First, notice how you think, feel, and behave when separated from your phone. Be honest with yourself. You might ask colleagues, friends, and family if they’ve noticed worrisome behavior patterns. If so, make a commitment to change.
Establish clear boundaries. Consider making meals and family gatherings phone-free or introducing a pre-bedtime hour away from your screen. Reduce notifications and put your phone away from your desk, dinner table, or bedside. Enforcing boundaries helps create a healthier balance between the benefits brought by your phone and other meaningful aspects of life. Like any habit, breaking it takes time and repetition.
Instead of avoiding difficult feelings, engage in alternative emotion and stress-regulation strategies. Resources to help you mentally detach from the demands of work and recover might include physical exercise, meditation, hobbies, building human relationships, and spending time in nature.
If you have outlined what works for you based on the previous three tips but find it hard to put your plan into action, it’s time to recruit help from others. Friends, family members, or health professionals can give you practical and emotional support to commit to your plan. Identify who in your network could be a helpful ally. If you feel shy or even ashamed to admit that you are struggling, please know that you are far from alone. Close peers are likely to respond positively to your request because showing vulnerability, although it takes courage, will foster bonding and forge connections. You might propose building a joint action plan and providing each other with mutual support. Apart from leveraging your existing social network, know that professional help is available, too. This can include cognitive behavioral therapy with a mental health professional who specializes in addiction or digital dependency. Workshops or support groups focused on managing digital consumption can also provide valuable tools and peer support.
How common is phone addiction? Too common, according to our recent study of 160 employees. We found:
Phones’ negative impacts – including feelings of stress – come less from the actual time spent on them and more from our experience of dependency and compulsion and the negative emotions that are wound up with them.
By recognizing a possible phone addiction, we can begin to redraw the boundaries and be more intentional about when we engage. This is not merely about cutting down screen time – it’s about reclaiming the human experience, rediscovering the joy of undistracted moments, and forging deeper, more meaningful connections in our personal and professional lives.
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