翻訳お願いします
If you think Japan is cellphone-obsessed , a recent poll found that all over the world people are closer than ever to their cellphones.
A recent Time survey of eight countries reported that people nowadays feel they simply cannot live without their mobile devices.
Cellphones have transformed the way we live and the way we feel.
In the countries where the poll was conducted (the U.S. , the U.K. , China , India , South Africa , Indonesia and Brazil) , 43 percent of people said their cellphone was the first and last thing they looked at every day.
An amazingly high 68 percent of respondents said they put their cellphone right next to their bed , and another 16 percent said they placed it in the bedroom while they slept.
People are becoming closer to their devices than ever before.
That might not be love , but it's close.
Humans have always been fond of domesticated animals and pets – dog , cats , horses – but never before in human history have people developed such close relationship to technological devices.
Is that cause for concern or just an interesting shift?
Whatever the answer , cellphones are very much like an addiction.
One-third of those surveyed admitted that being without their phone for even short periods left them anxious.
The poll found that one in five people cheek their phone every 30 minutes.
About the same number cheek their phone every 10 minutes.
That anxiety and compulsiveness is similar to how people sometimes act when they fall in love.
And yet , most people in the poll felt that their cellphone was a positive addition to their lives.
Just over 80 percent said they felt more safe and secure knowing they could get help anytime they needed it.
Most also felt having a cellphone helped them achieve a better work-life balance , partially because cellphone made business more efficient.
So , even though cellphone have become a sort of fetish , the benefits were plain.
Cellphones seem to mesh with life easily and completely.
A majority reported using their cellphones while doing the most basic activities in life riding public transportation , watching TV or attending a party.
An astonishing 17 percent said they check their cellphone regardless of whom they are dining with.
Cellphones distract and focus attention.
What other bit of technology is so diverse and so flexible?
Cellphones are like a screen onto which we project our needs.
In the future , whether cellphones adapt to humans or humans change to fit cellphones remains to be seen.
Ways may yet be found in which cellphones contribute substantially to improving our personal well-being and interpersonal relationships.
Will we become closer to our gadgets or , like disappointed lovers , will the relationship between human and phone somehow break up?
The end of this affair will not be anytime soon.
Cellphone-obsessed:携帯電話のとりこになった
poll:調査
closer than ever to ~:かつてなく~が身近で
mobile devices:モバイル機器
have transformed:~を一変させた
amazingly:驚くほど
respondents:回答者
right next to ~:~のすぐ横に
it's close:愛に近い
domesticated animals:家畜
cause for concern:心配の種
shift:変化
addiction:中毒
those surveyed:調査を受けた人たち
Periods:時間
compulsiveness:強迫観念に捕らわれること
similar to ~:~に似ている
And yet:しかしながら
positive:好ましい
secure:安心な
achieve:~を達成する
work-life balance:仕事と生活の両立
partially:一つには
efficient:効率的な
fetish:盲目的な崇拝物
benefits:恩恵
plain:はっきりした
mesh with ~:~に溶け込む
completely:完全に
astonishing:驚くべき
regardless of ~:~に関わらず
are dining with:一緒に食事をしている
distract:(気を)そらす
diverse:多様な
flexible:融通の利く
project:~を投影する
adapt to ~:~に適合する
fit:~に合わせる
remains to be seen:まだわからない
contribute substantially to ~:~を大いに寄与する
well-being:幸福
interpersonal relationships:対人関係
gadgets:機器
disappointed:失恋した