Let’s face it: It’s 2018 and we’re pretty much all addicted to our phones at this point. Even if you think you’re not, you may be surprised to learn that a lot of your daily habits surrounding your phone and social media are pretty unhealthy. Let’s go through a few of them and see if any of these habits seem familiar.
You are probably addicted to your phone if…
- You charge your phone next to your bed at night.
- Your phone is the first think you grab in the morning,
- It is the last think you use at night.
- When you can’t sleep, you reach for your phone.
- When you go to a restroom, you bring your phone with you.
- You bring it with you to meetings at work.
- You keep it out on your desk while working, and you don’t need it for your job.
- Sometimes you fall asleep later than you anticipated because you were on your phone.
- When you’re out with friends, you have your phone out.
- You are texting others (besides your mom) while out with friends.
- You are scrolling through social media while hanging out with friends.
- When you are waiting in line, any line, you whip out your phone to pass the time.
- You can’t go an entire elevator ride without giving it a wayward glance.
- You sneak a glance at it (or just full out text) while sitting at a red light.
- You have a routine of which apps you check first, second, third, etc.
- Once you have gone through all of those apps, you start all over again.
- You are starting to get numb/tinglyhands/thumbs from holding your phone a certain way.
- Those around you notice changes in your mood that coincide with the time you spend on your phone.
- You have trouble keeping focus on anything for any extended period of time.
- You can go hours without noticing you have a headache or that your jaws are clenched.
- Time seems to randomly fly by when you aren’t doing much of anything.
- It makes you feel anxious if you leave the house without it.
- You delete apps on your phone only to re-download them days later.
- You can’t remember the last time you had a spare few minutes where you just let your mind wander instead of starting at a screen.
For me, my phone causes me to feel like I am not in control. Not in control of my time, emotions or thoughts. It can take chunks of time throughout my day to scroll through all the social media sites I habitually check. Now that I work 40-50 hours a week, time is a precious, limited resource that my phone is eating away at.
I feel my emotions change drastically from time spent on my phone. It can make me feel lonely, annoyed and even slightly jealous if I’m already in a funk that day. These sites and using them as a constant distraction also shape my thoughts in ways that do me harm. I start thinking either less of myself or less of other people depending on what they are posting. I stop thinking about goals or what I can do for others, and instead focus on all the inward comparisons and keeping up with random people I haven’t even talked to in years.
Phones were originally meant to be a tool for us to use, but in recent years the script was flipped. Now the people behind these “tools” are trying to find as many ways as possible to keep us glued to our screens. The longer we are on our phones, the more successful they become. But where does that leave you? Have you felt distracted and unfulfilled lately? Have you tried taking break from social media only to find it impossible to stop scrolling? Check out my post about this exact issue.
Candidly Kristy 