A pair of Australian professors is arguing that, evolutionarily speaking, our smartphones meet all the criteria of a parasite, and we should start treating them like one.

Writing in The Conversation, in a piece adapted from a paper published in the philosophical journal Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Associate Professor of Philosophy Rachael L. Brown and Professor of Evolution Rob Brooks explain that in nature, parasites like head lice or fleas benefit from their host (us) while offering nothing in return but discomfort and disease. In contrast, gut bacteria offer a mutually beneficial relationship.

For a while, smartphones seemed like the mutualistic kind of companion: they got our data and we got convenience. But things have changed. The relationship, they argue, is now one-sided.

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