Last month I received a notification on my smartphone, ‘Screen time Weekly report’ notifying me I averaged 7 hours and 23 minutes of screen time per day that week. Which made me take a moment and reflect. I didn’t remember being on my phone for that long, is that really how long I spent on my phone each day on average? In total, that’s more than 2 whole days spent looking at my smartphone, which is insane when you think about it.
I know that smartphone addiction is coming to the forefront and is a big issue that we need to talk about more often, but I believe it needs to be bigger. People associate addiction to more extreme things like drugs and alcohol but the seriousness of smartphone addiction is not much different and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Excessive smartphone usage is affecting us in ways we don’t even realise and that is a big part of the problem. Excessive smartphone usage is affecting our productivity like never before. Relationships of all kinds are suffering with more and more people substituting virtual relationships for real life relationships. An online help-guide for smartphone addiction states:
“Compulsive use of dating apps can change your focus to short-term hook-ups instead of developing long-term relationships”
It is difficult to fully grasp that a seemingly innocent tool we all carry around and have become so heavily dependent on in this modern age, can be negatively impacting our lives in ways we can’t even imagine. Not to mention in addition to our smartphone usage the time we spend on other devices like laptops and tablets, it all significantly adds up.
The affect smartphone addictions is having on our mental health is unparalleled as we are becoming increasingly lonely, depressed, anxious and stressed due to excessive smartphone usage. The overload of constant notifications, messages and emails is overwhelming our brains. It is making it impossible to focus without wanting to move on to something else, as we become more and more accustomed to the dopamine hits we receive from mindlessly clicking and scrolling.
Having your smartphone within sight whilst trying to focus can significantly reduce your productivity. Excessive smartphone use is diminishing our ability to concentrate and think deeply or creatively. Due to the lack of concentration, being distracted and inattentive, there are increasingly fewer people who have hobbies and interests that they fully explore and experience.
Other online addictions, that are so readily available to us via our smartphones, like gambling, online shopping and impulse buying are enormous issues in themselves that need to be scrutinised and looked at.
Russel Clayton, the lead author of a study on smartphone addiction says:
“iPhones are capable of becoming an extension of our selves such that when separated, we experience a lessening of ‘self’ and a negative physiological state”
There is now a term for the fear of being without your smartphone, ‘Nomophobia’, short for ‘no mobile phone phobia’ which is a real thing, a kind of modern age mental disorder.
So what can we do to curb this? First and foremost, I believe it is important to simply be aware and acknowledge the time spent on our smartphones. This will allow us to track and consciously take action to reduce the number of hours spent on our smartphones. Most smartphones now carry the feature to track your smartphone usage, which can be a pretty helpful tool. If your smartphone doesn’t have this feature then you can keep a log and track this yourself.
I have found that becoming comfortable with not doing anything, is helpful and important. We are constantly checking our phones and sometimes do this, when we just want something to do or purely out of habit. It’s important to understand that every second and minute we find ourselves not doing something, that time doesn’t need to be filled by checking your phone. This is where we can so easily become overwhelmed and unfocused.
If you are someone that spends a lot of time on your smartphone and not doing much else then it would be a good idea to consider putting your phone away and finding other things to do. In the beginning it will be challenging and difficult to focus, on say reading a book, but with consistency and determination this will improve.
Recognising triggers can significantly help any addiction. If for example you find yourself reaching for your phone as a coping mechanism for your mood, or you’re struggling with anxiety and depression, then recognising what triggers this would allow you to do something about it.
Simply putting your phone away and out of sight can help reduce mindlessly checking your phone. By not taking your phone with you everywhere, places like the toilet and shower or to bed can help greatly, with the added bonus of your sleep quality. I have read a lot of people like to reward themselves time to use their smartphone, for things like social media. This can be a great way to increase productivity if you for example, give yourself 20 minutes of social media time for every 2 hours spent doing something productive. This would gradually build better habits and how you use your smartphone.
If you do recognise that you have a smartphone addiction and find that you can’t seem to pull yourself away from your device and it is negatively impacting your life, relationships and mental health. Then it is down to you to take action and to do something about it. As we are everyday becoming increasingly dependent on our smartphones, we need to find a healthy balance with the usage. Small steps, consistency and taking some form of action will add up over time and you will be able to slowly change your habits.
