Are You Addicted to Technology?

Next time you go out in public, maybe to a restaurant or to the mall, look around. How many people do you see looking down at their smart phones?

That’s the world we live in. Technology is everywhere, making life easier and more convenient, but also interfering in our lives in many ways.

We spend a lot of time using technology, to the point that some of us have become addicted. And like any other addiction, a technology addiction has a way of wrecking your budget.

So how can you spot a technology addiction before it turns into a budgeting nightmare? Ask yourself these questions.

Do I live without a plan?

In other words, do you budget for your technology purchases? Because if not, your tech habit is going to get the best of you at some point.

You might be able to get away with an addiction to $5 coffee for a little while, but there’s no fooling your budget when you’re spending hundreds of dollars a month on new “toys.”

Am I always the first one in line?

When the new iPhone is released, are you camping out in front of the store two days ahead of time—just so you can have the phone in your hand four hours before everyone who preordered it online?

The impact to your budget might be the same, but what else could you do with all that time? When you’re in debt, every waking hour is an hour in which you could be doing something to get out of debt.

Do many of my “just looking” trips to the store turn into “just buying something small” trips?

You’ve been there. You say that you just want to browse around and see what’s new. But before you know it, you’re walking out of the double doors with a new $50 router or Blu-ray player or something that was just “too good of a deal to pass up”!

Come on! That’s like an alcoholic walking into a bar just to “check out the new beers on the menu” without drinking one.

Does everyone at the retail store know my name?

Are you like Norm from Cheers when you walk into the LCD TV section of your local big-box store? That should be a sign, friend.

Maybe you need to take a break from the sales team at the store. Sure, they may be your buds, but they also know you’re a sucker for a good deal—and they get a commission on all those “deals” you keep buying.

Now remember, if you’re out of debt and you can actually afford to have a hobby as expensive as buying new technology, then go for it! That’s our disclaimer.

But if you constantly see your budget getting buried by phones and gadgets and computers and televisions, then we think you might have a technology addiction.

Is it time for an intervention?