It really is that phone!

This well-known piece of advice we’ve all heard from our parents and grandparents might be more valid than we thought!

We all spend too much time on our phones. Phone addiction is something that is not taken seriously, I think in part because it is difficult for us to see it as something serious. “Woe is me, I can’t stop staring at a screen,” doesn’t register in our minds as a problem that needs remedy, but it’s a serious issue that causes real damage. The worldwide average screen time is 6 hours and 40 minutes per day. For teenagers specifically, this grows to 8 hours and 39 minutes per day. That’s an entire school day.

High screen times, while extremely concerning, aren’t the cause of phone addiction, merely the effect. The cause? Our brains are permanently connected to our phones. It seems like everything that makes our brains feel good is in our phones. That’s because our dopamine receptors have been hijacked by this technology. We get dopamine when our post gets a like, or when we see something funny on TikTok or Instagram reels.

Now, you might be thinking, what’s the problem? If I’m happy then I’m happy. Well the problem is this isn’t real happiness. Real happiness comes from the reality we are living in. But often, we are disconnected from this reality because of our devices. This leads to an almost inability to live in the moment. Even if we are physically present somewhere, we aren’t all there, because we’re thinking about our phones. 

Our dependency on our phone as the primary source of dopamine.

This is all still probably stuff you’ve heard before, stuff that in the past you’ve moved on from because who wants to be bombarded with a problem and left with no solution? Well I’m here to offer you a possible one: have your phone as a destination. Not the be all end all destination, but a destination in the sense that you approach it with a purpose. The same way you do most other things. Why do you get in the car every morning? To go somewhere. Why do you pull into a Drive Thru? To get something to eat or drink. You approach these things with a purpose; do the same with your phone. Maybe you need to call someone, send an email, or even check your socials. Setting these boundaries between you and your phone will- slowly but surely- put meaning back into your life.