Cracking smartphone addiction (to help prevent postural pain issues, fatigue and poor sleep)

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Written By Katherine Sewell

As an experiment recently, I decided to pretend that I was alien from Mars (as you do) landing on planet earth and just observing how human beings behave. During one short journey by car through North Bristol, I was astonished by the numbers of people using their smartphones. There were delivery drivers texting in cars, kids gathered on a bench all on their phones, people walking along the road either alone or with others looking at or talking on their phones, people sitting on buses starting at their phones, passengers in cars on them... you get the picture! As a child of the seventies who has spent most of her life without such 24/7 access to everything at the touch of button, I can’t help wondering what costs (amongst the benefits) might be incurring as we (and I include myself) become more and more attached and dependent; dare I even say; addicted to our phones. I wonder this at the personal level and collectively as a society especially the impacts on the younger generation who don’t have any experience of anything else and wonder as to the impacts on them? Certainly, from our perspective as specialists working in the field of chronic pain and fatigue, the overuse of smartphones has negative effects.  For example, in a postural sense with the constant bending forward and thereby aggravating or causing pain issues, using them can be fatiguing and the impact on quality of sleep.

“78% own a smartphone (compared to 17% in 2009 ) and 94% of 16-24 year old’s (2018 Ofcam research)”

What might the costs be?

The negative impacts that phone use is having in various ways is well researched. The constant stream of messages and information from a smartphone can overwhelm the brain and make it impossible to focus attention on any one thing for more than a few minutes without feeling compelled to move on to something else. This affects our capacity to be able to concentrate on singular tasks (allowing for creative thinking for example) and to be fully present to life’s experiences in any given moment.  Studies have shown how high smartphone usage results in mental overload and the feeling of never being free. Our quality of sleep is affected for example 57% of teens were more sleep deprived in 2015 than 1991. Poor mental health and isolation is also a growing issue, most especially amongst teenagers. For example, teens who spend three hours a day or more on electronic devices are 35% more likely to have a risk factor for suicide.

“All screen activities are linked to less happiness and all non-screen activities are linked to more happiness ”

— https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/

Why are we hooked?

“Seventy-two per cent of adults say their smartphone is their most important device for accessing the internet, 71% say they never turn off their phone, and 78% say they could not live without it. ”

— (2018 Ofcam research)

Using smartphones has opened up a whole plethora of access to information, helpful apps and being able to connect with strangers across the planet at a push of a button; everything from calling taxis, finding directions, accessing a torch or camera, weather reports, reading the news as it breaks, ordering things... you name it, we can do so instantly.  So, one of the reasons that we are hooked, is because all this instant messaging and access releases a hit of hormone called dopamine which helps us to feel good because as human beings we like to feel socially connected.  The trouble is that also as humans, we have an insatiable and somewhat unrealistic desire to be in a ‘’feeling good’’ state as much as we can!  Those conglomerates that market our phones (and the apps and technology on it) are interested in making money and they know that the dopamine hit is one way to keep us repeating the behaviours that activated this. Platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram leverage the very same neural circuitry used by slot machines and cocaine to keep us using their products as much as possible.

Dopamine feeds our Drive system (Gilberts emotional regulation systems) leaving us out of balance with our need to move easily from this to our Soothing system. (for more on this sign up to our free webinar) which is one of the reasons why using screens 2 hours before bed isn’t going to conduce to restorative sleep.

What can we do?

So recently I decided to try to relinquish my phone for a week.  It must be said that it is becoming increasingly hard to do this; hence now places are being actively advertised as opportunities to be in environments without phones; which strikes me a bit concerning and indicative of the levels of addiction we have to them.   The language of addiction is often used around them such as ‘I know I shouldn’t, but I just can’t help it’ and some talk as if it’s an extension of their body; ‘having my phone closer to me whilst I’m sleeping is a comfort’.

Digital Detoxing

When I had my phone detox, I set my voicemail to tell people and to leave an emergency number and I put out of office on my email.  I reflected on how I feel normally and how I felt without it and what impact it had on my behaviours especially around quality of engagement with tasks and a level of mental agitation. It took a few days to settle when I had to work with a degree of restlessness and agitation and then after that the benefits to my overall wellbeing were noticeable.

Few other tips I’ve gathered from various sources but ‘how to break up with your iPhone’ by Catherine Price is a great resource for more detailed information.

Tips to free yourself from Smartphone Habits

  • Bring awareness to how you’re using your phone and set up what Price calls ‘mental speed bumps’ for example ask yourself as you got to use it; ‘what for? why now? And what else?’

  • To support this use code instead of a thumb swipe to open it

  • Turn the screen to a less appealing black and white display screen

  • Turn off notifications that are not essential and instead trust yourself to consciously choose a time to check these (rather than in the middle of a conversation for example)

  • Allocate a time each day or time limit it (app timers can be used) to monitor the hours spent and/or use apps that control when you can access your phone to check messages

  • Turn it off during selected activities such as driving or eating meals

  • Turn it off at night and put it away somewhere (one person even used a safe whilst another put a rubber band around it)

  • There is a suggestion to have coping strategies for the ‘existential malaise’ that Price (2019)   suggests may arise in response to being without this distraction.  It can be very challenging to be fully present with our experience.  However, simple pleasure principle can help this (see article The Importance of Pleasure)

  • Play the “phone stack” game. Spending time with other smartphone addicts? Play the “phone stack” game. When you’re having lunch, dinner, or drinks together, have everyone place their smartphones face down on the table. Even as the phones buzz and beep, no one is allowed to grab their device. If someone can’t resist checking their phone, that person must pick up the check for everyone.

Certainly writing this article and researching this topic has been somewhat sobering. I have deleted my social media apps on my phone as a further step in the right direction.

Katherine Sewell
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