Nomophobia - or no mobile phone phobia - the onset of severe anxiety on losing access to your smartphone has been talked about for years. But in Asia, the birthplace of the selfie stick and the emoji, psychologists say smartphone addiction is fast on the rise and the addicts are getting younger.

　　无手机恐惧症——不能用智能手机就出现严重焦虑这一话题已经讨论了好几年了。心理学家认为，在自拍杆和表情符号的发源地亚洲，越来越多的人对手机上瘾，上瘾的人群年龄段也越来越小。

　　A recent study surveyed almost 1,000 students in South Korea, where 72% of children own a smartphone by the age of 11 or 12 and spend on average 5.4 hours a day on them - as a result about 25% of children were considered addicted to smartphones. The study, to be published in 2016 found that stress was an important indicator of your likelihood to get addicted.

　　最近韩国一项研究调查了大约1000名学生，其中72%的孩子到了11或12岁就会有自己的智能手机，他们平均每天花5.4个小时在上面，结果有大约25%的孩子被认为对智能手机上瘾了。这项研究将会在2016年发表，根据该研究，压力是你的孩子可能上瘾的一项重要指标。

　　Smartphones are central to many societies but they have been integrated into Asian cultures in many ways: there is the obligatory "food porn" photograph at the beginning of any meal; in Japan it is an entire subculture with its own name - keitai culture.

　　智能手机在很多国家都很重要，但是在很多方面，智能手机已经融入了亚洲文化：每次吃饭前都必须发一下美食图片;在日本，甚至已经有一个词专门形容与手机相关的亚文化，“keitai文化”。“keitai”意为“携帯”，大意为“可随身携带之物”，这里主要指手机。

　　Asia and its 2.5bn smartphone users provides a stream of phone-related "mishap news", such as the Taiwanese tourist who had to be rescued after she walked off a pier while checking Facebook on her phone. Or the woman from China's Sichuan province rescued by fire fighters after falling into a drain while looking at her phone.

　　在亚洲25亿智能手机用户中，发生了一系列与手机有关的“灾祸新闻”，比如一名台湾游客因用手机看脸书掉落码头获救。又比如，一名中国四川女子在看手机时掉进下水道，消防人员将其救出。

　　They may make for slapstick headlines but in Singapore too the concern is that those most vulnerable are getting younger. With its population of just 6 million, it has one of the world's highest smartphone penetration rates. It also has specialists in digital addiction, a cyber wellness clinic and a campaign to see digital addiction be formally recognised.

　　“玩手机而不慎……”类似的新闻标题并不少见，在新加坡情况也不容乐观，患上手机依赖的人往往是那些年龄较小、最脆弱的人群。新加坡人口只有六百万，但是其智能手机普及率居世界首位。新加坡只有六百万人，但却是世界上智能手机普及率最高的地方。新加坡有专家专门研究如何对抗电子产品上瘾，有帮助人们学会健康上网的诊所，也有人们倡议，将数码产品使用上瘾列为临床病症正规治疗。

　　"Youths lack that level of maturity, making it harder for them to manage smartphone usage as they don't have self-control," said Chong Ee-Jay, manager of Touch Cyber Wellness Centre in Singapore.

　　“年轻人没有那么成熟，也缺乏自控能力，难以不使用智能手机，”来自新加坡触爱网络健全中心(Touch Cyber Wellness Centre)的经理庄恩杰表示。

　　He has serious concerns about how young children behave when they get phones.

　　他十分担心儿童拿到手机后如何使用。

　　"They are readily available to very young children here as part of their school curriculum," he said. In Singapore it is not uncommon for homework assignments to be set via WhatsApp.

　　他说:“儿童能够使用手机，因为学校已经把智能手机当做课程设计得一部分了。” 在新加坡，许多作业都是通过手机社交应用WhatsApp布置给学生的。

　　In South Korea, 19-year-old student Emma Yoon (not her real name) has been undergoing treatment for nomophobia since April 2013.

　　哪怕是成年学生，也不一定能抵御手机的“魔力”。韩国一名19岁的学生尹艾玛(化名)从2013年4月起就开始接受对抗“无机恐惧症”的治疗。

　　"My phone became my world. It became an extension of me.

　　“手机就是我的世界，它成为了我身体的一部分。”

　　"My heart would race and my palms grew sweaty if I thought I lost my phone. So I never went anywhere without it."

　　“一想到我的手机不见了，我就会心跳加速，手心冒汗。所以无论去哪里，我都带着它。”

　　Ms Yoon's parents also said that their daughter's smartphone usage amplified other behavioural problems she was exhibiting. She began to retreat from hobbies and school activities.

　　尹小姐的父母也说，“无机恐惧症”加重了他们女儿其它行为上的问题。她开始逃避兴趣拓展和其它社交活动。

　　Eat, shoot, post - Many smartphone users in Asia actively make use of Instagram to document their meal

　　吃、拍照、发图。亚洲很多智能手机用户经常利用Instagram记录吃的食物

　　More young children regularly use smartphones around Asia

　　在亚洲，越来越多的小孩子经常使用智能手机

　　Many people will recognise the feeling of anxiety when the pocket feels strangely light but the difference here is that the phone becomes the focus of other problems and anxieties. The South Korean study also found that people who used their smartphones for social media purposes were more likely to get addicted.

　　很多人会承认，如果发现口袋空空，他们会感到很焦虑。手机成为人们发泄焦虑、转移注意力的渠道。韩国的这份研究也称，用手机玩社交媒体的人更容易上瘾。

　　The device is seen as the sole key to wider human contact. Vulnerable children and young adults can feel adrift and unable to connect to others without it. In some Asian societies, where students are set heavy and time-consuming homework tasks to complete on their own, the phone is the only connection to to friends, humour and sharing. So it can assume a disproportionate importance.

　　智能手机成为了获取更广阔的人际交往的唯一钥匙。如果没有智能手机，易受影响的小孩和年轻人会觉得茫然无措，无法联系其他人。在一些亚洲国家，学生们作业任务重，需要花很多时间独立完成，手机是他们联系朋友、找乐子、分享的唯一渠道。所以它太重要了。

　　Here in Hong Kong - protesters hold up their smartphones to light up the night skie

　　在香港，示威者们拿起智能手机，照亮了夜晚的天空。

　　Selfie king? Political leaders like India's Narendra Modi have been reaching new audiences using social media and smartphones

　　自拍之王?政治领导人，比如印度的纳伦德拉·莫迪(Narendra Modi)通过社交媒体和智能手机与新观众们互动。

　　Experts told the BBC that younger smartphone users lacked the "maturity" needed in curbing everyday usage

　　专家告诉BBC记者，智能手机的年轻用户不够“成熟”，无法控制手机的日常使用。

　　Several countries have started imposing regulations on smartphone usage.

　　亚洲有些国家开始颁布条令管理智能手机的使用了。

　　A controversial government app to monitor smartphone usage among teenagers sparked heated debate in South Korea. Officials also imposed a series of measures in 2011 banning children from accessing online games after midnight.

　　韩国政府就推出了一款饱受争议的软件，用来监测青少年对手机的使用。2011年，官员们还施行了一系列法令禁止青少年在午夜之后接触在线网络游戏。

　　China, one of the first countries to label internet addictions as clinical disorders, set upmilitary-style clinics to stamp out new media addictions.

　　中国是首先将网络成瘾列为临床疾病的国家之一，它设立了军事化管理的诊所来治疗数字媒体带来的瘾症。

　　Consultant psychiatrist Thomas Lee argues that other countries in Asia should follow suit and classify smartphone addictions as "official mental disorders" in the way sex and gambling have been designated.

　　精神科顾问医生李托马斯认为，在亚洲的其他国家应该紧跟步伐，将智能手机上瘾列入“精神障碍病症的官方名录”，就像对待色情和赌博那样。

　　"Using a smartphone to benit one's mood is almost similar to how drugs are able to affect a person's behaviour," said Mr Lee.

　　“使用智能手机来使自己心情愉悦就跟毒品能够影响一个人的行为差不多，”李说道。

　　"Like drug addicts, smartphone addicts will also display withdrawal symptoms like restlessness, anxiety and even anger."

　　“就像毒品上瘾一样，智能手机成瘾也会出现一些脱瘾症状，比如不安、焦虑，甚至是愤怒。”

　　Watch your step - This smartphone sidewalk appeared in the Chinese city of Chongqing

　　走路当心!在中国的重庆市出现了一条智能手机人行道

　　But there is a strong counter-argument that this is all overblown and simply part of modern society's tendency to overthink itself. Singapore-based Clinical psychologist Professor Marlene Lee says technology disorders are not a new phenomenon.

　　但是，也有人强烈反驳，认为人们把使用手机的习惯妖魔化了，这是现代社会容易产生的一种过虑现象。新加坡的MarleneLee教授认为，技术引发精神症状并不是什么新鲜事。

　　"Research is still preliminary so there are still many unanswered questions at this point. Technology addictions actually share the same underlying mechanisms as other addictions; they just have new 'faces'," she said.

　　“相关研究暂处初步阶段，还有许多未解之谜。技术带来的上瘾症状通常拥有共通的原理，它们仅仅是长了‘新面孔’而已。” Marlene Lee教授说。

　　Her argument has support from psychiatrist Adrian Wang who says he is reluctant to diagnose such addictions to avoid "medicalising social problems, as they are simply "part of larger social problems like family and self-esteem issues".

　　她的观点得到了精神病学家王艾德里安(Adrian Wang)的支持，王先生表示，他不愿意诊断这些上瘾症状，认为这可能导致“把社会问题过分医疗化”，因为这些仅仅是“像家庭、自尊问题相关的社会问题的一部分”。

　　There will doubtless be another smartphone-related innovation born in Asia, which will catch on just like the selfie stick, the animated avatar and the emoji. Psychologists across this vast and varied continent hope that what will be shared is something positive and creative and not just anxiety.

　　看起来亚洲必然会诞生一场与智能手机相关的革新了，就跟诞生自拍杆还有emoji表情一样。这片广袤大陆上的心理专家们希望，亚洲人分享的将是一些积极、创新的东西，而不是智能设备带来的焦虑。

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