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Curious About Kicking Cell Phone Addictions

BOSTON (CBS) - Whether it's in restaurants, at the grocery store or behind the wheel, it seems people are always on their cell phones.

It made Robert in Littleton Declare his Curiosity, complaining that:

"I think there should be a national cell phone shut-off day, to make people realize how life existed before cell phones."

While we don't have the power to make that happen, it did give WBZ-TV's David Wade an idea:

There's the "walk and talk," the "stop and study," the "I brake for text messages," and of course, the "table talk."

It's a societal addiction. I'd ask you what you think of it, but the "man on the street" interview is now impossible.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as bad. It made me wonder... what would it be like to put down the cellphone for a day?

Tweeting, ironically, from my phone, I asked for volunteers to give up their phones for a day, and found three: Vatche Arabian, Stephanie Silverstein and Dean Cavaretta. All three are addicted.

They documented their day with a taped confessional, and problems started early.

"I didn't start with an alarm clock in the morning because the cell phone is my main alarm clock," said Vatche.

"The first time I felt disconnected today, I was in line to buy coffee," said Stephanie. "Normally I'll check my phone and look at Twitter, and rather than getting my news that way, I actually picked up a print newspaper."

"I did cheat a couple of times," said Dean. "I forgot I was honoring the code of not picking up the cell phone."

Dean, Stephanie and Vatchay all agreed on one thing: they didn't really miss talking on the phone.

Did a 24-hour ban break their addiction? Maybe, maybe not.

"I got to be honest, I'm going right back to being the same guy I was," said Dean.

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