How to stop being addicted to a smartphone?

Despite all the advantages of technology, your smartphone shouldn’t be your only friend and conversation partner in this world. Phone addiction is a kind of addiction similar to alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling. Of course, it won’t injure your health like alcohol but its “toxicity” affects human consciousness and relations with the world. Some effective strategies will help you and your child to break free from phone addiction.

1. Do not do everything on one device. A smartphone can replace today’s books, newspapers, magazines, MP3 players, cameras, TV, game console, computer, and many other useful things. Plus, it gives you broader opportunities that the previous generations didn’t have. But it doesn’t mean that we have to let it replace everything.

2. When you switch between different activities it is good both for your brain and body. This approach makes your life more versatile. And you will be not that much addicted to one device because your likes and feelings will be shared between many different things. Family dinner or an important meeting is not the best place for you to use your smartphone.

3. Limit your screen time. Installing the parental control app on your device will be a great support for this. If you feel like you might be addicted to your phone, parental control will be of great help for you to become more self-disciplined and self-controlled in this area.

4. Disable notifications. You just reach out to your smartphone to check another notification and it turns into half-hour scrolling of news feed. Are you familiar with that? That’s because alerts are addictive and you even don’t notice how you’re drawn to them. If you turn the notifications off, you won’t have the temptation to check another notice. In case you’re afraid to miss something important, start with turning the sound off.

5. Establish phone-free periods each day. Let’s be honest, we don’t need the phone around all the time. So why not get rid of the device during dinner, while watching a film, or talking to your family. Schedule your phone use and arrange phone-free periods. Put the phone off when you’re busy with something else. For instance, you may not check the phone while making dinner in the afternoon or spending time with your family in the afternoon. This easy trick will reduce distraction and you’ll see how quickly you become less addicted to your phone.

6. Put it away. If you don’t have physical access to your smartphone right away, you’re less likely to check it every single minute. So put it on mute, hide it in a drawer, and see how it works. You’ll make sure this advice helps you to concentrate on work and to avoid distractions. Out of sight, out of mind.

7. Lock it. There are certain apps (Kidslox is one of them) that allow locking your device. You can either schedule the time when the phone will be locked or the device will be shut down after you run out of your daily limit of screen time. The software is more appropriate for kids, still, adults can effectively use it to lick the habit.

8. Keep it away from the bedroom. The phone next to your bed means it’s within touching distance so you’re likely to check it before sleep or as soon as you get up. Researchers claim that using mobile devices before sleep activates the nervous system that keeps us up. So putting your gadget away will not only help you to become less addicted to your phone but also promote quick falling asleep and easy waking up in the morning.

9. Replace the bad habit. When you’re bored and want to kill the time, why not grab a book instead of your phone? Psychologists advise replacing a bad habit of constant phone checking with a good one. So now when you stand in the queue or have some spare minute, feel free to read a few pages of your favorite author instead of scrolling news feed on your smartphone.

10. Get real. Instead of interacting with your nearest and dearest over the phone or on social media, find time for face-to-face meetings. Try to communicate with real people, not virtual friends, and acquaintances. Meet people in real life, share real emotions and conversations. It’s great!

11. Change thinking. Change of thoughts will refresh your emotions and influence your attitude towards cell phone use. Mind that whatever you’re going to check on the phone is not so essential as it may seem. Whenever you’re tempted to text or read the news feed, ask yourself if this is urgent or can be put off.

Remember that addiction takes place when there are problems in your life. If you live a full life, if you have proper ways to overcome difficulties like communication with your nearest and dearest, you’re less likely to develop an addiction. So the lasting fix to become less addicted to your phone is not about the phone itself. It is more about the change of priorities and dedicating more time to people around you.

How to help your child deal with smartphone addiction?

As a parent, I know for myself how much easier it is to let my kids play on the devices than take them out to the park to play on the swings. Yet you still struggle sometimes to get the kids outside. Once the kids are outside they have a great time and come back more content and settled, whereas an afternoon on devices often leads to petty arguments and grumpiness. The hardest thing is prising them off their devices to get them out in the first place. Creating a more balanced attitude toward technology in your home won’t happen overnight, but there are several clear strategies that you can take to help manage the situation.

Explanation – It may seem obvious to you that your teen’s excessive phone use is disruptive and is becoming a problem, but they might not see it that way. Make sure you talk with them about some of the potential downsides to their behavior, including the negative effects multitasking can have on their focus and productivity and the risk constant social media use can have on their real-life social skills. If they understand the problem they’ll be more motivated to join in with efforts to solve it.

Explaining how you see things to someone else (including your kids) can also help you to come up with your own, homemade solutions; it’s all very well to read an article like this about what you might do, but once you start discussing these ideas with other people you’ll find that it helps you to solidify your view and develop your strategy for dealing with the problem.

Set boundaries – Creating set times or places that will be device-free helps to establish some limits on device use. It’s crucial to provide opportunities for your family to communicate with each other without the distraction of their phones, tablets, and other screens. If you need a hand getting the devices switched off, parental control apps can be a lifesaver, but their use always needs to be accompanied by a clear explanation of why they’re being used and of any conditions, you want to attach to their use (eg. Don’t arbitrarily turn the device off because it’s bugging you, first warn “If your homework’s not done by 6 pm, your device will be locked for the rest of the evening”).

Lead the way – As the Common Sense Media survey suggests, this will be a real challenge for many of us. Dependence on technology is not just a teenage problem. The example set by parents is the fundamental guide for the behavior of younger children and whilst teens may not be quite so quick to follow suit, they’ll certainly be hostile towards perceived hypocrisy on our part.

Check-in – Keep the conversation about technology use and media consumption with your kids ongoing. Ask them what sites, apps, or games they’re spending time on, what they’re watching, what shows their friends talk about at school. Watch an episode together with them or have a go yourself at the games they’re playing to both understand the material better and show your willingness to engage with the technology and find a compromise together. Ask them what they like and dislike about the media they watch and use and what message they think that media is sending them.

I find the hardest thing as a parent is being disciplined and consistent with my children over screen time, it’s hard enough to restrict my own screen time let alone theirs! I have found the best solution is to allow them a fixed amount of time per day, and allow them to choose when that is, I have put a chart on the fridge where I can note down their screen time for the day. Kidslox helps me with this as I can give a fixed amount of screen time after which the device locks by itself which saves the struggle of getting the device off my children! Further, we’ll have a closer look at different aspects of phone addiction. Check out what are the reasons for obsession and run a quick test to find out if you are addicted to your smartphone.

What do the statistics say?

Especially vulnerable to phone addiction are kids and teenagers. A recent survey by the American non-profit Common Sense Media (CSM) suggests that 50% of teens consider themselves to be addicted to their mobile devices and that parents suspect the number is even higher. Perhaps equally alarming, the same study found that 27% of those same parents would describe themselves as being addicted to their devices too! The study asked over 1200 teens and parents about their use of and attitudes towards smartphones and other mobile devices.

The report recognizes the ambiguity of the word ‘addiction’ and elsewhere CSM has noted the difference between natural ‘super engagement’ and genuine addiction, which might be characterized by poor “behavior, mood changes, falling grades, mounting bills, or a lack of human interaction”. Even so, the report’s tone is largely cautionary, warning that internet addiction is potentially serious and requires additional study and that problematic media use can lead to reduced empathy and social-wellbeing as well as being a source of tension for many families.

According to a recent article in the Telegraph, British kids are some of the most housebound and screen-addicted in the world. 74% of our children spend less time than an hour a day outside which is the minimum recommended by the UN for prisoners. 18% of UK kids don’t play outside regularly at all, the main excuse given being the weather. The same survey found that British parents estimated that their children spend 26% on average of their free time inside in front of a screen, compared to 21% across the other countries surveyed, and only 12% outdoors.

I write articles and I want you to visit my blog and read all the interesting and Informative Articles and please comment. Also, spread it in your friends' circle, please.

Inamulhassan Ansary

Click the following link:

inamulhassanarticles.blogspot.com