Now this interview here is gonna take about 30 minutes.

Are you gonna be able to make it 30

minutes without looking at your phone? I'm gonna try it, yes. You sure? You all right? I can do it.

Jason Clarke loves his smartphone. No surprise there, he's a 15 year old. But he's so attached to
it, his family worries he might actually one day need therapy to get his phone habit under control.

You've been on the phone, how much time? Four hours. Four hours. Four hours. And it's just
three o'clock and they have to go. We asked Jason to put an app on his phone to track his phone
use. So what was yesterday? Yesterday, six hours. Six hours.

His mom, Tamika, says there are days it's been eight, even 12 hours. At home, at school, the
library. A library with books. Right? I make me feel bad. Between social media, music, texting and
gaming, the hours add up. And mom says she thinks his phone use has crossed the line.

When you're talking about addiction, you're talking about I can't live without it. You think he's
dependent on that phone? Oh, I know he is.

Cell phone addiction isn't officially designated as a clinical disorder, like drug or alcohol
addiction. But Dr. Edward Spector thinks it should be. He treats exclusively people for what he
calls compulsive use of technology. Their brains change in similar ways to real chemical addicts.

That sounds nuts. Well, if you talk to the parents of my clients, they come in and they say, my
kid's like a junkie. They feel like it's an addiction.

But when does it go from being normal, acceptable teenage behavior to a problem that needs to
be addressed? Spector says, don't just focus on the hours. When we talk about compulsion, it's
not the behavior, it's whether you have control over it.

Clark says she worries her son fits the definition and his compulsion is affecting other parts of
his life. She says as his smartphone use has gone up, his grades have gone down and she's
noticed changes in his behavior.

Do you think he could be on the path that at some point it's not enough to just take the phone
from him, that you might have to get him some help? When somebody freaks out because you're
taking something that they have an emotional attachment to, it is an addiction.

Jason says there's nothing abnormal about his phone use and doesn't believe it has a major
impact on other parts of his life, though he does admit he could probably stand to cut back.

Later. Now, I'm about to end this interview. What's the first thing you're gonna do? Check my
phone.