Are you addicted to your smartphone?
Photos: Metro Creative
More than 81% of Americans owns a smartphone, and there’s a growing problem of overuse.
Metro Creative
While the allure of smart devices is that they supposedly will make us feel more connected, overuse may have the opposite effect, says Dr. Bryan Lockmer, a psychiatrist with the Washington Health System.
How long has it been since you checked your smartphone for calls, texts or emails?
More than 81% of Americans owns a smartphone, and there’s a growing problem of overuse. Some research points to the potential for smartphone obsession or addiction and a need for a study of how their use affects mental health. Neuroimaging studies have even concluded that internet addiction and related smartphone and social media use demonstrate similar increases in brain activity to substance-related addictions.
“Use of smart devices and overuse is not a new phenomenon,” says Dr. Bryan Lockmer, a psychiatrist with the Washington Health System. “Unfortunately, there is a greater enmeshment of personal life and business given the use of our cellphones. While they do make our lives easier, they seemingly bind us, further alluding that a habit now becomes an obligation.”
Lockmer says he has seen a cultural shift in his practice of continual smartphone use spreading from only younger users to nearly all age groups.
“We are ‘on’ all the time, lessening the amount of time for electronic decompression and constantly being stimulated,” says Lockmer. He also points to reliance on technology for communicating as having negative effects on the development of interpersonal communication skills. While the allure of smart devices is that they supposedly will make us feel more connected, overuse may have the opposite effect. “In fact, persistent use often makes it difficult for one to be present in a given moment, for your work, or with those around you,” says Lockmer. “Because of the ability to text, of which many are now using a primary form of communication, interpersonal skills can suffer.”
Obsession or addiction?
Social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook can reinforce addictive behaviors.
“Every ‘like’ or notification someone receives causes a rush of dopamine throughout the reward pathways of the brain,” Lockmer explains. “Hence, it is pleasurable, yet reinforcing from a maladaptive perspective.” He says more people are presenting with attention focus problems and incorrectly believe they may have ADHD. “In actuality, the diffuse digital landscape of various ads and links and scrolling requires short bursts of attention,” Lockmer said. “Smartphone technology regularly interrupts mental and physical tasks throughout the day. This adds to further levels of distraction with likely other potential influences on cognition.”
Dr. Alicia Kaplan, medical director of Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Adult Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), agrees part of what fuels our anxiety about not checking our phones is that they have made it so easy to check on the welfare of loved ones.
“From an OCD standpoint, in those with the diagnosis, it can reinforce the condition and become part of the ritual,” Kaplan says. She warns it becomes unhealthy for us to be so dependent on our phones if the time spent on the phone takes away attention from the loved ones around us or alters the nature of the relationship. Kaplan notes a difference between symptoms of anxiety and actual disorders warranting medical attention.
“Patients with OCD usually realize that their behavior is extreme or does not make sense to them and due to shame or embarrassment they may go years without getting help,” Kaplan said. “They often feel that something terrible may happen if they can’t perform the ritual.” She goes on to differentiate between addiction and obsession with smartphones. “If someone can’t go a minute or two without checking their phone, addiction and obsession would need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis,” she said. “Are they checking their phone because they can’t resist the urge (addiction), or are they checking their phone in a repetitive ritualistic act (OCD)?”
Breaking the cycle
How can we begin to change our habits and break these behaviors? There are steps you can take, starting with allotting a specific amount of time for using your phone each day and only using it for specific tasks.
“Take a ‘digital detox,’ or create ways of making your cellphone use less attractive,” Lockmer said. “Delete various social media applications or games that were previously reinforcing cellphone use. Download a tracking app for your use and disable your phone’s notifications.”
One simple fix at night is to leave your phone in another room and rely on an alarm clock instead. “Incorporate your time with more physical activities or hobbies to help substantiate time away from cellphone use,” Lockmer said. “This also includes not having your phone with you during exercise, or only limiting use to music only. This can foster a greater sense of well-being and mindfulness.”
Kaplan recommends taking a mindful or intentional approach to gradually cutting down use. “This might be after work, leaving the phone in a different room for an hour,” she suggests. “During meals, keeping the phone at a distance in the household or all in the same spot of the house.”
Finally, Lockmer challenges us to do the most difficult thing of all: Leave your phone at home. “During social outings, it may be beneficial to leave the phone at home,” he says. “While a rebuttal may be, ‘What if there is an emergency?’, it’s important to realize that people succeeded and lived full lives well before the advent of smart communication.”