Smartphone Addiction Has Turned Mobile Devices Into 'Our Other Limb' (VIDEO)

We all know we're attached to our smartphones, but sometimes the addiction doesn't really hit us until we're left without it.

Research shows that 73 percent of Americans would feel "panicked" if they lost their mobile phone, while 14 percent took it a step further and said they would feel "desperate" without their device. The prospect of taking a subway ride without a phone was "paralyzing" for HuffPost Live host Caitlyn Becker, who recently wrote about her anxiety after leaving her phone at the office.

"We have all gotten so used to having these appendages, these devices that are almost like our other limb, that when they're not there we start to panic," said HuffPost's Executive Lifestyle Editor Lori Leibovich during a conversation with HuffPost Live.

Part of the addiction to smartphones stems from our worry that something enormously important will happen while we're incommunicado, and we won't be able to react. But that worry is overblown, Leibovich said.

"The truth is there's almost never a life-and-death circumstance where someone is going to need you that badly, but we've just sort of forgotten about that because we're so used to having [our phones]," she said.

Check out the full conversation about smartphone addiction at HuffPost Live HERE: