, or are they addicted to talking to friends, or both?

I think the addiction involves pretty much everything you mentioned: the newest phone, best ringtones, an obsession with texting and calling.  Just like a gambler would get excited after winning some money and they keep playing until they win again, a cell phone addict would keep texting over and over despite being over their bill for example.  I heard that currently 84% of the population has a cell phone, so potentially, cell phone addiction could become a national epidemic really fast lol.  People get obsessed with things really easy, like when I got my iphone, I couldn't put it down and I was so excited to get a text because it's actually really entertaining to use.  But now I'm like whatever lol, I can't possibly still be addicted to it.