Phone Addiction

It’s 7:30 PM and I am running around my house trying to coax my 5 and 6-year-old to shower, put PJs on, brush their teeth, and get ready for bed. It’s a nightly journey. And while I am focused on the difficult task at hand, one thing continues to pull my attention: my phone.

My kids are fantastically interesting, but even they can’t compete with what is going on within this small device. Twitter alerts, LinkedIn connections, text chains, business emails, the list goes on and on. Much of my world exists within my phone, except for, you know, the most important relationships in my life. These two relationships, the ones with my kids, are running around as they sometimes seek my assistance and other times are evading me like a mobile quarterback sliding away from a defensive line. And through all the chaos, I still find myself compelled to reach for the phone.

I am not alone. Phone addiction has become a massive issue, especially in the past decade as these minicomputers have been designed to hijack and hold our attention. Much like drugs, recent research has shown how phone addiction can influence our brain chemistry, especially our grey matter, which impacts things like decision-making, mental health, and self-control. I even ran a poll on Twitter and 98% of people said they believed more people are addicted to their phones than cigarettes.

So, what can we do? While I don’t have all the answers and I am constantly working on managing my phone use (sometimes failing), the best solution I have come up with is to physically remove the phone from my being. Put it in a different room; out of sight out of mind. The truth is, for me, there’s nothing so important going on from 6 PM-8 PM that I should be prioritizing it over my time with my family. For you, that may not be the case. I get it. But figure out when you can remove it from your pocket. Separate yourself.

What have you done to monitor your phone diet? I’d love to hear from you. I just won’t plan to respond from 6-8 PM.