To ask if you're addicted to your phone?

[Stamen196]

As soon as I wake up, I check my phone, and I check it before going to sleep. I'm self employed and my job requires my phone to be on silent (no vibrate), so it's set like that all the time out of habit. I therefore constantly check it in case I've received a message or call.

When I'm out and about, I sometimes taks pictures or check my calendar to make plans. I should just leave it at that, but I often catch myself mindlessly scrolling social media afterwards. I can't seem to watch TV or film without checking my phone, and the scrolling becomes endless. DP gets really annoyed and I'm not surprised! If I'm out for dinner I will put my phone away, or turn it off, but I actually look forward to checking it as soon as the event is over.

I think of myself as a rational, fairly intelligent woman, and I never thought I'd become one of 'those' people. I'm cringing writing this! I guess this is just my shameful public admission that I'm addicted to my phone, and any advice on how to wean myself off it would be great.

Anyone else out there?!

YABU I'm not addicted
YANBU I'm addicted

Same. Argh. Watching with interest! I’d post more but your post has made me feel guilty so I’m going to put the damn thing down and do something useful.

Well I’m currently sat on the loo checking social media... I’d hazard a guess that that means I’m addicted too!

Just to clarify: I'm early 30s, no kids and would class myself as an every day kind of person. Very pissed off with myself!

I'm the exact same. Even check it if I go to the toilet during the night. It's annoyingly bad habit. You are not alone OP

Yes it's something I really need to get a handle on as particularly over lockdown with 2 small children it's been in my hand far more than is healthy for all of us and I now have to fight the compulsion to just sit there mindlessly scrolling all day. I know that my attention span is not as good as it used to be either.

absolutely 100%. I hate that I'm so addicted and every day I vow to be better but it sucks me in. It's not a habit I'm proud of.

I am definitely addicted. Realized this some time ago, and desperately want to change my bad habits. BUT I’m clearly addicted as I can’t seem to drop the habit!

Yes. When my battery is running low I get anxious. I never ever turn my phone off. I take a power bank and charger out with me. It's the last thing I do at night and the first thing I do in the morning. I have had phones break in the fast when I was less addicted and it made me very panicky. I think I'd have a nervous breakdown now. It is a problem, but not one I'm doing anything about changing. I am very disciplined in company though, so you wouldn't know I am as addicted as I am unless you live with me.

As much as I am 100% addicted to my phone, it also the need to be connected and up to date with information. I hate the thought that I’ve missed something.

As PP said though, I do try to stay in the moment when with family or in company.

With me it is my iPad more than my phone.

It is impacting greatly on my life as I hide online rather than doing other things. I recognise the problem but don’t seem able to stop.

My attention span is now awful! I now can't read more than a couple of chapters of a book, get through an episode of a TV show or watch a film without becoming distracted. Such a shame as I used to be a brilliant reader when I was younger.

@jadesrollerdisco I am exactly the same - perfectly polite and put my phone away in company, but at home behind closed doors, or if out by myself I have zero control. I feel sad as I'm sure I miss out on a lot by being like this. I remember the days where I could laze in the garden reading or just listen to music with headphones in. Now, I take my phone with me and sit there scrolling. I really want to do something about it but not sure how!

I meant to say, I downloaded an app in the end. There’s lots of versions of it but it’s called Forest. You can set how long you want to put your phone down for and if you complete it, you grow a tree on your forest. If I forget it’s on, I can easily pick my phone up 5 times in 30mins/hour and it’s a good reminder to put it down and focus. (Yes had to download as WFH )

Totally in the same boat. Also find it has badly affected my concentration span.

If you’re an iPhone user you can set daily limits on specific app categories e.g. social media/games and you are unable to use them when that limit expires.

It’s a real eye opener as to just how much time you’re spending and what you’re spending it on.

.

Sadly not an iPhone user but that sounds like a good solution!

I’d imagine there is something similar available on android, I just don’t know anything about it.

The other day I noticed my phone screen has something faintly burned in at the bottom of the screen. Couldn't work out what it was, it seemed to be a clock icon on the left and a magnifying glass symbol on the right.... To my horror I realised it's the blue bar from the bottom of the mn mobile website . I'm an addict, I need help!

@Stamen196

My attention span is now awful! I now can't read more than a couple of chapters of a book, get through an episode of a TV show or watch a film without becoming distracted. Such a shame as I used to be a brilliant reader when I was younger.

I felt this way a couple of years ago, so I decided I would ‘make’ myself read one book a month for a year. I started by setting a timer on my phone(!) for 20 mins, and reading for that time. It got easier after a while when I realised the world didn’t end if I wasn’t in the same room as my phone, and will now often leave it on the stairs after work for the evening, and I have a bookshelf in the hall where it lives at night, to avoid the last thing at night, nighttime loo trip checks.

Same here, and it has stopped me from reading as I used to before going to sleep. My plan is to leave phone downstairs overnight and get an alarm clock instead, and a good book. I hate that it's the first and last thing I look at.

I set up all the limits and just keep clicking the ‘ignore for 15 mins’ option 🙄. I’m sitting here with a thousand jobs to do and small children who need attention. Going to put down now and come back later for tips.

I'm in my 50s, but pretty tech-savvy (I am the person my son comes to if he can't get things working) - yet I have never got the draw of the mobile phone thing. I see it all the time - we have a 'no phones' policy at work, and people are really desperate to get to breaks to check their phones.

I think I was lucky that I grew up without being 'always available', and so I resisted the whole mobile phone thing from the start. I've finally embraced using the camera function, but after a while with FB and messenger on my phone, I removed them as they were distracting.

I now don't even have wifi or other internet connection enabled on my phone! I recommend it. I have to fire up my laptop or go and fetch my tablet if I want to check anything, which makes me pause before I do. And my battery life has of course gone up massively on my phone.

When I tell people I don't have messenger or WhatsApp on my phone, they are all, 'but how do we get hold of you??' Which makes me smile, because I get texts, and of course, it's, you know, a phone.

I'm now living in an area with very poor mobile coverage, and I use my landline a lot more. I'm back to not being constantly available, and I'm very comfortable with that.

More my computer than my phone.

You can get apps which limit your time. Search for productivity/focus tools or time control on the play store.

I have deactivated all notifications on phone except those that really are urgent. I don't need to know if someone liked my FB photo straight away.

You can set upp apps/battery save mode to display phone in greyscale - this apparently activates the dopamine receptors less, which helps with the addictive nature of it.

No, but then I don't do much internetting on the 'phone. Occasionally reply to a WhatsApp or iMessage if there is no other device to hand, but otherwise it is a mobile 'phone.
I do check e-mails etc. on my laptop or iPad, but not first thing or on first waking, why?

Some great ideas - thanks everyone! I'll definitely download an app, and I love the idea of reading 20 minutes of a book every day. I could invest in an egg timer and leave my phone downstairs!