Smartphone Addiction

Even though laptops, tablets, and cell phones might increase productivity, excessive use of these tools can harm relationships or interfere with work and school. It may be time to reconsider your connection with technology if you spend more time playing games or socialising online than interacting with people in person, or if you are always checking your emails, texts, and apps obsessively despite the negative effects they have on your life.

Underlying Problems and Behaviours

Information Overdose

Our reliance on smartphones frequently turns into a "security blanket" that increases feelings of social discomfort, loneliness, and anxiety. But spending all of your time staring at your phone will simply cause you to lose out on in-person conversations that may otherwise foster relationships. The exact thing we depend on to alleviate these unpleasant feelings is actually doing more damage than good. Many of us find that excessive internet use might cause us to become less productive at work or school and to become more distant from the people and things we enjoy. Compulsive smartphone app use brought on by internet addiction can lead us to disregard other facets of our lives, such as social activities, hobbies, and real-world relationships.

Social Media Networking

Social media networking can lead to mobile phone addiction in certain people, who spend more time chatting with their online acquaintances than with their real-life friends. Online connections operate in a kind of a bubble where individuals only disclose the details of their lives that they choose to reveal, rather than the messy reality of life.

Fear of Missing Out

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is the worry that one is either unaware of or is losing out on events, experiences, information, or life choices that could improve one's quality of life. Because of technological improvements, FOMO has increased recently. Although it offers chances for social interaction, it also gives an overview of a never-ending flow of activity in which no one is actively participating. Pathological internet use or FOMO can result from a psychological reliance on smartphones and social media. It is linked to a decreased quality of life as well as increasing anxiety and despair.

Compulsive Behaviours

Gaming, gambling, stock option trading, online shopping, and bidding on auction sites are examples of smartphone addictions that can have serious repercussions, including financial difficulties or loss of employment. Internet gambling makes gambling considerably more accessible and, thus, potentially harmful, even if gambling addiction has long been recognised as a problem. Online shopping and stock option trading are two other compulsions that can have equally negative social and financial effects.

Pornography

Overexposure to online pornography, sexting, nude-swapping, and adult messaging can negatively impact your mental health and personal relationships in real life. Although cybersex addiction and online porn are forms of sexual addiction, the internet makes them easier to engage in, more accessible, and occasionally anonymous. You can lose yourself for hours in fantasies that are hard or impossible to fulfil in real life. Thus resulting in unfulfilled relationships and lower self esteem.

Signs and Symptoms

Behavioural Symptoms

1. Excessive Use: Putting the phone ahead of other crucial tasks, checking it even when there is no notification, and spending hours on it without realising it.

2. Loss of Control: Despite efforts to cut back on screen time, there is a strong want to check the phone, which frequently results in compulsive scrolling.

3. Neglecting Responsibilities: Using a phone excessively to the point of missing deadlines, skipping job or school assignments, or not finishing domestic responsibilities.

4. Social Withdrawal: Avoiding face-to-face encounters or conversations because one is preoccupied with a phone and would rather text than speak with someone in person.

5. Phantom Vibration Syndrome: This condition is characterised by repeated "feeling" of the phone vibrating or "hearing" of notifications even when the device is not in use or is silent, suggesting increased dependence.

Psychological and Emotional Signs

1. Restlessness & Anxiety: Carrying your phone to work may increase your anxiety and impair your ability to focus. Additionally, studies found that the more dependent a person was on their phone, the worse their anxiety levels were.

2. Depression and Loneliness: Variations in mood brought on by phone use, such as happiness when messages or likes are received and sadness when no interaction occurs. Immersion in the virtual world may seem to eliminate unpleasant emotions, but studies have shown that it can actually increase depression and loneliness.

3. Sleep disturbances: include using a phone late at night, putting off going to sleep, and having trouble falling or staying asleep as a result of mental stimulation and exposure to blue light.

4. Dopamine Dependency: An addiction to the rush of likes, messages, or notifications that results in a vicious cycle of looking for digital approval and experiencing depression when it isn't there.

Physical Signs

1. Eye Strain & migraines: Extended use of screens causes blue light exposure, which can cause dry eyes, blurred vision, and frequent migraines.

2. Neck & Back Pain: Bad posture from prolonged phone staring causes stiff necks (also known as "text neck") and upper back pain.

3. Thumb & Wrist Pain: Repetitive activities like texting, scrolling, or gaming can lead to strain injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome (pain, tingling, and numbness in the wrist and fingers) or "texting thumb" (inflammation of the thumb tendons).

There’s no denying that excessive smartphone use is a major problem for a lot of people. It's vital to note that compulsive gambling and other behavioural addictions share significant similarities with mobile phone addiction, such as:

• Loss of control over one's actions.

• Having to do something more frequently in order to experience the same emotion.

• Severe negative effects brought on by the behaviour.

• Anxiety, irritation, or withdrawal when the behaviour isn't practiced.

• Continuous relapse following avoidance periods.

Smartphone Addiction Treatment

Awareness and acknowledgement: The first step to recovery is realising and embracing the possibility that one's phone use may be problematic.

Firm boundaries: Set aside specific periods and lengths of time for using your phone, especially for social networking and other non-essential purposes. To control your habits, use apps that track and restrict phone usage

No-phone zones: To enhance the quality of your sleep, designate specific parts of your house where using a phone is not permitted, especially in beds.

Professional help at Collective Care

If you or someone you know is struggling with smartphone addiction, there are treatment facilities such as Collective Care, that provide digital detox programs for those who feel addicted to their smartphones or the internet. Specialised programs designed by licensed clinical psychologists can assist you in detaching yourself from digital media and provide you with the necessary tools to manage your use of technology.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

CBT can assist you in overcoming obsessive behaviours and altering your perspective on your internet and smartphone addiction. Additionally, therapy can teach you more constructive coping mechanisms for negative feelings, such as stress, anxiety, or depression, which may be driving your excessive smartphone use.

Mindfulness Based Therapy

MBT can be highly effective in addressing smartphone addiction by promoting self-awareness, impulse control, and emotional regulation. It helps individuals become aware of automatic behaviors and recognize their triggers such as boredom, stress, notifications, etc. Practices like meditation and breathing exercises strengthen the brain’s ability to pause before reacting. This helps individuals resist the urge to check their phones impulsively.

Group Therapy

Group therapy sessions give people in recovery a platform to talk about their experiences, shortcomings and advancements on a range of topics. This form of therapy also focuses on helping people develop social skills and manage various issues like anger management, loneliness, and low self-esteem, while also concentrating on specifics like depression, obesity, panic disorder, social anxiety, chronic pain, or substance abuse.

Helping people develop a healthy connection with technology so that it improves their quality of life and establishes a balance is the ultimate goal of Collective Care’s approach to smartphone addiction treatment.

"How much control do you have over your smartphone? The key to digital well-being is not elimination but awareness and balance.”