Phone addiction and what you can do about it

Quick summary

– Phone addiction is widely recognized as a behavioral addiction.
– To combat phone addiction, you can start by setting your phone to Do Not Disturb, making the screen grayscale, set time limits for apps etc.
– You might have to permanently stop using certain apps.

Many people nowadays are experiencing symptoms of “phone addiction” – the need to keep checking your phone, scrolling the second you have a spare moment, experiencing insomnia due to staring at your screen late at night, and similar.

It’s no surprise that there’s a growing discussion about social media and mental health, and especially among teens and young adults.

We’ll go over the symptoms of phone addiction and what you can do to take back control over your phone usage.

What is phone addiction?

While not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, phone addiction is acknowledged by many medical professionals as a behavioral addiction.

The user experiences the symptoms of an addiction, but it’s the behavior, not a specific substance (like a drug or alcohol), that provides a feeling of euphoria or relaxation.

Some other examples of behavioral addictions include addictions to video games, food, or shopping.

The relationship between smartphones and mental health

The relationship between smartphones and mental heath is highly debated. It’s a chicken or egg problem – are smartphones and social media that cause of mental health disorders, or are people with mental health disorders more drawn to social media and escaping into the virtual world?

Either way, there is a growing amount of literature out there that confirms an existence of an association between excessive smartphone use and negative mental and physical health outcomes. As of February 2023, there were 55 studies that found a significant correlation, and 11 that found no relationship, or nearly no relationship between social media and mental health issues. For example:

A recent study from 2022 found a significant association between cell phone excess use and mental (mood changes, depression) and physical (back and neck pain) health problems.
Another study from 2019 found a positive association between mobile phone addiction and adolescents’ anxiety and depression.
A 2016 review outlined that problematic use of cell phones has been associated with changes in personality factors.

There’s also an interesting study on the association between non- and low-intensity smartphone use and mental well-being. This 2022 paper found that non-users (4.3%) reported worse mental health and well-being than smartphone users on all outcomes:

Compared to non-users, smartphone users reported significantly higher levels of bridging, bonding and sensation seeking, and lower levels of aggression-hostility and anxiety-neuroticism.

Significant positive linear associations were found between time spent using a smartphone and primary and vocational education, age, bridging, aggression-hostility, sociability, anxiety-neuroticism and sensation seeking, whereas a significant negative linear association was found with bonding.
Studer, Joseph, et al. “Associations between smartphone use and mental health and well-being among young Swiss men.” Journal of Psychiatric Research, vol. 156, 25 Oct. 2022, pp. 602-610.

Phone addiction symptoms

If you’re suspecting that you may be struggling with a phone addiction (or maladaptive phone use), you should reach out to a licensed therapist or psychiatrist for a proper evaluation.

That said, here are some of the common symptoms of phone addiction, outlined on the American Addiction Centres website:

Constant usage, often for non-essential activities.

Ignoring important tasks and responsibilities use the phone.

Prioritizing virtual interactions over in-person interactions.

Using the phone for escapism.

Sleep problems from using the phone late at night.

Reduced productivity and focus due to phone distractions.

Feeling anxiety, restlessness and FOMO when away from the phone.

Eyestrain, headaches and other types of physical discomfort.

Being unable to cut back on phone usage despite knowing it’s destructive.

The problem with the symptoms above is that they are pretty common in general, and, if you’re experiencing them, the phone might not be the core reason why.

If you’re unsure whether or not it’s your smartphone that is causing your discomfort, insomnia and other symptoms, you should stop using it for 30 days. If this is not realistic or otherwise possible for practical reasons, you should stop using all non-essential apps for 30 days (essential apps are those without which your professional or personal life would suffer in a significant way – such as banking, e-ID, basic messaging, work email…).

Dr. Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, outlines in her book Dopamine Nation, that users usually need around 4 weeks for their body to go back to the state of homeostasis.

How to stop phone addiction

Short-term tactics

There are many suggestions on how to address phone addiction online, such as:

Uninstall the apps you don’t need / social media apps
Make your phone grayscale
Set your phone to Do Not Disturb
Use the “Focus” options on iPhone/Android, which let you customize your phone screen depending on the time of day or circumstance (i.e. the phone shows you a different set of apps when you’re working vs on personal time)
Set time limits on your most used apps

While there’s nothing wrong with the advice listed above, the reality is that these solutions don’t usually last long-term.

Long-term tactics

The reality is that methods outlined above might not be enough for some people, and that’s okay. Reality is, it’s hard to ditch something genuinely practical and fun as a mobile phone. It’s even bordering on being a necessity nowadays.

Regardless, if you feel like your phone addiction is impeding on your life, or if you feel like you need help in dealing with this, it could be a good idea to involve a mental health professional.

Here are some things you can do if you’d like to make this a lifestyle change.

Level 1: Reflection

Reflect on why and how you use your phone.

Do you always pick up your phone for a reason?
Are you using it as a tool?
Are you just bored and looking to be entertained?
How easy is it for you to reach for your phone?
What’s the percentage of productive work vs waste of time spent on your phone?
What are your triggers?

Is it really your phone?

More specifically… is your phone actively disrupting your work and personal life? It’s a good idea to do some self-reflection to uncover the source of your distraction – sometimes it’s just poor time management skills.

Let’s be clear – there’s nothing inherently wrong with spending lots of time on your devices, if that makes you happy and your life is not being negatively impacted.

Now, if your phone is affecting your ability to take part in “regular human activities” – like spending quality time with your loved ones, completing your work on time, exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, then that’s an issue worth addressing.

Note: There is a lot of debate on whether moderate use is possible from people suffering from addictions. Ultimately, this is something you’ll have to decide for yourself (and possibly with the help of a mental health professional).

Level 2: Self-binding

Dr Anna Lembke outlines the concept of “self-binding” in her book Dopamine Nation. It refers to the practice of imposing limits in order to mitigate compulsive overconsumption.

Applied to phone addiction, it would mean when and how you use your phone. If you’ve gone through the reflection process (and ideally already experienced a 4-week detox of unnecessary apps), you should already have a pretty good of your phone habits and triggers.

You can impose self-restrictions that are time-based, location-based or category-based.

Time-based restrictions limit your use to very specific time slots during the day/week.
Location-based limits put physical distance between you and the device.
Category-based restrictions separate the addictive behavior into categories and only permit categories that meet certain criteria.

Here are a few examples.

Time-based	Location-based	Category-based
I can only use Twitter during my lunch break.	I will put my phone in a lockbox when I enter my home.	I will only have apps for texting, calls and e-mail on my phone.
I can only use my phone while I’m commuting to and from home.	My phone will never be in the bedroom.	I will only use my phone for calorie and fitness tracking.
I can only use TikTok from 5 to 6 PM.	When I go for a walk, I will leave my phone at home.	I will use an RSS feed instead of Twitter for news.

Level 3: Make your phone distraction-free

Smartphones are great. They make our lives so much easier – from video calls, to map navigation and easy music access, they to provide lots of utility. So, instead of ditching all of it, how about you try to make this tool distraction free?

Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, the authors of Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day, suggest the following steps to create a distraction-free phone:

This is includes but is not limited to: TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…
These apps usually abuse complex algorithms to keep you hooked

2. Delete anything that can provide infinite interesting content

Video streaming apps like YouTube, Netflix and Twitch
Video games (and web games like Wordle)
News apps
Anything that you can keep refreshing obsessively

3. Delete email and remove your account from the phone

Email suffers from addictive design, but it’s socially accepted as a mark of “busyness”
Most people use chat apps to for personal communication
This step has has a great side effect of giving you more work-life balance

4. Remove your Web browser(s)

Delete any third-party browsers on your phone
You might have to dig through your phone settings to disable your phone’s default browser
- To disable Safari on your iPhone, go to: Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps > Safari
- To turn off Chrome on Android devices: Settings > Apps > Chrome > Disable (there might be a few more steps depending on your device, see the Google Support page for this)

5. Keep everything else

While there are infinite songs and podcasts on apps like Spotify or Apple Music, the potential for obsessive browsing is much lower
Same goes for calendar, weather, productivity, travel and other apps

Consider this drastic measure an “experiment”. You can always reinstall some of the apps if you genuinely need to use email or your browser. The key is to use your phone intentionally, and to switch your default to “off”.

Level 4: Ditch the phone

If nothing else works, you might have to ditch the thing that’s driving the addiction – the entire device.

Some people have trouble practicing moderate use, and sometimes life gets in the way – so we’re back to square one. If this sounds like you, you can try living without a smartphone for a while – let’s say a month to start with.

Here are some things you can do to quench the FOMO while you’re adjusting to your phone-less (or dumbphone) life:

Explore the world of podcasts
Get an e-reader, and make it your default instead of your phone
Buy and read a physical copy of a book
Go for a walk
Try out a new physical hobby, like painting or puzzle solving
Set up an RSS feed for news (or even art – works great with DeviantArt)
Play a calming game (i.e. Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, or your usual comfort game)
Sign up to volunteer at a pet shelter

My personal journey

When it comes to my own journey, I’ve gone from having numerous social media apps and spending over 3-4 hours every day on Twitter alone, to having no social media and reading a ton but also using YouTube excessively. While I’d argue that that’s a net positive overall, it serves as a reminder that none of us are living perfectly, and that we’re all in this together.

When I read Make Time, I’d decided to remove YouTube, my 3 email clients and 2 web browsers (don’t ask…). I already had no social media apps on my phone, so that wasn’t an issue, but I suspect that I’ve grown accustomed to using Reddit without an account through my browser (my tolerance for inconvenience greatly increased when I got into online privacy).

Bottom line

All in all, it’s important to remember that these decisions are all steps to completing a marathon, not a sprint, and even the smallest step is a step forward to a more sober future.