Americans of late seem as driven as squirrels raiding bird feeders. It’s not sunflower seeds they seek, rather, it is data. And as with voracious squirrels, there seems to be no end to it: People check smartphones in supermarket lines, while waiting for a bus or waiting at a red light (a police officer may advise whether this violates traffic laws.) They check as they push baby strollers or walk dogs — and perhaps in the most intimate of acts. We presume they check phones at funerals, their minds never resting in peace.

Those who shake their heads in disapproval at smartphone addiction, which, if not a real addiction is a growing affliction, received validation last week from the American Psychological Association, which said that “constant checkers’’ of phones and other devices are paying a price. Just as social media use is on the rise, so is stress.

According to the APA, 43 percent of Americans say they check emails, texts or social media accounts constantly. They also report a much higher level of stress. The highest level is found among those who regularly check emails on their so-called days off. Note that France has enacted a “right to disconnect’’ law to give employees the right to ignore work emails during off hours — but don’t expect our pro-business Congress to follow suit, and President Trump is part of the problem, not the solution, with his pre-dawn tweets.

Bloomberg News reported last week that 65 percent of respondents to a survey on stress and technology said unplugging from digital devices, a “digital detox,’’ is important, but only 28 percent of them actually do it. At least they admit they are powerless against their digital obsession.

Help, admittedly modest, may be on the way. A Finnish company has announced that it is bringing back the Nokia 3310, which, compared with the newest smartphones, is not all that bright. Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky wrote that it has a puny 2.4 inch screen, and plays classic games, although not particularly well. It will do internet tasks, but not compellingly. It’s rugged and inexpensive and he seems to want one, since he says he’s among those who checks his phone an awful lot. “I’m not alone in feeling that using a smartphone is making my life more fragmented and thus possibly poorer,’’ he declared.

But can most people really roll back their cellphone technology, when there’s always another new iPhone around the corner? We don’t hold much hope in the short term — this period of excess probably has to run its course. Eventually contrarians and reformers may rediscover something centuries old — the sabbath, which, when it wasn’t completely optional, gave people a chance to unplug from the toils and snares of their lives. A smartphone sabbath may have to be repackaged and marketed for these secular times, but people truly need moments of blessed relief, even if they don’t know it quite yet.