 right what you know what kind of signals and how many people are addicted and most importantly what are the negative outcomes of that addiction well really right now it's the biggest hurdle that you know we have as college professors getting people to just not to be distracted roberts is one of the earliest smartphone addiction researchers and he's looked at everything from tick tock's instant gratification appeal to the effects of phone snubbing as we chatted i kept thinking am i addicted to my phone