We have an intimate relationship with our phones. We sleep with them, eat with them and carry them in our pockets.

We check them, on average, 47 times a day and 82 times if you are between 18 and 24 years old.

We love them for good reason: They tell the weather and the time of day.

They find us dates (and sex), entertain us with music and connect us to friends and family.

They answer our questions and calm our feelings of loneliness and anxiety.

Dear Cell Phone,

you have been a part of my life since the I was 12. I was excited to have you, you were so beautiful.

I upgraded you for an iPhone. Now that you were an iPhone, I could do so many things with you!

I could take pictures and videos, I could check the weather, I could listen to music, and I could check Facebook. We became inseparable.

You have made it hard for me to simply take a walk outside without bringing you along and needing to document what I am doing.

I know you will always be there for me if people cancel on me, if I am bored, or if I have to go somewhere alone.

I especially love traveling with you, even though you have to go to sleep when we are on the plane.

I am really happy that you came into my life.

I love you.

But phone Love can go too far, so far that it can interfere with Human Love, old fashioned face-to-face intimacy with that living and breathing being you call your partner, spouse, lover or significant other.

The conflict between phone Love and human Love is so common, it has its own lexicon. If you are snubbing your partner in favor of your phone it is called ‘phubbing’ (phone + snubbing).

If you are snubbing a person in favour of any type of technology, it is called technoference.