High-Tech Gadgets May Be Hazardous To Your Love Life

Houston, TX (AHN) - Before giving high-tech devices this Valentine, ponder first that those gadgets might be detrimental to your love life.

Overdependence on technology may be akin to substance abuse, according to The Menninger Clinic.

"We have become so accustomed to the luxuries of technology that we may be forgetting how to play, have personal connections and use coping skills in face-to-face interactions," says John O'Neill, director of addictions services for The Menninger Clinic.

There are warning signs, he says, especially when a person prefer text messages to person-to-person interaction.

Or the Internet, e-mail and cell phone use may be taking too much of one's time.

Another sign is constantly checking e-mails, text messages and cell phones. "When your cell phone ear piece becomes a permanent part of your wardrobe, that's a problem," O'Neill says.

The problem gets worse when gadgets take up one's attention than what is happening in real life.

"Observing people on a daily basis, it is easy to recognize how lost we have become in our own worlds," O'Neill says in The Menninger website. "Relationships with family and friends should include both body and mind."