Can You Free Yourself From a Smartphone Addiction?
My phone is the first thing I look at when I wake up and the last thing I look at before falling asleep.
I take it everywhere I go, not just when leaving the house, but also as I move within a space — such as when going to the kitchen or even the bathroom.
I reach out to it subconciously, patting empty pockets until I find it. I have dreams in which I am using my phone. I cannot remember the last time I spent a day without it.
I think when writing that out in front of me, it is clear that I am addicted. If any of the thoughts above were relatable to you, odds are you are addicted too.
Has the awareness of my phone addiction impacted how I use my phone in my daily life? Maybe a tad, but not as much as it should.
Is there such a thing as a good addiction? By definition, no.
Psychologists define addiction as a disorder characterized by the following:
- There is an intense and persistent urge to use a substance or a engage in a behavior,
- The behavior or substance produces a reward response in the brain,
- There is substantial harm and negative consequences to the behavior or substance abuse.
I know number (1) applies to me because of all I listed at the start of this essay, and far too many studies have confirmed (2). What about number (3)?
The problem of smartphone addiction, for me, is not only that it is time consuming, but the time spent on my smartphone is neither productive nor is it particularly enjoyable. It adds very little, if any, value to my life. And because of the ways apps are set up to encourage addictive behavior, a whole thirty minutes can go by before I realize I don’t want to be on my phone and stop myself. That’s thirty minutes thrown in the trash.
Add that up thoughout the day and we are talking about hours, every day, thrown into the void of endless scrolling.
A survey conducted in February 2021 revealed that over 79% of respondents spend at least three hours a day on their smartphones for non-work related reasons, and the majority of them spend at least five hours on the dang devices!
There are good reasons to be on one’s phone, such as communicating with friends and family, reading the news, or ordering dinner, but so much of my smartphone usage feels empty, especially when it comes to social media.
According to my iPhone, I spend about three hours a day on it— and I definitely try not to be on my phone as much as my monkey brain would like me to! Still, three hours of pointless non-activity that neither rests not stimulates feel like a waste to me.
If I spent those hours watching TV, as least I’d be immersed in a story. If I spent any of that time pursuing a hobby, I would at least get some emotional fulfillment. Instead, all I get is a weekly notification on my phone that my usage has remained about the same. Sigh.
I speak from a place of privilege when I say I have never struggled with other types of addiction. Still, even an addiction as seemingly safe as a smartphone is still harmful. It takes time away from people I love. It takes my mind away from the present even when I want to be present.
It takes up more of my time and my mind than I would like it to, and yet I do not stop.
If that sounds like you too, then take a deep breath with me here. I would like to think there is hope for us.
I believe there are two strategies to diminishing smartphone addiction. The first one is through reducing the time spent on these devices.
This can be aided through apps that monitor the time I spend on my phone and warn me of such, not just weekly but as I use it throughout the day. Take that a step further with apps such as ScreenZen, which limits the amount of times you can open an app, the time you spend on it, and forces you to pause for a few seconds to check if you really want to open that app, or if its just a mindless urge.
Another source of help is accountability. If you have someone you live with or see regularly, let them know that you wish to use your phone less. Maybe you two can detox together.
Try to leave your phone away from you whenever possible, like when enjoying a meal or going for a walk. Try taking a sh*t without memes. Put your phone away from your bed, to help fight the instinct to scroll before bed or after waking up.
Another strategy is making the smartphone a device for more than emptiness. When I need to take the bus/metro to commute, I find myself on my phone even more often to pass the long, boring time. Most of my time on my smartphone, as I stated, feels void, but it doesn’t have to.
Try getting into podcasts! I like the informational ones, such as “Stuff You Should Know”, “Science Vs” and “Lingthusiasm”, but there are podcasts about everything, and they will all feel less like a brainfart than Instagram scrolling. (Another rec I have is Put Your Hands Together, which ended in 2019 but is full of short stand-up sets by a diverse array of comics. Jokes!)
Try language learning apps, such as Duolingo and Rosetta Stone. There are also audiobooks and e-books and odds are your library gives you access to those for free through Libby. Did you know Medium (where you are reading this) has an app, too?
Even games feel better than doomscrolling! I’m a fan of the New York Times games, and they have a free app in which you can play several word/puzzle games daily, including crossword puzzles and Wordle.
If you turn your smartphone into an arsenal of actual fulfilling activities, then the hours you spend on it won’t feel so empty.
It takes time, and smartphones are hard to quit cold-turkey. I believe that turning smartphone use into a mindful task as opposed to activating the doomscrolling muscle memory out of boredom is the key to owning our time again.
(If you need someone to help with accountability, feel free to comment here and we can help each other!)
