Take a walk on a busy street or ride a bus or train, and chances are you'll see many people staring into their smartphones. Whether it's to check emails, text, play games or surf the Internet, using smartphones is huge part of our culture and our day. But when does it cross the line into addiction? And what's at play if it does? David Greenfield, MD, founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addictionand assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine offers insight and advice.
Smartphone addiction is a real thing.
It may not fit into our notion of a typical drug, but smartphone use can definitely become an addiction. According to Dr. Greenfield, about 5 to 6 percent of people are smartphone addicts, and these are the five defining criteria (similar to those for drug addiction):
1. You use it to alter your mood stage in some way, such as to avoid negative emotions.
2. You have a degree of tolerance in which you spend more and more time using it.
3. You experience withdrawal, such as discomfort when you don't have access to it.
4. You have a feeling of preoccupation when you're not using it.
5. Your use of it is negatively affecting your life, from work performance and family life to health and finances.
1. You use it to alter your mood stage in some way, such as to avoid negative emotions.
2. You have a degree of tolerance in which you spend more and more time using it.
3. You experience withdrawal, such as discomfort when you don't have access to it.
4. You have a feeling of preoccupation when you're not using it.
5. Your use of it is negatively affecting your life, from work performance and family life to health and finances.
Using the Internet on our smartphones over and over makes us feel really good.
"The Internet itself functions on this concept that every time you go on—whether it’s to check social media or text updates or search for information—there’s an unpredictability of what you’re going to find," says Dr. Greenfield. "The smartphone is much the same way [since it can access the Internet]. Every time you check over and over, it’s dynamic; it changes. Every once in awhile something comes through that’s positive or interesting or at least desirable. When that happens, it elevates the small amount of dopamine in your brain and you experience that unconscious sense of pleasure. So we tend to repeat pleasurable behavior."
The portability and speed of smartphones makes it easier to become addicted.
The dopamine hit (what makes us feel "high") we get from smartphone use varies. And, says Dr. Greenfield, "things that are variable ultimately become an addiction because the brain keeps seeking that hit whether it comes or not, because it expects it will come at some point. Smartphones make it even worse because you’re connected to the internet, you’re untethered, and you have ease of access which makes using the Internet more addictive." The short amount of time between the moment we consume the information from our smartphone and the moment we get a "hit" if we find something positive also makes smartphone use more addictive, since smartphones are faster than ever.
Using your smartphone excessively poses several risks.
"The main negative consequence of smartphone addiction is it eats time and energy and elevates cortisol levels because we’re not designed to be accessible all the time," Dr. Greenfield explains. "Some might argue that by elevating cortisol levels it makes us more susceptible to illness and stroke due to reduction of the immune system, which is what cortisol does." And there are other risks to look out for: possible increased blood pressure, getting less exercise (like a couch potato watching TV) and injury proneness due to not paying attention to what's going on around you.
If you think you're becoming addicted to your smartphone or you just want to spend less time using it:
Disable your notifications. Unless there's an emergency or a time-sensitive project, you probably don't need to know when you've received a new email or social media update as soon as you get it. Instead, Dr. Greenfield suggests turing off notification pop-ups and only checking your phone certain times during the day. For social media notifications, remove the social media app from your smartphone to cut down on live updates; and for emails, use the sync function to schedule less-frequent update.
Don't sleep with your phone next to your bed or under your pillow. According to a 2014 PEW Research Center report, 44 percent of cell owners sleep with their phone next to their bed so as not to miss calls, texts or other updates. The very bad result: disrupted sleep. Instead, keep your phone on the other side of the room so you won't be tempted to check it.
Don't use your phone an hour before you go to bed. Not only will this give you a set time to disconnect, it can also help you get to sleep faster. Research has shown that exposure to the white and blue lights emitted by smartphones and other gadgets before bed impedes our brain's ability to release the hormone melatonin, which is responsible for telling our bodies when it's nighttime.
Schedule smartphone-free periods throughout the day. If you find yourself reaching for your phone too much, set times during the day when you won't look at it all. Chances are, it won't hurt your productivity. According to Dr. Greenfield, 80 percent of the reasons people use their smartphones have nothing to do with productivity anyway.
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