Learn Dutch: Hij gebruikt de smartphone zonder verslaafd te worden. - He uses the smartphone without becoming addicted.

zonder means "without". To say "without doing something", Dutch uses zonder + the rest of the phrase + te + infinitive. Here, the extra information is verslaafd (addicted) and the infinitive is worden (to become), giving us zonder verslaafd te worden.

Why does verslaafd come before te worden?

In a prepositional infinitive clause, the te plus the verb always goes at the very end. Any other information belonging to that clause, like the adjective verslaafd, gets sandwiched between the starting preposition (zonder) and the te + infinitive.

Why do we use worden here instead of zijn?

worden means "to become", so verslaafd te worden translates to "to become addicted" (or "becoming addicted"). If you used zijn (to be), the sentence would mean "without being addicted" (zonder verslaafd te zijn), which changes the meaning slightly.

Could I use another verb instead of worden to mean "getting addicted"?

Yes! A very common alternative in Dutch is raken (to get/become). You will often hear zonder verslaafd te raken (without getting addicted), which means exactly the same thing in this context.