A little experiment: Stop for a moment and look around outside.
How many people look at their phone screen when they should be doing other things? These days, it's not surprising to see the majority of people with their heads hunched over. But what's even more surprising is that the smartphone has gone from being something that didn't exist for a very long time to being a staple in our daily lives - all in less than 10 years.
Q: How much time do we spend on our cell phones every day?
A: In 2019, according to App Annie, the data and analysis platform for the mobile market, we spent a full 3.7 hours per day on our smartphones. And the trend is rising, especially in the last year of Corona.
And here's the crux of the matter: cell phone use contributes to us feeling less happy (but you probably already knew that).
In a first article, we explored the psychological reasons behind why cell phones have become such an important part of our daily lives. The main message of the post: Constantly checking your phone has become ingrained in our brains as a habit due to our need for social connection and a tiny molecule called dopamine.
While a healthy dose of phone time can help you stay connected and informed (you don't want to miss the latest lockdown rules), constantly reaching for your phone can negatively affect your productivity , attention span, and even your relationships with others. But more on that later.
So does that mean everything is already lost? Not quite yet.
Now that we understand the psychological reasons behind our smartphone addiction, we can start to find a solution. All we need are a few hacks (and a pinch of psychology knowledge) to create the necessary distance between us and our phones.
Find out how to regain control of your life (tadadadam):
1. Hide your phone (or at least put it far away)
Checking your phone is a habit. And like all habits, it has three main components:
- Trigger: the feeling, time or location that triggers your habit
- Routine: the habit itself
- Reward: the need that satisfies the habit
So what is the trigger that makes you glance at your smartphone? Exactly – the mere presence of the little device.
When you see your phone, your brain craves the intoxicating dopamine rush that comes with it and sends your body the signal to check your phone. Or the other way around: If your brain doesn't sense the presence of your phone, you don't feel the urge for dopamine.
True to the old school motto: out of sight, out of mind.
To combat your phone addiction, choose a place to keep your phone where you can neither see nor 'feel' it (i.e., your pocket is out). Leave your phone in your backpack when you're at work, on your coffee table when you're in your bedroom, or in your bag when you're out with friends. The results won't be long in coming.
And the bonus? You even save energy if you banish your phone from your immediate environment. Why is that? When your phone is in your field of vision, you have to stop your brain from giving in to the dopamine addiction. And as you probably know from your own experience, willpower is a limited resource - the more you have to use it, the less you have later. Makes sense.
2. Turn off your notifications & push notifications
Okay - let's be realistic here. Of course, it's not practical to assume that you'll be able to keep your phone out of sight at all times. So now to your (partially justified) excuses: My boss might try to reach me, my mum might call, my best friend needs a listening ear. All understandable.
Fortunately, there is still a way to reduce the urge to check your phone - even when it is in your field of vision or you have a good reason to use it. Let's go back to the stimuli that trigger habits. Aside from the mere presence of your smartphone, notifications are another common trigger.
When we hear the promising 'ping' or see the green WhatsApp message box pop up, it sends the signal that something is about to happen that satisfies our need for social contact. And that's the cue to let our eyes wander to the screen.
In fact, a recent study found that our brain releases dopamine every time we receive a notification on our phone.
The trick is to eliminate this temptation completely: namely, by turning off your notifications and push messages. Easy.
Don't let your phone take over and distract you from everything around you every time you get an update from a news site or someone likes your latest Instagram photo. By turning off notifications, you're back in control of when you want to look at your phone and when you don't.
The best part about this hack? It reminds you that almost none of the notifications are actually urgent - the need to check your phone is purely dopamine-induced when your brain is bored. Knowing this alone will help you distance yourself from your phone.
If that sounds too scary (we totally get it!), leave your call notifications on. One step at a time. But if you want to go all out, airplane mode is your best bet. Just saying.
3. Prioritize (if possible) personal, non-digital contacts
Now that we've tackled the triggers that precede our smartphone use, let's tackle another component of our habit: the reward.
What reward does cell phone use actually give us? Studies have found that the most addictive cell phone features all address the same need: to feel connected to others. So when we open our phone, we are (in most cases) aiming for the reward of social contact.
Ironically, however, our cell phones have made us far less social beings.
In a 2016 article entitled 'Is Staying In the New Going Out?', Molly Young of the New York Times pointed out that we now have far fewer reasons to leave our homes and interact with others. So much of what we need is already available to us right there. However, the last year of Corona may have taught many of us otherwise. It has shown that cell phone displays and computer screens make us tired (#digital fatigue) and that digital communication can never completely replace real communication. In any case, it will be exciting to see how and if our behavior will change post-corona - whenever that will be.
However, despite the presence of others in real life, the gaze often wanders to the smartphone. At the latest when the other person briefly leaves the room to go to the toilet. The targeted smartphone is then reached for.
Studies have shown that the mere presence of the device reduces the feeling of connection with others, which leads to an inevitable result: in an age of unlimited communication possibilities, we feel lonelier and less socially connected with others than ever before.
The thing is, when you spend time with friends (currently still with distance and a mask!), make sure you put your phone away. Also, even small everyday hacks can help satisfy your craving for social contact: Try FaceTime or WhatsApp calls instead of just sending regular WhatsApp messages.
So, reduce the temptation to constantly check your phone and make an extra effort to cultivate more meaningful relationships with the people who care about you. Try asking your best friends deep questions, bringing up topics that require your undivided attention.
Once you feel like you're having meaningful interactions with others, you'll feel less of a need to use your phone for socializing and, as a result, be able to detach yourself from it somewhat.
4. Create rituals that have nothing to do with habits
The final component of all habits is the routine, or the habit itself. The more often you perform a habit, the more it becomes ingrained in your neural network. So one of the keys to breaking a habit is to create "habit-free" zones. The rule is that you are not allowed to perform your habit when you are in that zone.
But since it would be unrealistic to exclude entire rooms from cell phone use (along the lines of, “I will never use my cell phone in the bedroom.”), we suggest that you exclude a certain time of day, or a combination of room and time, from smartphone use.
The 30-minute rule
The first half hour of your day is crucial: it sets the mood for your morning, and the rest of the day. So, try not to prime your brain for dopamine as soon as you open your eyes.
Instead, buy a real alarm clock and put it on your nightstand (in the space your phone normally takes up) and unplug your phone charger from the nearby outlet.
Now that you've dragged yourself out of bed, you'll be less tempted to check your social media channels in the first moments of the new day. And this effect will likely continue throughout the day.
Digital detox during your most productive hours
Another option is to make certain hours of your day phone-free. We suggest using the hours between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. for digital detox. Why? According to productivity tips from Dan Arieli, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics, these are the best two hours of the day to get things done.
So, leave your phone in your pocket when you sit down at your desk at home (hello, home office!) or in the office and start working with full concentration. The cool thing: As I said, this tip is not only a way to disconnect from your phone, but also to boost your productivity. And let's be honest - one or two successes during the pandemic are good for all of us!
5. Set concrete goals
The tips sound great in theory, but in reality, people are creatures of habit. Without a reason or a concrete goal in mind, it is extremely difficult for us to overcome our laziness and find the motivation to make real changes.
Before you even try to fix your smartphone habits, check exactly how much time you spend on your phone and how much you want to reduce it by. Remember, most things you reduce from 100 to 0 don't work in the end. If you decide to cut the time you and your phone screen spend together by a simple 10 percent over the next few months, it will make a huge difference. It will give you space to devote yourself to real relationships again.
So, even if this sounds a bit ironic, download an app that tracks your phone usage/screen time, such as Screen Time (iOs) or StayFree (Android). These will give you a feel for how much time you really spend on your phone, which apps you invest the most time in, and at what different times of the day and night you check your messages.
Not only will this help you track your progress, but it may also give you the final push to finally build a healthier relationship with your smartphone (and the people around you). Why, you ask yourself. You may realize that you use your phone a lot more than you previously thought - and the shock of this will wake you up even more.
To make the cell phone detox work even better, grab a friend with the same goal and start the process together.
Studies have shown that your chances of achieving your goal increase when you make it public - that is, when you openly commit to it. Tell your best friend how much time you plan to spend on your phone each day and encourage them to do the same. And very soon you will notice that you are on the right track - and have less of a desire to stare at the screen every 3 seconds.
Time to pull the (digital) plug
We've reached the end. If you follow these five scientifically proven steps, it should be child's play for you to limit your cell phone addiction and find a better balance between digital and real life. Don't worry, sometimes small relapses are of course allowed. The important thing is to pull yourself together and become aware of the issue.
In the meantime, read our article that gets to the bottom of the roots of cell phone addiction. The magic word is: evolutionary theory.