Cell Phone addiction

Cell phone addiction is a reality. Just by paying attention to our daily lives we can see how mobile phones have become essential to us in many ways. When we lose our phone a feeling of despair arises as we really have a necessity towards it. But, how can we know for sure if what we feel is part of a cultural behaviour developed in this 21st Century or, on the contrary, we are in need of professional help to overcome this addiction? We’ll tell you how.

Symptoms

It is difficult to say the specific number of hours that make phone use be an addiction. The fact is that we can detect it is an addiction by many signs. If using your mobile phone absorves most of your time, makes you neglect face-to-face relationships or affects your work and hobbies it is possible you may be suffering phone addiction. If it is your case, you should start considering measures to reassess your smartphone use and strike a healthier balance in your life.

There are many symptoms of phone addictions among which we find the ones below:

Like any addiction, cell phone addiction is characterized by a need of keeping up with the compulsive behaviour even knowing how harmful it is. A clear example of this is checking the phone while driving. Even knowing how dangerous it is, many people do it and in many cases they get away with it. However, truth is that people have lost their lives because of this and it really is a problem that affects all of us.

Research has shown that people overuse cell phone may experience: anxiety, depression, sleep deficits and insomnia, relationships conflics and poor academic or work performance.

How to deal with phone addiction

Once you figure out your situation and identify you suffer phone addiction, it is time to act. You can’t accept this situation as normal because by doing it, you put your health in danger. There are many ways to reduce addiction among which we find the ones below.

First of all, setting goals for when you can use your smartphone is a useful way to reduce your overuse. For instance, you can decide the amount of hours you will use your phone during the day. Secondly, you can restrict the use of your phone at certain times such as meals, when driving your car or when you are with your family and friends. Moreover, a good way to change your bad habits with phone use is replacing your smartphone use with healthier activities such as yoga, reading or going for a walk. Another important aspect you need to control is the fear of missing out.

Be realistic, what you see through your screen is not always true. Don’t take everything personal nor compare yourself with others through social media because it is a waste of time and energy. Also, stop believing you are missing something if you don’t check your phone regularly, it is not true, the only thing you are missing right now because of your addiction is your real life. Finally, don’t bring any electronic device to your bed. There is time for everything, but when you are in bed, try disconnecting from your phone, leave this moment to you and your couple and try to relax before falling asleep.

When to seek for medical assistance

Another important thing you must take into account is when it is necessary to seek medical help. Well, you have to be conscious of the difference between using your phone too much and being addicted to it. In addition, we leave you some guidance to know if your behaviour should worry you or you just need to try to reduce it using some of the tips we have provided you.

Remember we are always here to help in case you need it! Contact us and we’ll be there in 45 minutes.