Where is your smartphone? Can you see it? Is it in your bag or somewhere else? Is the smartphone you are holding of someone else? Has your smartphone lost? If reading this made you even a bit anxious, then congratulations, you are a true millennial.
As per the polls related to smartphone use, about half of the smartphone users check their phones several times within an hour. 81% of users keep their phones near them almost all the time during waking hours, while 63% do this even while sleeping. Around one-in-five check their phone every few minutes, and this has been found explicitly in young people. Combating the addiction of the usage of the smartphone is essential. There are several ways you can beat this addiction and take it under your control. Are you excited? Let’s find out how.
Few self-help tips for smartphone addiction
Addiction is hard to beat, especially when temptation is within your reach. You need to follow the following bullets to get over the smartphone addiction.
- Recognize the trigger that makes you reach your phone. You can find a capable, healthier, and more engaging way to manage your moods. In this case, you can practice relaxation techniques.
- You must try to understand the difference between interacting with someone in person and online.
- You can build up your coping skills by trying to engage with activities that do not involve the phone.
- Try to recognize the problems that support your compulsive behavior.
- Dedicate time each week to family and friends and strengthen your support network.
For most people, getting control over the use of the smartphone is very difficult. You can think of it like if you are going on a diet. Like you cut fats, you can try to cut back the usage of smartphones for healthy use. Here is the step-by-step guide that will help you to lessen your smartphone use.
- Set your goals for the use of the smartphone. You can schedule the use for a certain time of day, or you can reward yourself like you can use it if you finish the assignment or a chore, for instance.
- Turn off your phone at certain hours during the day.
- Stop bringing your cellphone or tablet to bed.
- You can replace smartphone use with healthier activities.
- Remove social media apps from your smartphone.
Smartphone addiction has become such a significant problem that there are now treatment centers that offer you digital detox programs and help you to disconnect from digital media. Many individual and group therapies can curb your smartphone or internet use and will also help you boost your control in technology use. Few of these therapies include –
- Marriage or couples counseling – Excessive use of technology can also bring conflicts between couples. Counseling can help you work through these challenges.
- Group support – Many organizations offer online support and face-to-face meetings to curb excessive use of technology.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapies – This is a step-by-step guide to change your perceptions and stop compulsive behaviors for your smartphones.
