Smartphone Addiction: Symptoms, Effects & Solutions

If you think that people are moaning too much when they tell you that you are addicted to your smartphone then maybe you should think again. There are in fact real dangers to using your smartphone all the time. We are not talking about just the normal amount of texting and social media posting here, we are talking about the smartphone obsession that a frightening number of people have fallen prey to.

Two thirds of people in the UK own a smartphone and this figure rises to 90% for the 16-24 year old age range. Phones are becoming less of a device for actually calling someone, and more of a social companion. Perhaps this is why more people are becoming addicted to using them. According to Ofcom, 1.2 billion selfies were taken using smartphones in 2015 and on average smartphone users spend around two hours online on their device each day. Of course, this does not mean that everyone in the UK is addicted to using a smartphone, far from it, but there are many people who are. We are going to take a look at how you can tell if you are addicted to your smartphone, what the dangers are and how you can try to solve the problem.

How Can One Tell If You Are Addicted?
There is a very big difference between enjoying smartphone on a daily basis and not being able to live without it; the latter is definitely a sign of addiction. Here are some of the ways one can tell that you may be getting addicted to your smartphone:

• You panic when smartphone is away from your side.
• You do not attend important meetings or events if you cannot take your smartphone with you.
• You feel as though you have a relationship with your phone; you may have given it a name for instance.
• Giving up friendship rather than your phone.
• Taking phone to the bathroom.
• Always answer calls and texts straight away no matter what you are doing or where you are.
• Spending more money on phone than all other aspects of life.

If some, or all, of these statements apply then you may need to start looking at cutting back on smartphone usage.

The Dangers of Smartphone Addiction
You may be wondering why being addicted to your smartphone is such a big deal. The problem is that this is an addiction that can lead to problems in your life; we are going to talk about some of them:

An Increase In Stress Levels
If you are constantly checking your smartphone then this means your body is under stress all the time. It may not feel as though you are getting stressed out, but body and mind are not getting any down time. According to research conducted by the University of Zurich smartphone users experience a high level of brain activity every time they touch the screen of their device. Eventually this level of stress on your brain will cause problems with your health.

Insomnia
If you are addicted to smartphone you can find it really hard to switch off, even when you should be going to sleep at night. The problem with this is that you need to be calm and relaxed when it’s time to sleep. If your mind is still on smartphone interactions you are not going to be able to get the sleep you need. This is why smartphone addicts can suffer from insomnia.

Aggression
People who have a smartphone addiction find it very difficult to be away from their phone. To them it’s like being separated from a very important person in their life. If you are a smartphone addict, and the phone is taken away, it’s even possible that one may become aggressive. This is something that one can have a serious adverse effect on the personal relationships in your life.

How to Break Your Smartphone Addiction
Below are some of the useful information through which you can avoid addiction to smartphone:

• Turn off notifications so that you are not always being tempted to check your phone.
• Uninstall apps that encourage you to use your phone all the time.
• Use dedicated tools to monitor and cap your phone usage.
• Get someone to “mind” your phone for specific periods of tome so your access is limited.

These are all ways that you can start getting smartphone addiction under control and start getting your life back to normal.