For many people, a smartphone is an essential part of everyday life – from WhatsApp conversations and work emails to banking, entertainment and keeping up with family.
But when reaching for your phone becomes your automatic response to stress, boredom or difficult emotions, it may be time to look at the habit more closely.
Also see: Digital boundaries: How to stop your phone from controlling your life
When scrolling becomes emotional escape
Using your phone to unwind is not automatically a problem. According to Procare, the warning sign is loss of control: repeatedly checking or scrolling even when you intended to stop, or continuing despite it interfering with sleep, work, relationships or other activities.
Research and public-health guidance distinguish heavy use from problematic use by looking at its impact on daily life, rather than simply counting hours.
Your phone may have become a coping mechanism if you instinctively reach for it whenever you feel anxious, lonely, overwhelmed or uncomfortable. Instead of sitting with an emotion, you may find yourself opening social media, watching videos or endlessly refreshing feeds to distract yourself.
Also see: Raising mindful digital users: How parents can tackle phone overuse
Look out for these signs
Ask yourself whether you:
– Check your phone without consciously deciding to.
– Feel restless or irritable when you cannot access it.
– Lose track of time while scrolling.
– Use your phone late at night, even when you are tired.
– Reach for it during moments of stress rather than addressing what is bothering you.
– Put off sleep, exercise, conversations or responsibilities because of screen time.
– Try to cut back but repeatedly return to the same pattern.
Excessive screen use can displace sleep, physical activity and face-to-face interaction, while problematic smartphone use has been associated with difficulties involving sleep, relationships, work and well-being.
How to reset your relationship with your phone
According to Psychology Today, self-awareness is important when resetting your relationship with your phone. Start by noticing the trigger before the scroll. Are you bored, stressed, lonely or avoiding a task? Then experiment with an alternative: take a walk, make a cup of tea, call someone, journal or simply sit without stimulation for a few minutes.
Turn off non-essential notifications and create phone-free periods, particularly around bedtime. If your phone use is significantly affecting your daily functioning or emotional well-being, consider speaking to a mental-health professional.
The goal is not necessarily to use your phone less, but to make sure you are choosing when to use it – rather than using it to avoid how you feel.
(Featured Image: iStock/Andril Lemelvanenko)
Also see: How to declutter your phone (and clear your mind while you’re at it)
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