I was on a Eurostar from Paris to London a few months back, with a family of 5 next to me. The daughter, about 13 or 14, didn't stop playing ?Angry Birds (not sure) on her device for the entire 2.5 hour trip, even when the meal was served in front of her. Scary.
Sadly for the attention-grabbing headline, "as bad as alcohol or gambling" means, for most people, "barely addictive at all"...