What would you do if you couldn't use your smartphone for 2 days. You know it's whole, you know it's safe, you just can't use it for a while. If this is cause for panic, or at least the thought "Oh dear, what will I do...", that could be a signal that you are suffering from smartphone addiction.
Several years ago, a video went viral on Youtube because a girl accidentally locked her smartphone in "smartphone jail" for 2 days. At this, she burst into tears.
For many people who responded to the video, it was an obvious "withdrawal" phenomenon. However, research shows that it may also be that someone who worries about not being able to meet social expectations, such as answering text messages, may also experience stress when the smartphone is lost[1].
So it remains to be seen whether it was because of the smartphone that she got so upset, or how difficult it would be to keep in touch with friends.
But can you have a smartphone addiction? And when do you know you really have a problem? And if so, what can you do?
In this blog, we take a closer look at smartphone addiction and answers to these questions.
Is a smartphone addiction even an addiction?
Researchers say that a smartphone can be addictive, but that at this point it cannot really be called a smartphone addiction, it is actually more like excessive smartphone use. However, this excessive smartphone use can cause problems, but they are often not as serious as an actual addiction.
Students - in whom pilot studies are most common - actually have between a 10 and 20 percent chance of suffering from smartphone addiction (source 1).
Researchers also indicate that not enough long-term studies have been conducted on smartphone addiction to clearly name it.
So science is really simply not yet out on whether smartphone addiction exists, as they still need more research to say definitively "yes" or "no" on that.
Thereby, smartphone addiction is also good to confuse with Internet addiction, because you use the smartphone for the Internet and what you can do on it.
So do you watch too much porn? Do you gamble online? Are you on social media all day and doing it with your smartphone? Then you have an addiction and are using the smartphone as a means to feed your addiction.
For form's sake, we'll continue with the term smartphone addiction in this blog article anyway 😉.
Signs of smartphone addiction
Recent research shows that those who overuse their smartphones are more likely to suffer from:
- Insomnia
- Depression
- Fears
- Increased stress levels[2]
With a smartphone "addiction," though, you may not be able to properly suppress the impulse to reach for the smartphone and you may suffer negative consequences, such as deteriorating relationships with your family and friends and possibly needing glasses. It can also make your school results worse.
Physically, your shoulders, elbows and wrists can suffer from smartphone addiction.
When is a smartphone addiction truly problematic
A smartphone addiction actually becomes truly problematic when it causes you to become sleep deprived, preventing you from functioning properly, or when you actually feed another addiction through your smartphone, putting you in financial and relational trouble.
Tips against smartphone addiction
There are some practical tips you can use against your smartphone addiction.
Tip 1: Remove addictive apps
Initially, you can already make it a little easier on yourself by deleting the apps you are addicted to from your smartphone. That will at least make a difference.
Say you're totally addicted to spending hours looking at cute things on bol.com's app, know that they also have a website.
At least then you can stop using your smartphone for normal, non-addictive, things on the train, or at times when you don't have access to a computer, or just put it away and enjoy your surroundings.
Tip 2: Set an alert after X hours of screen time
Most smartphones have a setting to alert you after x number of hours of screen time. You can take a moment to Google how to set this for your particular phone.
This way, you become more aware of your screen time and also get an alert when your self-set limit is "up."
Tip 3: Put your smartphone in a special place in your home
Remember (for people before 2000), when you used to have a phone set up in 1 place in the house that the whole family got to use? When you were done using the phone you just put it back on the "charger"?
You can also give your smartphone one of those places in your home where you always put it, so that you don't have your phone in reach all the time and you start to see it again more as a handy thing, rather than a necessity.
Tip 4: Use a regular alarm clock
Do you use your smartphone as an alarm clock, so chances are it's on your nightstand and it's very (and way too) easy to scroll through the apps you have on your phone while in bed?
Buy a regular alarm clock and use it as an alarm clock instead of your smartphone. Leave your smartphone comfortably in that special place in your hallway, living room or kitchen, so you really have to get out of bed to grab it.
At the end of the day, wouldn't you much rather stay put? Right?
Hypnosis when tips don't help
Are these tips not working? Finding it hard to leave the phone in its place? Then I have good news for you, in fact, if you are addicted to your smartphone you can already be in a hypnotic state while you are working on that smartphone.
This means that you are also more sensitive to hypnosis than people who do not suffer from it,[3] and this provides a good entry point for hypnotherapy.
In fact, hypnotherapy is used for numerous addictions, from drug addictions to behavioral addictions. Therefore, hypnotherapy can also be helpful if you suffer from a smartphone addiction.
One of the things a hypnotherapist helps with is improving your skills, such as your ability to choose healthy behaviors instead of grabbing your smartphone at awkward moments. Hypnosis helps you improve your self-control so that you are less affected by behavioral addictions (such as your smartphone)[4].
A hypnotherapist often uses visualizations. With a visualization, you can mentally practice dealing with a smartphone addiction, such as getting into the habit of putting the phone in the "phone spot" when you get home and continuing to do the other things you do when you are at home.
You can also find out what all you can do with the time freed up when you spend less time with your smartphone, such as playing board games with friends or family, Netflixing, hiking or exercising, good cooking.
There is so much more to life than everything on your smartphone. Shifting your focus there is something a hypnotherapist can help you with as well.
Find out cause of smartphone addiction
There are a number of factors driving smartphone addiction. In 2019, a study found that a smartphone is used against feelings of loneliness and as a means to regulate emotions, such as after a day of stress at work[5].
A hypnotherapist can help people figure out what is causing your smartphone addiction. What emotions are causing you to reach for the smartphone?
They can then look at what beliefs are causing those emotions and in what ways they can be changed.
Or they can explore alternative ways to deal with emotions that make the smartphone (or how you use it now) unnecessary.
For example, self-hypnosis is a great way to reduce negative emotions and combat stress.
We also have a special MP3 for this purpose.
Click here for the MP3.
A variety of techniques can be used for this purpose, such as the regression technique. With the regression technique, you can find out what event in your life created a limiting belief that now makes it difficult, for example, to do anything about emotions without your smartphone.
Or progression can be used. This is a technique where you actually work toward a desired future and get a clear picture of how to get there. A future where you use the smartphone in a normal way and don't panic when it's down for a while.
Want to learn more about hypnosis and how you can use it to help yourself or others? Then come to the free master class for an introduction.
Or register for one of our training courses or events.
Click here for our training courses.
Have a question about training? Schedule a free consultation.
Sources:
