(CNN)Zombies have taken over the streets of Seoul.
No, it"s not a scene from the latest Korean summer blockbuster, "Train to Busan," where the living dead take control of a speeding train.
Instead, these are South Korea"s smartphone zombies: distracted walkers wandering the city"s sidewalks and wide boulevards, seemingly oblivious to everything except the latest text, alert, or notification on their phone.
"Research shows about 15% of smartphone users in South Korea are addicted," says Hyun-Seob Cho, a psychologist and Professor of Addiction Rehabilitation at Chongshin University.
Some of the warning signs you might be addicted, Cho says: feeling like your phone is an extension of your body, and getting nervous when you don"t have your phone.
One of most extreme examples: a man who insisted on bringing his smartphone everywhere, including into the shower.
Cho says the trouble with smartphone addiction is there"s no easy fix, because it"s not realistic to ask someone to go cold turkey.
Instead, she says, people need to exercise a little self-control, and be willing to delay the instant gratification that comes with every text, tap, and swipe, if only for a few seconds.
"I think I am a smartphone zombie, and I think I should change," says Shin Ji-won, a nurse. "But it"s not easy to put down the phone from my hand."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/14/south-korea-smartphone-zombie/index.html
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