Why Are You So Addicted To Smartphones?

The article covers why we are so addicted to mobile phones and how to control smartphone addiction in a smarter way.

Author – Megha Chadha

While a tablet, a computer, or a smartphone, can be very useful in our day-to-day lives, however excessive usage of these gadgets can have a negative impact on relationships, jobs, and education. It may be time to reevaluate your technology use if you find out why are you spending more time on your smartphone or playing video games than you do engaging with actual people, or if you find that you are constantly checking your texts, emails, or apps—even when doing so might have some not so positive effects on your life. Let’s talk about smartphone addiction.

What is smartphone addiction?

Do you keep checking your smartphone to see whether Facebook has sent you any messages or notifications? Does using your smartphone keep you from working or studying? Do your spouse, parents, kids, or friends say that you aren’t paying enough attention to them because you’re on your phone? You can be dependent on your phone and this is called smartphone addiction. 

Smartphone addiction is frequently driven by an Online overuse issue or Internet addiction condition also referred to as “nomophobia” (fear of not having a mobile phone). After all, it’s usually the activities on phone such as scrolling apps, playing games, using social media, and online worlds that a phone or tablet connects us to that cause the compulsion rather than the device itself.

In terms of impulse control issues, smartphone addiction can include:

• Virtual relationships: Online connections can be attractive because they frequently take place in a vacuum, free from the responsibilities or stresses of messy, real-world interactions. Using dating apps compulsively can cause you to lose interest in building long-term relationships and instead focus on quick hookups.
• Overloading unnecessary information: In addition to decreasing productivity in the workplace or school, compulsive web browsing, viewing movies, playing games, or monitoring news feeds can keep you alone for extended periods of time. Internet and smartphone addiction can make you disregard other facets of your life, including hobbies, social activities, and real-world relationships.
• Online compulsions: Online addictions including gaming, betting, stock trading, shopping online, and bidding via auction websites such as eBay can frequently result in issues with money and employment. The availability of online gambling has made it much more accessible, despite the fact that gambling addiction has long been a well-documented issue. Online shopping addiction and compulsive stock trading can both have negative financial and social effects.

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Why are you so addicted to smartphones?

The smartphone has evolved into a continuous ally. We put it by our bedsides at night and take it around during the day. We allow texts, emails, and social media notifications to interrupt us. We take phone calls when it’s not appropriate to do so and put off talking to our friends and family right away when we hear the ringtone that signals a message has arrived. Our awareness of phone manners and propriety has enabled us to become out of sync in our interpersonal encounters, signaling a fundamental change in human conduct. Let us talk about a few possibilities that make us addicted to smartphones. 

Variable rewards offered by smartphones

There are no similar roots to ancient technology for many smartphone users as they have never used previous technology. The truth is that we are so dependent on our phones and we feel obligated to put up with all these interruptions, often to the point when we stop even thinking of them as disruptions. We respond compulsively to the noises our smartphones generate, much like gambling addiction or an addiction to the seductive sounds of slot machines. Some have suggested that the notion of changing incentives may help to explain why we become addicted to digital things like Facebook, Twitter, and smartphone ringtones.

You undoubtedly took certain actions that prompted you to feel wonderful when you first obtained a smartphone. Consider reuniting with an old buddy, reading a thoughtful text from a pal, or receiving a notification. The release of dopamine was triggered by each of these actions.

Describe dopamine It’s an endorphin-producing neurotransmitter. When we do an action that satisfies a survival need, such as eating or having sex, our brains are programmed to release dopamine. Numerous studies have demonstrated that using a phone stimulates the dopamine release within our brains, which awakens us and gives us a sense of motivation and pleasure.

However, during those early months of phone use, you also likely engaged in a few uninteresting activities that didn’t make you feel particularly warm or enthusiastic, such as idly scrolling through curiously pleasing pictures on Instagram or peering at strangers’ photos.

But when you continued to act in a way that caused the dopamine release, your brain began to recognize a pattern. Your mind eventually started to link the words “cell phone” and “dopamine.” Your brain started craving your phone because it naturally craves quick bursts of dopamine.

A habit is initiated

A pattern is formed in your neural pathways when you repeatedly engage in a particular behavior that results in a particular reward. Your brain will eventually start to seek that reward on a regular basis.

The problem with dopamine is that it swiftly breaks down in the brain, leaving you hankering for more and more, quickly. Your brain will therefore use all means necessary to re-create that sensation as quickly as it can when the dopamine’s effects wear off.

Let us talk about a scenario here where smartphone addiction was tested clinically:

Nir Eyal has written a blog on this technology addiction with a focus on the nature of variable rewards. He cites a 1950s research by B.F. Skinner supported the varied schedule of rewards theory. Skinner noted how lab mice responded to random treats with the greatest fervor. Whenever mice touched a lever, they would occasionally receive a small reward, a larger reward, or nothing at all. The mice who received varying rewards touched the lever more frequently and persistently than other mice who always received the same treatment. 

We eagerly check our phones at the smallest ring or buzz because the dopamine response in our brains urges us to answer, similar to how mice behaved to collect treats. The many, banal phone calls we receive throughout the day are comparable to the mice’s tiny treats. The main rewards are the messages that make us happy, like hilarious videos, phone calls from loved ones, or notes from friends. The large treat is what makes us addicted, and since we never know when it will arrive, we obsessively “push the lever” whenever the ringtone beckons. No matter where we are or who we are with, smartphones compel us to look at the screen and respond.

Solutions to control smartphone addiction 

This addiction to mobile devices, which also impacts other communication devices, has various origins and repercussions. But if we can control this addiction to mobile devices, we’ll be more productive and freer during the week. If we allow ourselves to be distracted, when we stare at the screen, when we respond to emails, or when we answer the phone, more than just wasted time is created. Additionally, when our focus has been diverted by these interruptions, we waste time recovering.

Many of us will find it difficult to break our addiction to mobile devices, but there are certain technological options that are worth looking into. The “Human Mode” Android app enables the user to detach from his phone and revert to their natural state. It enables the user to put messages and phone calls on wait until a more suitable time. In his essay “How I Turned My iPhone Into A Simple, Distraction-Free Device” for Lifehacker, Jake Knapp explains how what started as a one-week experiment to detach from distraction has evolved into his way of life. He emphasizes that in order to overcome our addictions, we occasionally need to take drastic measures. Yet it has always been proven that facing an addiction head-on is the first step toward recovery. We can put the right measures in place and overcome the addiction to mobile devices if we can see how the changeable rewards of our smartphones are impacting us.

• Removing social media apps: what you see of individuals on social media is rarely a true representation of their life; instead, people tend to overstate their successes while downplaying the uncertainties and disappointments that we all encounter. Less time spent negatively comparing oneself to these idealized portrayals can improve your mood and sense of worth.
• Phone stack game: Having conversations with other mobile addicts? Play the game “phone stack.” You should ask everyone to place their cellphones face down on the table when you are eating lunch, dinner, or beverages with others. No one is permitted to take their phone even when it is buzzing and beeping. Someone must pick up the check for everybody if they can’t help but look at their phone. 
• Curb your fear of missing out: Recognize that if you limit your smartphone use, you can lose out on some invites, breaking news, or fresh rumors. The amount of information available via the Internet makes it nearly hard to keep up with everything. Having this realization can free you and reduce your dependence on technology.
•  Be productive without a cellphone: It might be really challenging to resist the impulse for using your smartphone when you’re lonely and bored. Plan to pass the time in other ways, such as by meditating, reading a novel, or having a face-to-face conversation with friends.

Conclusion

This article might make you think you are in a deep problem. But NO! 

There are many positive aspects to this essay, despite the fact that it could seem like a dark cloud is gathering over your head. Let’s be clear that using a phone does not cause the same brain reaction as a long-term addiction. Phone use is not often accompanied by withdrawal symptoms; rather, it is a habit that may be broken with a reset and cleanse.

In other words, we may still use our phones to stay in touch with our pals while also having a positive relationship with them. In other words, we may still use our phones to stay in touch with our pals while also having a positive relationship with them.

Simply follow the solutions to treat the smartphone addiction and your routine will start surprising you within days. And the results can also astound you if you begin to work toward lowering that amount by just 10 or 20 every day.