I have never been a real big phone person. By phone person, I mean, one that pays particular attention to proactively picking up the phone and calling someone. Not to say that when you get me on the phone, I don’t spend a lot of time on it. I truly enjoy talking on the phone with friends and family. It just never occurs to me proactively call someone, unless I have something specific I want to tell them.

Despite this, I think that picking up the phone and calling people regarding work is the clearest way to communicate, despite the availability and dependability of email and text message. It allows lawyers to speak and hear each other’s voices and the inflections and pauses that are so necessary to make when you are having a frank and honest discussion. Yes, email and text provide us type-A professionals with a clear record of conversations, but they very much lack the human element of communication that allows us to interpret each other’s true motives and emotions through speech. I am just not a person who has historically been tethered to my phone like some others are. I am the type of person that would (and could) walk out the door in the morning without my phone, and not really miss it most of the day.

That all changed drastically when two major things in my life happened: 1) I had a child and 2) I went into private practice. When I had my child and went back to work, I had to stay near my phone in case of emergencies. But, my phone connectivity went to a whole new level when I went into private practice. I felt I had to stay physically connected to my phone at all times in order to be a diligent private practitioner. So, as I hustled on with private practice, never untethering from my phone, I didn’t realize when it became clear that I was starting to become addicted to my phone. Oh Lord…I had become one of those people. How could I have let this happen? Yes, I was in private practice, but did that mean that I could no longer be without my phone? Awwww, hell no….

I have found that the cellular phone has become a necessary tool of the trade for the practicing lawyer. We all have cellular phones now. Even the oldest of practitioners had to cave in and get one when it became apparent that if you didn’t have one, you were very much missing out on business. The office needed to know where you were. Clients needed to be able to get in contact with you at every waking moment. Judges and clerks needed to have your number, just in case you were running late to a hearing and needed to apprise the court of your estimated time of arrival. When you are on the go, you need the ability to do more work by utilizing email to communicate with other attorneys to do…you name it….more work. I think the days of us going without our phones during the workday are done. Cellular phones have become as necessary as pens, I mean if you don’t have a pen, at least you can type whatever it is into a memo app on your cell phone, right?

So, I think I have resigned myself to the fact that my phone is a necessary tool of my trade as a practicing attorney.

So what is the problem? The problem is that our phones are a large distraction to us. They make us have to be “on” at all times, and don’t allow us the necessary time away from our work in order to breathe, reflect, and rest. They have become more of an addiction as opposed to a tool of the trade. You don’t see (or I don’t see at least) plumbers walking around with pipe wrenches or plumber’s putty always in their hands or in their back pockets or taking those tools to bed. You don’t see chefs always carrying around their knives in their back pockets (dangerous). Those professionals get to step away from their implements, so why can’t we?

Just on a lark, I googled the phrase “cellular phone addiction” and so many articles and resources came up. There is actually a “disorder” named “nomophobia” which is defined as the fear of being without one’s electronic device. According to Dr. Nicole Davies, Ph.D. from a 2018 article she wrote for www.psychiatryadvisor.com named “Nomophobia: The Modern Day Pathology”, nomophobia is akin to a type of separation anxiety disorder where a person can experience symptoms ranging from increased heart rate and blood pressure and shortness of breath to trembling, depression, fear and discomfort when they are separated from their devices. I think us lawyers need a CLE type yearly required assessment for this one….