We're getting so hung up on our smartphones that we can't stop ourselves

Doug Ross, 31, wakes every morning to a screen full of notifications.

He receives updates from news apps, chats from co-workers and e-mails from clients, all beckoning to be answered before the workday even starts. As a consultant for the software company Adobe, he has alerts pouring in the rest of the day. He usually answers within seconds, rarely letting his phone get out of reach.

"I never have it away from my person," he said of his phone. "That gives me anxiety. It bothers me, because I know what is going to be on the phone when I get back to it, or what I'm going to miss."

Many people find the constant dings, rings, buzzes and beeps that come from their computers and cellphones impossible to ignore. Experts say it's a sign of our dependency on technology, which validates and entertains us while also cutting into our productivity and altering our attention span for the worse.

When a cellphone, laptop computer or smartwatch makes a noise, it produces mental and physical reactions in people, said Larry Rosen, a psychology professor emeritus at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and author of "The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World." Their heart rates increase. Their skin tingles. They grow increasingly antsy with every minute they don't look at the screen.

"We've trained ourselves, almost like Pavlov's dogs, to figuratively salivate over what that vibration might mean," Rosen said. "If you don't address the vibrating phone or the beeping text, the signals in your brain that cause anxiety are going to continue to dominate, and you're going to continue feeling uncomfortable until you take care of them."

The reaction is so ingrained that it kicks in even without a prompt, Rosen said. The average person checks their cellphone about 60 times per day, or nearly four times each waking hour, whether they hear a sound or not, according to one of his recent studies.

Sometimes, people even hear "phantom rings," where they think their phone is going off but it isn't, said David Laramie, a Beverly Hills psychologist who coined the term "ringxiety."

Ross said he sometimes feels a buzzing in his right pocket when he knows his phone is in his left. "It's definitely a real thing," he said of the phantom rings.

The reasons for the obsession are manifold, experts said. When people could communicate only by landline, messages were left on answering machines, with no expectation for a prompt response. Now, a cellphone is a constant companion that takes in e-mails and texts as well as updates from social media networks — not to mention the occasional phone call.

"It's wonderful, powerful technology, but it's really seductive, and you need to be deliberate about how you use it," Laramie said.

Many people can't escape their technology because they rely on it for work, said Whitson Gordon, editor in chief of a tech website, "How to Geek." Gordon works from his home, and said he used to feel tension over every sound his devices made, fearing it was an urgent question from a co-worker when it often was just a mundane notification from an app.

When it comes to apps, most ask the user directly after download whether they'd like to receive notifications. If it's not crucial to your daily duties, say no. The key to efficient cell use is "about just filtering the stuff that's actually important," Gordon said.

Laramie said he works with many of his patients on how to decrease their screen time, whether it means putting the phone in another room or even just in another pocket.

"It becomes draining to always be on call, to always be concerned with the phone," he said. "It's just perpetual awareness."

Another solution, Rosen said, is to put yourself on a schedule, such as limiting yourself to checking your phone once every hour on the hour.

He also suggests an attention-span test. Set a phone alarm for 15 minutes. Put your phone face down, somewhere near you. Get engaged in another task and keep doing it until the alarm goes off. Check your phone. Start over.